The Hearst Corp announced that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will become a web-only destination. The Seattle P-I, a 146-year-old paper, is the first major US newspaper to abandon print format. The P-I, whose losses amounted to over $14 million last year, will become an experiment of sorts for Hearst, who will try to figure out whether or not the company can cut overhead and increase ad rev on a web-only model.
The Standard & Poor's Rating Service downgraded AT&T's outlook to negative. The telecommunications company took a hit due to high amounts of debt, as well as a decline in net income for the fourth quarter of 2008. Analysts note that much of AT&T's debt stems from wireless spectrum purchased at government auction last year, for which the company will have to wait at least 4 more months to begin using.
Cisco unveiled its first server computer yesterday, marking the company's move into the cloud computing world. John T. Chambers, CEO of Cisco, noted that the company is "catching the next market evolution." While competition with H-P, IBM and Dell is sure to be stiff, Cisco hopes that its Unified Computer System, which bundles server, storage and networking systems into one, will prove to be successful.
The Council for Research Excellence is set to "explode" TV viewing myths next week with a new study on how users consume video. The organization, which consists of the biggest names in television research, spent millions of dollars developing the "Video Consumer Mapping Study." The study, described as "the largest and most significant observational study of media activity ever undertaken", is expected to reveal that consumers are watching commercials and that young people are not migrating away from the television at a rapid rate.
While the RIAA has cut jobs and weakened its stance on individual downloaders, Federal Prosecutors are asking for a six month sentence for Kevin Cogill, the blogger who leaked new Guns N Roses tracks to the internet. Cogill, who is being tried for pre-release piracy, a misdemeanor, may also owe $371,622 based on how many times each track was downloaded. Prosecutor Craig Missakian noted that "Making a pre-release work available to the worldwide public over the internet where it can be copied without limit is arguably one of the more insidious forms of copyright infringement."
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.