John McCain's appearance on Saturday Night Live helped the show average a 9.0 household rating/ 20 share in metered markets. Saturday's SNL was only beat out by Sarah Palin's appearance a few weeks ago, which averaged 10.7 rating/ 24 share. McCain's appearance helped SNL garner their second-highest rated program in more than a decade.
A Judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that cable operators must carry the same broadcast channels that over-the-air viewers receive after the transition to digital television. The ruling would require cable providers to use more bandwidth in distributing content. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the "action preserves the commission's decision to protect consumers and prevents cable companies from either choosing to cut off signals of must-carry broadcast stations after the digital conversion."
MySpace will begin selling ads alongside video clips. The social network will begin its project by partnering with MTV Networks (MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Nickelodeon) and Auditude, a firm which can identify whether or not video clips on the web are owned by a television network. Auditude will flag all videos owned by MTV Netowkrs on MySpace and overlay ads on top of them.
According to Nikkei, Panasonic has reached a preliminary deal to takeover Sanyo. Details are scant, but rumors have been floating about Panasonic's plan to create a "battery superpower" , which could make Sanyo's solar panel production attractive. Details surrounding the potential acquisition are expected to be released November 7th.
Plus, today's consulting question, "Internet CPMs have dropped over 10% in the last two quarters, is it just the economy?" Shelly has the answer on today's MediaBytes.
Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, York House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at shelly@palmer.net
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