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OBAMA WANTS DEBATE FOOTAGE COPYRIGHT WAIVED
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) has asked Democratic National Committee Howard Dean to make video of the Democratic presidential debates publicly available free and unrestricted. Sen Obama wants the copyright holder--whether the DNC or a media outlet-- to waive copyright, saying "there is no reason that this particular class of content needs the protection." MSNBC says that it and co-sponsor POLITICO.com are maintaining control over the footage. They are requiring on-screen credits and limiting aired or streamed excerpts to no more than a combined two minutes in the hours just after the debate and no more than 10 minutes after that, with no excerpts to be archived or streamed after June 2 without express permission from MSNBC.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6438871.html?rssid=193
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6438871.html?rssid=193
DIGG'S ONLINE CROWD FLEXES ITS MUSCLE
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Chris Gaylord]
Earlier this week a torrent of online activity brought the popular news aggregator Digg.com to its knees. Web users flooded the site with posts of a code that could crack the encryption on HD-DVDs, unlocking the high-definition movies to online piracy and potentially exposing Digg to legal troubles. The site's users couldn't be prouder. And, in a way, this is what Digg is designed to do. The website touts itself as a news service without editors -- or, to look at it another way, millions of editors. The community of users compiles articles from across the Internet and votes on which ones deserve prominent placement on the site. However, when Digg's administrators stepped in Tuesday and removed several posts containing that once-secret proprietary code, the community mutinied. The site's founders explained they were responding to cease-and-desist orders on behalf of the trade group that holds the rights to the HD-DVD code. But Digg users countered each takedown by posting the code again and again, multiplying like the heads of a hydra, until articles, pictures, even song lyrics containing the 32-character data key swamped the site.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0504/p03s01-ussc.html
* User revolt at Digg.com shows risks of Web 2.0
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/03/MNG4RPK18...
Digg's online crowd flexes its muscle
RETAIL CDs GET PERSONAL
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune 5/3, AUTHOR: Eric Benderoff]
Executives from the world's leading record companies and the owners of the nation's struggling music sellers have been huddled in a Chicago hotel since Sunday, trying to figure out how to halt a slide in CD sales while providing music fans with new reasons to shop at a store. When the attendees of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers leave town Thursday, they'll have a little more knowledge on how to adapt to an increasingly digital music market, but also a sobering sense that things aren't getting better soon. A report released Wednesday from Ipsos Insight, a Chicago market research firm, showed that while 51 percent of U.S. consumers ages 12 and up bought a CD in the past six months, that's down 15 percent from 2002. Furthermore, a Sony executive said Wednesday that a 6 percent increase in online music sales in the first quarter hardly offset decreases in physical CD shipments, which were down 20 percent. One new tactic is selling digital singles: New machines, available from at least five different companies and now in operation in more than 150 record stores, Starbucks, book stores and big-box electronics stores across the country, allow consumers to pick 15 or so singles from various artists and burn them onto a CD. The cost of the do-it-yourself CDs varies depending on the retailer, but typically each song costs 99 cents after a $3 fee to cover the costs of a jewel case, customized labels and a CD. So burning one song costs $3.99 but burning 10 would cost $12.90.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0705021015may03,0,7930722.sto...
Retail CDs get personal
DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT AND THE SECRET WAR AGAINST YOUR FAIR USE RIGHTS
[SOURCE: saschameinrath.com]
[Commentary] A massive secret war on consumers' rights to make legal use of audio, video, print, and other media is being waged. This battle, under the ironically titled rubrics of “Digital Rights Management†(DRM) is part of the ongoing battle to more fully commoditize previously free media use and exact additional control over copyrighted material and extract additional profits from media consumers. This article documents some of the changes surrounding copyright and focuses on the increasing use of Digital Rights Management and decreasing freedom all of us face.
http://www.saschameinrath.com/2007may03digital_rights_management_and_the...
Digital Rights Management and the Secret War Against Your Fair Use Rights
STUDY CONCLUDES THAT MANY TOP NEWS SITES DON'T DO RSS WELL
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher]
A new study from the International Center for Media and Public Agenda, looking at 19 top news sites, concludes that RSS feeds work very poorly for anyone who uses news for more than infotainment. Rather than RSS, the study found, casual news consumers users should just stick with Google's Top Stories. "The problem," the study concludes, "is that many news outlets don't want to share all the news that's on their site -- especially stories that are not staff-written or produced. One reason may be that such stories, such as those by AP or Reuters, don't carry the 'brand' of the news organization. But without those stories, many RSS feeds are not truly delivering news 24/7 and, in addition, lack the breadth of news their home sites deliver."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
* International News and Problems with the News Media’s RSS Feeds
http://www.icmpa.umd.edu
Study Concludes That Many Top News Sites Don't Do RSS Well
MURDOCH ON OWNING THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Silkos & Andrew Ross Sorkin]
How might the Wall Street Journal change under Rupert Murdoch? Sorter articles, more political coverage in the news pages, a greater emphasis on Washington. He insists he won't meddle in the journalism or slash-and-burn the staff. “We’re not coming in with a bunch of cost-cutters,†he said, but added: “I'm not saying it’s going to be a holiday camp for everybody.†He sees himself as a lifelong newspaperman who learned journalism from his father in Australia, he also tried to say that his reputation as an interloper owner was overstated. He said he was not involved with the news operations of the higher-end newspapers, although he takes a closer role in tabloids like The Sun in London and The New York Post. And he said he would propose to the Bancrofts setting up a separate board for the newspaper, mandated with ensuring its editorial independence, as he has done since he acquired The Times and Sunday Times in 1981. He said the independent board works, recalling that “The Sunday Times came out loudly for the decapitation of Margaret Thatcher,†whom he had personally supported. He said, “I didn't know about it,†and then joked, “I pretended I hadn't read it.â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/media/04murdoch.html
(requires registration)
* News Corp. Plans Strategy To Woo Family, Journalists
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117823661335791549.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
* Behind Murdoch's Journal Bid
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR200705...
* Murdoch could spark a class war
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070504/1b_dowshareholders04...
* Rupert will get WSJ; Wall Street will get it \
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070504/al04.art.htm
* Lusting after the Wall Street Journal
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-pearlstine4may04...
Murdoch on Owning The Wall Street Journal
REUTERS CONFIRMS TAKEOVER APPROACH
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Gordon Smith]
Reuters, the news and information group, confirmed on Friday it had received a preliminary approach  thought to be from Canadian rival Thomson  as interest in providers of financial information reaches unprecedented levels. Thomson, the company that is thought to have made the approach, is also growing its information services quickly. Later this month it will start selling a new global news service to clients built on the back of AFX News, the financial newswire service it bought for an estimated $20m last year, as it attempts to compete more effectively with rival Bloomberg. But a sale may be complicated by Reuters’ shareholder structure. The Reuters Founders Share Company controls 30 per cent of the voting shares and was set up when the group listed in 1984 and is ordered to maintain the independence of the company.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/761152aa-fa21-11db-8bd0-000b5df10621.html
(requires subscription)
Reuters confirms takeover approach
CLEAR CHANNEL BOARD REJECTS SWEETENED OFFER FROM BIDDER
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Ross Sorkin]
Clear Channel Communications, the nation’s largest radio broadcaster, said last night that its board had rejected a revised offer by two equity firms that had agreed to buy the company, but are now trying to keep the deal from falling through. The new offer was a last ditch attempt to save the deal from being voted down by shareholders next week, but now means the buyout is almost certain to be rejected.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/media/04clear.html
(requires registration)
* Clear Channel Rejects Firms' Revised Offer
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117824700562091923.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
Clear Channel Board Rejects Sweetened Offer From Bidder
NBC'S ION TAKEOVER IMMINENT
[SOURCE: New York Post 5/3, AUTHOR: Zachery Kouwe]
Ion Media Networks appears close to approving a takeover deal with media giant NBC Universal and hedge fund Citadel despite intense opposition from a group of dissident shareholders and a rival offer made by satellite company EchoStar Communications. Media-ownership rules prevent NBC from owning a majority of Ion, but the company will maintain its minority ownership with Citadel as a partner. As part of its long-term plan, NBC may try to use Ion's national footprint to strong-arm NBC affiliates into accepting smaller payments for use of their programming by threatening to move their signal to the Ion-owned stations. NBC pays network affiliates to carry their content and those contracts are set to be renegotiated in the next three to five years. Ion, once known as Paxson Communications, owns about 60 TV stations reaching 90 million households.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05032007/business/nbcs_ion_takeover_imminent...
* ION Rejects EchoStar’s $2.13B Bid
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6438837.html
* ION Approves NBC Sale Amid Unrest
Scratch the "imminent." Television broadcaster Ion Media Networks yesterday approved a takeover offer from NBC Universal and hedge fund Citadel Investment Group, despite three opposing board members and threats from a dissident group of shareholders. The deal, which will allow NBC to keep a minority stake in Ion, was approved by a majority of the broadcaster's board in a heated meeting. Three of Ion's independent directors, who represent disgruntled shareholders, voted against the offer with one director not present at the meeting.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05042007/business/ion_approves_nbc_sale_amid...
LAWYER SAYS IMUS TO SUE CBS, ACCUSING IT OF BREAKING CONTRACT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
The lawyer for the ousted radio host Don Imus said yesterday that he would file a $40 million lawsuit against CBS next week, accusing it of breach of contract. The lawyer, Martin Garbus of Manhattan, said CBS violated a clause in Mr. Imus’s contract that specifically encouraged him to engage in what the clause called “extraordinary,†“irreverent†and “controversial†topics on his program. Mr. Garbus said the language in the clause he cited proved “they were creating a shock jock.†He said Mr. Imus was doing “exactly what they wanted him to do.†Mr. Garbus also said that CBS had agreed to give Mr. Imus an official warning after one incident of offensive language before taking action, and that “both CBS and MSNBC had a delay button and neither of them used them in this case.†CBS said: “We terminated Mr. Imus for cause. Based on the comments in question and relevant contract terms, we believe that the termination was appropriate and CBS would expect to prevail in any attempt by Mr. Imus to recover money for his actions.†Many issues in the case could turn on whether CBS had reason to worry that the Federal Communications Commission could punish the CBS stations for the use of such language. David Fiske, a spokesman for the F.C.C., said yesterday that Congress had told the commission to levy fines for profane or indecent language, but purely offensive words might not come under that standard. But the stations must also uphold community standards or risk challenges to their broadcast licenses, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/media/04imus.html
(requires registration)
* Legal Battle Brews Over Imus Contract With CBS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR200705...
Lawyer Says Imus to Sue CBSD, Accusing it of Breaking Contract