NBCU and Sony have announced plans to make NBCU content available for purchase on Playstation systems. Sony will begin selling NBC shows like The Office and 30 Rock the day after they originally air on television. NBCU will also distribute feature length films for Sony Playstation products, giving users the option to rent or buy.
ABC's Dancing with the Stars took top ranking this week with its most watched season opener ever. The two hour special edition of Dancing took 6.6/16 rating and had nearly 23.7 million viewers, increasing viewership by 1.3 million over last year. The show was ABC's most watched show, besides the Academy Awards, since November 2007.
On April 8th, the FCC will begin its inquiry into its Broadband Expansion Plan. The FCC, the NTIA and USDA are set to oversee the $7.2 billion allocated by the economic stimulus package for broadband expansion. Currently, the United States ranks 17th in worldwide broadband penetration.
Google is set to begin selling targeted advertisements based on users interests. Google will use data collected through cookies installed on sites where the company serves advertisements as the basis for the project. This controversial ad model is already used by both Yahoo and AOL, as well as other search focused sites.
I had the honor of addressing the VitecGroup Technology Forum last night and Ted Schilowitz treated me to an up close and personal demonstration of the Red Digital Cinema camera. If you are not familiar with the product, just for fun, go to red.com and see what people are doing with it. It is so rare for a piece of technology to completely change a production paradigm, you just have to see it for yourself.
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.