Week of March 27, 2006

Public Stations Run Commercials…Online

Monday, March 27, 2006

Talk about taking advantage of new distribution channels: A Cincinnati PBS affiliate is using the bulk of its web presence to run on-demand videos that contain commercials. Commercials are illegal on PBS terrestrial broadcasts, but the FCC does not have a similar rule for webcasts or video presented via the Internet on-demand.

Sirius Passes 3 Million Subscribers

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Their goal is 6 million by year end. XM currently has 6 million subscribers and predicts 9 million by year's end.

Facebook Off The Block?

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

With the purchase of iVillage and the publicity and success surrounding MySpace, the web press was in overdrive over social networking site Facebook turning down one offer and implying its purchase price would be closer to $2 billion. The only question recently was who would pony up that kind of cash?

Well, PaidContent.org is reporting that Facebook just closed on a huge private financing deal and that, in all likelihood, it is off the market. The question for companies like MTV is whether they are going to shell out the increasing big bucks for a pre-built social networking solution or whether they are going to build it from the ground up.

Heavy.com: A Shooting Star Site?

Thursday, March 30, 2006

One of the key trends mentioned in our New Media Landscape report (available via hq@pollackmedia.com) is the rise of the Shooting Star, or an independent content creator which surpasses even the hits delivered by traditional media outlets.

Heavy.com recently launched with a very nice profile by the New York Times, calling it "so hip the laddies watch the ads." The site itself calls itself "must stream TV" and, unlike YouTube, features only original programming.

Classical Downloading A Hit

Friday, March 31, 2006

Proving that music downloads are not just for young hip hop fans: The BBC offered Beethoven symphonies for download, and over 1.4 million were downloaded.