HD DVD’s most ambitious use of its Web-enabled interactivity comes Dec. 11, when Warner Home Video’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix debuts on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD Combo Disc. The HD DVD version’s “Live Community Screening” function lets disc owners watch the movie together from different locations, and comment simultaneously through the remote controls of their Ethernet-connected players. One disc-owner acts as host, inviting up to three others to join the screening. The host operates all disc functions on all the connected machines, such as Play and Pause, in response to input from guests via text-messages through players’ remote controls, or even e-mail or cellphones, Warner said. The community screening feature isn’t available on Blu-ray versions of the Potter movie, because Ethernet connections aren’t mandated for all Blu-ray players as they have been for HD DVD since its launch. Blu-ray and HD DVD versions of the Potter disc have a $35.99 MSRP. Conventional DVD versions of the Potter movie also feature an innovation. The single-disc version offers the option of downloading a free copy of the movie to PC. With the two-disc version, a compressed copy of the movie is included for free ripping to a PC -- in case a buyer lacks a broadband connection, or wants to avoid download time. Both free-copying methods are part of Warner’s effort to offer consumers new ways to port its content to other devices without having to resort to unauthorized methods like P2P file-sharing. The studio can gauge consumer interest in the copying options and HD DVD community screening because disc buyers must register online to activate them.
Renegotiation of the deal to buy Tribune looks increasingly prudent, Gimme Credit analyst Dave Novosel wrote. Investor Samuel Zell agreed to buy Tribune in an $8.2 billion deal that will nominally put the company in the hands of its employees through an employee stock ownership plan. “The LBO by Sam Zell is still on at this point, but we think the deal may be restructured,” Novosel said. “Poor operating performance and an unsettled credit market will give investors pause on a new bond offering.” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin circulated Wednesday a proposal that would grant Tribune the newspaper-broadcast cross ownership waivers it needs to complete financing for the deal (CD Nov 29 p3). That proposal would “enable Tribune’s going private transaction to close by the end of the year,” CEO Dennis FitzSimons said late Wednesday. If the transaction fails to move forward in time, the company could face expensive tax effects, according to industry sources and news reports.
AOL introduced a service that integrates banner ads into streaming video. Rather than overlaying an ad and blocking part of a video, AOL’s video ticker ad appears at the bottom of the video player 10 seconds into a stream. When clicked by a user, the ad expands as the video pauses. If the user doesn’t click on the ad, it dissolves after 15 seconds. The ads will run across the AOL Network of premium video content in the newest version of the AOL Video media player platform.
The FCC is urged to give fast approval to Tribune’s $8.2 billion sale in two company filings at the agency. Samuel Zell, buying the company along with its employees, met Tuesday with Chairman Kevin Martin and Chief of Staff Daniel Gonzalez, seeking approval of the deal before a Dec. 18 FCC meeting. Martin wants commissioners to vote then to lift cross-ownership rules in many circumstances for the largest 20 markets, a move that would help pave the way for Tribune’s sale (CD Nov 14 p7). Privatization of the broadcaster and newspaper publisher “would be jeopardized if the pending Tribune applications were not acted upon until that meeting,” said an ex parte filing. Tribune should get temporary cross-ownership waivers, Zell said. Another Tribune filing asked the FCC to deny a request by public-interest and religious groups that the agency pause its review of the transaction given the company’s alleged ex parte violations. The United Church of Christ and the Media Alliance had said ex partes of two meetings between a Tribune executive and FCC officials weren’t filed in a commission docket until weeks later (CD Nov 13 p14). Tribune said the documents were filed right away -- they just didn’t list the docket number, 07-119, which the FCC didn’t require, it said. “No one honestly may represent that the applicants hid the two presentations from public view.”
Internet radio service Pandora is available on some AT&T cellphones, the carrier said Thursday. Users can play, pause, skip and rate songs on their handset, and the service integrates with users’ online Pandora accounts, AT&T said. Pandora is available on eight phones: The Samsung SYNC, a717 and a737, the Motorola V3xx and Razr 2, the LG trax and the LG CU400 and CU405.
Internet radio service Pandora is available on some AT&T cellphones, the carrier said Thursday. Pandora creates personalized radio stations based on users’ favorite songs and artists. Users can play, pause, skip and rate songs on their handset, and the service integrates with users’ online Pandora accounts, AT&T said. Pandora is available on eight phones: The Samsung SYNC, a717 and a737, the Motorola V3xx and Razr 2, the LG trax and the LG CU400 and CU405.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin got more grief for taking steps to finish a media ownership review begun June 2006. Critics focused on plans for a final public hearing Friday and his refusal to pause the proceeding for work by a task force on minority ownership. Some minority ownership proposals that Martin included in the ownership rulemaking were supported by a wide array of broadcasters. Meanwhile, Martin is holding firm for a Dec. 18 vote on a rewrite (CD Nov 5 p4).
FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell and Jonathan Adelstein likely will come in for intense lobbying in coming weeks, as wireless carriers seek to beat a cap proposed for Universal Service Fund payments. The carriers want to know why they're getting special attention as the FCC tries to curb the fund.
Sirius expects to close its merger with XM within 24 hours of receiving regulatory approval, which it expects by the end of the year, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin told analysts Tuesday in a Q3 earnings call. “If we get approval on a Monday, the assumption is that we would close on a Tuesday. We continue to expect the merger will close before the end of the year,” he said. Receiving regulatory approval by the end of the year would mean that the FCC’s informal internal six- month review clock will not be paused. Wednesday is Day 145, according to the FCC’s website. “Virtually all of the opposition to the merger has been generated either directly or indirectly by those who fear competition,” Karmazin said without specifically naming NAB, which has been the most vocal critic of the proposed merger. Sirius is holding its shareholder meeting to approve the merger Nov. 13 and Karmazin urged investors to vote. “If you do not vote, it will be counted as a no vote,” he said. Once the merger is approved and consummated, Karmazin thinks integration will be easy, he said. “I have a great deal of experience of integrating companies. I merged Infinity into CBS and CBS into Viacom,” he said. “I don’t think it will be overly complicated.” Sirius still expects to reach the 8 million subscriber mark by the end of the year after adding 525,000 new subscribers in the third quarter, Karmazin said. This result beat analyst expectations, said a call participant. More than 460,000 of those subscribers were among purchasers of new cars with Sirius installed, he said. Even with the gains satellite radio has made, it still only penetrates 15 percent of the homes in America, he said. Sirius’s churn was the same as last quarter, he said. Revenue was up 45 percent, said David Frear, executive vice president and chief financial officer. It was able to reduce its customer service and billing expenses by 17 percent from the same period last year, he said. The 95 cents per subscriber is a new low for Sirius, he added.
The third quarter was the “biggest OEM quarter for satellite radio,” Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin told analysts during a Q3 earnings call Tuesday. Sirius grabbed 58 percent of the net OEM subscriber additions, he said.