Radio is the subject of a “flurry of news releases at CES,” being the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But as Radio World describes, “you may have to expand your definition” of the word “radio.”
Among other announcements at CES, TuneIn Radio released a smartphone app that is compatible with Ford’s voice-controlled Sync system. This is a free service and app with access to 50,000 AM, FM, HD and Internet stations.
Subaru is working with Harman to provide its Aha platform in Subaru models. This is a cloud-based platform that enables drivers to use Internet radio content. Harman describes Aha as “the Web-connected ‘fourth band’ of radio, alongside AM, FM and satellite radio.” Aha provides Internet radio from Shoutcast, CBS Radio and Slacker, among other providers.
Slacker and Verizon Wireless debuted the Slacker Radio application for Android, optimized for 4G LTE connections. This the companies described is “A highly visual application [that] features a unique station tile display [and] the ability to preview stations before playing and an optimized ability to browse for content, making music discovery even easier.”
Internet radio may get a boost in Europe, where Ford will cease fitting new models with CD players, in favor of MP3, USB and Bluetooth devices. Drivers will bring their own music on mobile devices, giving them the ability to stream Internet radio.
HBO: 104 Primetime Emmy Nominations | Shaquille O’Neal Joins TNT’s Inside the NBA
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Cable networks, led by HBO and AMC, fared well during the 2011 Emmy Award nominations, reports MultiChannel News. HBO received 104 primetime Emmy nominations, including 21 for its miniseries Mildred Pierce and 18 for Atlantic City prohibition era drama Boardwalk Empire, according to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. AMC, led by 19 nominations for three-time Emmy winning drama series Mad Men, drew 29 nominations. CBS led the broadcast networks with 50 nominations, followed by NBC (46 nods), PBS (43) Fox (42) and ABC (40).
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ABC's "Primetime Nightline" was down 31 percent from last week's episode; CBS and NBC tied in Wednesday night ratings. Each net scored a 1.9 in the 18-49 demo, writes the Hollywood Reporter. Fox's So You Think You Can Dance dipped 25 percent going head to head against CBS' Big Brother, which was up 4 percent from Sunday's telecast and posted its best Wednesday premiere in viewers and key demo since 2003. Fox came in third place.
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Retired NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal has signed a multi-year agreement to serve as an analyst for Turner. He will appear on TNT's Inside the NBA studio show, its All-Star weekend coverage and playoff coverage. He will also contribute to NBA TV and NBA.com. The Turner deal also includes a development deal with Turner's Entertainment and animation networks, reports Broadcasting & Cable.
CBS Inks Ten-Year Deal for Grammy Awards | Olbermann Premiere Above CNN, Below MSNBC
- CBS and The Recording Academy have a reached a new 10-year deal to keep the annual Grammy Awards broadcast on the network through 2021. CBS has broadcast the Grammys since 1973. The 54th Annual Grammy Awardswill air live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012, reports Broadcasting & Cable.
- Current's premiere of Countdown with Keith Olbermann averaged 179,000 viewers in the advertiser-targeted adults 25-54 demo on Monday. Countdown's ratings at 8 p.m. also beat those of CNN's In the Arena, which averaged 89,000 viewers in the demo, according to numbers provided by Current. The ratings fell short of those at Olbermann's former network, MSNBC, which had 237,000 viewers in the key advertiser demo for Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, reports MultiChannel News.
- An affiliate of private equity firm Apollo Global Management has completed the roughly $510 million acquisition of American Idol owner CKx Inc. CKx is the owner of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance producer 19 Entertainment and also owns the rights to the likeness and names of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
- According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data, ratings for the second installment of Oxygen’s The Glee Project earned 527,000 total viewers in the 9-10 p.m. time slot, up 16 percent from the 465,000 who tuned in for the June 12 premiere, a gain of 62,000. These numbers must continue to grow in the coming weeks if Oxygen is to reap the benefits of the brand association, writes AdWeek.
- Univision Communications' coverage of Saturday’s Mexico vs. Guatemala match – part of the 2011 CONCACAF Copa Oro (Gold Cup) – was the no. 1 program of the night ahead of every other primetime telecast, regardless of language, across key demos including Persons 12-34, Adults 18-34, Adults 18-49, Men 18-34 and Men 18-49, reports TVbytheNumbers.
The Cable Show: 67% Broadband Adoption | Mad Men, Modern Family Critics’ Choice
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FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday that the current broadband adoption rate is too slow and called on cable operators to step up their efforts. For his part, National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Michael Powell said the industry was committed to being a partner in that effort, reports MultiChannel News. "Sixty-seven percent is so far from good enough, that we can't be satisfied with slow, step-by-step incremental change."
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The Broadcast Television Journalists Association, a new branch of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, has named winners of its first-ever award. Mad Men took home the prize for Best Drama Series while Modern Family won in the Best Comedy Series category. Best Reality Series was a tie between Hoarders and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, while Best Reality Show-Competition went to American Idol. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was also honored as Best Talk Show.
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According to recent survey conducted by Vidicom, 90% of TV news producers said they prefer only one mention per product per brand when using branded Satellite Media Tours (SMTs). The survey, which polled producers in the top 20 TV markets, found that while the number one reason for using SMTs is the need for content, half of the producers surveyed only want one product mentioned for each branded segment, reports Broadcasting & Cable.
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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association filed a motion for summary judgment in its Dick Clark Productions/Golden Globes case; the motion is an effort to free the HFPA to work with another producer, reports Deadline Hollywood.
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After moving its network affiliation in Evansville, IN after failing to come to renewal terms with Nexstar, Fox has now announced affiliation deals with new stations in two more markets to displace Nexstar stations. Effective August 1, in Ft. Wayne, IN, Fox is moving to Granite Broadcasting’s WISE-TV, which will carry both Fox and its existing Fox sister MyNetworkTV on DTV channels. In Springfield, MO Koplar Communications' KRBK-TV is the new Fox affiliate in the market, displacing Nexstar’s KSFX-TV, according to the Radio & Television Business Report.
38th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards | Netflix Cuts Sony Content
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The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced on Sunday the winners of the 38th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards. On Friday evening, the Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy Awards which honors 56 craft categories in daytime television. CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful won for this year's "Outstanding Drama Series.” The Dr. Oz Show took the Emmy for "Outstanding Talk Show - Informative" while The Ellen DeGeneres Show was the winner for "Outstanding Talk Show-Entertainment.” Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to game show hosts Pat Sajak of Wheel of Fortune and Alex Trebek of Jeopardy!, and their shows each took an Emmy for “Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show.” Oprah Winfrey was honored with the Chairman’s Crystal Pillar Award for her three decades on network television.
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Netflix has temporarily removed Sony content from its online streaming service because of a content issue between Sony Corp. and its pay TV distributor, Starz. Netflix notified its members in a blog post Friday. Sony titles are still available to be rented as DVDs through the mail, writes the San Francisco Chronicle.
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Time Warner Cable is testing meters that measure internet usage, according to Bloomberg, but it hasn’t decided if it will introduce the system. The service would affect the billing to consumers to use large amounts of bandwidth, e.g., those that stream video online.
Chart: Brand Impact, Top 10 Super Bowl Ads
About this chart: Source: The Nielsen Company, June 2011. "State of the Media: Trends in Advertising Spend and Effectiveness." The Recall score is the percentage of viewers who can recall the brand of an ad they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing the Super Bowl. These scores are then indexed against the average score for all Super Bowl ads (Recall Index). 100 equals average. For example, with a Recall Index of 179, the Doritos “Pug” ad was 79% better-recalled than the average Super Bowl spot. The Super Bowl Impact Score is the percentage increase in Brand Recall for the original Super Bowl airing versus all other airings in the quarter. For example, Brand Recall for the top ranked Doritos “Pug” ad performed 207% higher in the original Super Bowl airing than the average for all other airings.
Cable Upfronts; Totals Topping Last Year—and Broadcast | CNN Gets Social with Republican Primary
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Cable will be at least 15% higher than last year, bringing the total volume of advertising commitments to $9.4 billion, a record that would also top the broadcast total for the first time. Some large cable groups had volume increases in the 20% to 25% range, reports Broadcasting & Cable. CPM price increases range from high-single digit gains to the high-teens.
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CNN and local partners WMUR and New Hampshire Union Leader are hosting a Republican presidential primary debate tonight – with social media featurs, writes Lost Remote. During the debate, users will be able to pose questions on moderator John King’s Facebook page, Twitter using the hashtag #CNNdebate, and on CNNPolitics.com. CNN is handing out dial-testers to a group of New Hampshire voters, and their real-time reactions will appear next to the live stream on CNN.com. The debate will also stream on WMUR.com and CNN’s mobile and iPad apps.
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Business media conglomerate Bloomberg LP accused Comcast of violating the conditions the federal government put on the cable giant in return for approving its merger with NBCUniversal, writes the Los Angeles Times. In a complaint filed at the FCC, Bloomberg said Comcast is required to position Bloomberg TV, a business news cable channel, near other news channels, including CNBC, the dominant financial news channel that Comcast now owns.
Chart: Cost of a 30-Second Television Ad Spot, Q1 2011
About this chart: Source: The Nielsen Company, June 2011. "State of the Media: Trends in Advertising Spend and Effectiveness."
NBC’s $4.38 Billion Bid Brings Four More Olympic Events | Nexstar to Carry Bounce TV in 10 Markets
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NBCUniversal won the broadcast auction with a bid of $4.38 billion. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the U.S. media rights to the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games. ESPN, Fox and NBC also submitted their proposals to the IOC. The negotiation process started earlier this year with preliminary discussions conducted with all interested parties. NBC has broadcast a total of 12 Olympic Games, and the 2012 London Summer Olympics will be NBC’s 13th Olympic Games broadcast and seventh consecutive.
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Nexstar Broadcasting Group will carry Bounce TV, the new broadcast television network for African-American audiences, in 10 markets when the network launches this fall, the company said. The multi-year agreement includes Nexstar stations in Little Rock, Rochester, NY, Jacksonville, Peoria/Bloomington, Beaumont, Monroe and other markets.
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Adult Swim and Kia Motors have started the second season of Monday Adult Swim Singles Program, reports Broadcasting & Cable. The a 10-week online music singles and video series that feature new, unreleased tracks from indie rock, rap, metal and pop artists. Music content, videos and interviews with performers are all available through the Adult Swim website.
NBC Fear Factor Revived | NBC Super Bowl Spots: Over $3M and Half Sold Out
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NBC revived Fear Factor this week, with a few instructions for executive producer Matt Kunitz, “bigger and better,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. For one, it will look better with a move into HD, and stunts are expected to look more daring, with advances in filming technology. And, yes, contestants will continue to eat live insects.
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In a demonstration of how strong the TV sports marketplace is expected to be, CBS CEO Les Moonves said that rival network NBC was getting $3.5 million for spots the February 2012 Super Bowl. Previously, sources had said that NBC had already sold about half of its inventory at prices described as more than $3 million, reports Broadcasting & Cable.
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Home Box Office chairman and CEO Bill Nelson said that the premium channel is close to nailing down its final two distributors for its online HBO Go product, which allows subscribers to its premium channel on cable, satellite and telco video systems to access huge amounts of content online. So far, HBO has signed deals for HBO Go with every major distributor, except Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems, according to MultiChannel News.
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Fox's The X Factor, and YouTube have partnered to offer audition for the show exclusively on the video-sharing website until June 9. Online entries will be open for those who would otherwise be unable to audition for the new show. The YouTube auditions require the artist(s) to sing a cappella for up to 2 minutes, with a 30-second introduction. The videos will not be made public, viewed only by X Factor team and judged similarly to live auditions, reports Broadcasting & Cable.