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Viacom has asked the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington to throw out the FCC’s new regulations for advertising on children’s TV programs, a move the network portrayed as a defensive play against the Office of Communication, which filed its own lawsuit asking the court to force the FCC to strengthen the rules with an outright ban on click-through marketing to children watching digital TV, Mediaweek reports. The rules are set to take effect Jan. 1, 2006.
The Big Three broadcast networks say the rules will reduce advertising, crimp revenue and possibly threaten the financial underpinnings of children’s programs, while forcing expensive redesigns of Web sites aimed at youth audiences.
Disney, Viacom and NBC said the rules could force “far-reaching, burdensome and expensive changes” to Web sites belonging to broadcasters and to cable operators, which also fall under the rules. “The companies might be required to eliminate any reference, anywhere on their Web sites, to a product or service related to on-air characters, such as SpongeBob SquarePants or Mickey Mouse,” the companies said.
Nickelodeon could be forced “to jettison or revamp its entire online strategy,” Herb Scannell, Nickelodeon president and vice chairman of MTV Networks, told the FCC in a filing.
Arbitron has reached a settlement with the State of New York, in a move that will resolve all claims against Arbitron that were alleged in the lawsuit filed against the company by the NY Attorney General relating to the marketing…
Just weeks after shuttering the print edition of PC Magazine and moving it entirely online, Ziff Davis has announced that it is closing the books on Electronic Gaming Magazine, due to the sale of its collection of video game sites,…
Angered by a London bus advertisement that sent her to a website where she was told that she was going to hell, to spend all eternity in torment, comedy writer Ariane Sherine decided to launch a counter-campaign.
She began raising…
Time Warner said today that the economy has been more challenging in terms of its advertising business than it had expected, particularly at AOL and the Time Inc. publishing units.
The company said it will post a net operating loss…
On its Google Checkout page, Google claims a “Checkout” icon can increase ad click-through by 10%. (At least one client, Fred Lerner of e-commerce network Ritz Interactive, claims the Checkout icon increased clickthroughs by 23%.)
What’s more, Google Checkout users purportedly…
Even through a recession U.S. consumers redeem just 1%-3% of paper coupons, but up to half of the coupons that Kroger sends to its customers are redeemed - because it uses a data-mining firm it part-owns to target specific customers.
Kroger,…
