More stories from Chris Albrecht

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A director friend called to tell me about a new web series he’s working on. We were chatting when he asked “How many episodes should I launch with?” Hmmm… That’s an interesting question. The web is so much more flexible than oldteevee, you could release as […] Read more »

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Speed Racer is the big movie this weekend (though it will supposedly be stomped by an Iron foot). And if you’re a Speed freak there’s a spoof over on AtomFilms (where I used to work) that is a dead-on parody called Race Speedster. It runs a […] Read more »

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Circuit City Opens Up to Blockbuster; rental chain and Carl Ichann allowed to conduct due diligence on the company, Ichann may fund buyout. (paidContent) (previous coverage) TV Nets Upfront Ad Sales Forecast to Be Down this Year; poor economy, writers’ strike and lower ratings are forecast […] Read more »

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It’s Friday. The weekend everyone’s been working for is here. The last thing you want to read about is proposed Net Neutrality legislation making its way through Congress. But there were two developments on that front this week that you should at least be aware of, […] Read more »

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Silicon Valley is littered with the carcasses of set-top boxes that were going to revolutionize entertainment. Rather than learning from this grim history, however, some kind of failure torch is being passed from one generation of dying-out hardware makers to a new breed angling to take […] Read more »

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Pauly Shore rose to fame in the 90s through a combination of stoner antics on MTV and various catchphrases (he was the weeee-zuhl). But it’s been a long time since Encino Man, and Shore is now taking to the web for a documentary-type series called Pauly […] Read more »

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If you ever wondered how dragonflies mate, let Isabella Rossellini demonstrate in her online series Green Porno, which went live this week. Each episode shows Rossellini dressed in a different lo-fi (yet elaborate) bug costume to show how they have sex. It’s not freaky because it’s […] Read more »

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The Microsoft damage control machine kicked into high gear yesterday afternoon, denying that the company was working with NBC on filtering software for the media device. From the Microsoft Zune Insider blog: We have no plans or commitments to implement any new type of content filtering […] Read more »

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Comcast is reportedly considering monthly caps on bandwidth usage and may charge customers who go over these limits. DSLreports writes that users would get to use up to 250 GB per month and be charged $15 for every 10 GB over the limit. When contacted for […] Read more »

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This is no joke. PaidContent wrote last night that Turner will fold comedy site SuperDeluxe into Adult Swim and lay off much of the SuperDeluxe staff. Turner sent us the following statement this morning: “Effective immediately, we will begin transitioning the content of Super Deluxe.com to […] Read more »

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Hollywood studios won legal victory against file sharing today, as a judge awarded a $111 million judgment against BitTorrent site TorrentSpy for copyright infringement. But the MPAA, which represented the studios, shouldn’t spend that money yet. Valence Media, which operated TorrentSpy shut the site down in […] Read more »

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Yesterday we wrote that the Microsoft Zune was like the football character Rudy, only it turns out that the Zune is actually more like Rudy’s uptight college R.A.. One of the reasons NBC went with Microsoft, according to The New York Times, is because the Redmond […] Read more »

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UPDATE: Well, go ahead and affix the dunce cap to my head. As many commenters pointed out, I misinterpreted the Netflix Top 100 list. I had contacted Netflix earlier in the week before writing the story to learn how the list was created and didn’t hear […] Read more »

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Fora.TV Raises $4 Million; high-brow video aggregator closes Series A from William Randolph Hearst III, Adobe Ventures and others. (Beet.tv) Blinkx Starts Content Management Service; the Advanced Media Platform automates content discovery, indexing, distribution and presentation on a publisher’s site. (MediaPost) Congressional Panel Split on Net […] Read more »

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Viacom and Google amped up their war of words over the past couple of days, as each side braces for a big fight in the looming $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit Viacom brought against Google-owned YouTube. Sumner Redstone fired off a round during a speech yesterday […] Read more »

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The winners of the 2008 Webby Awards were announced today (read Liz Miller’s previous take on the nominees), with the Onion News Network, Hometown Baghdad, My Damn Channel, The New York Times, PBS and Revision3 taking home multiple awards. The Onion took home both the judges’ […] Read more »

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Super Bowl Ads to Cost $3M; and that’s just the entry-level spot. (The Wall Street Journal) NCTA President: “Broadband providers do not block access to content”; Kyle McSlarrow testifies on Capital Hill that there is “no market failure” warranting Net Neutrality law. (Broadcasting and Cable) Javier […] Read more »

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Microsoft’s Zune is like the titular character in the movie Rudy. It’s a small fry with a lot of heart that doesn’t give up despite the giant odds (iPodds?) it’s up against. And just like Rudy, Microsoft suited up and scored a little win today nabbing […] Read more »

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Ever wish you could watch those cats playing piano on the big screen? Then today is your lucky day, as HP announced that YouTube videos will be viewable on its MediaSmart connected devices like the upcoming MediaSmart Connect and MediaSmart TV. Users will be able to […] Read more »

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For all of you too lazy to drive to the video store or too impatient to wait for your DVDs in the mail, 2008 is shaping up to be a banner year for you. The video-on-demand (VOD) space is heating up, which means you have one […] Read more »

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Thanks to the web, cartoons aren’t just for Saturday mornings anymore — they’re for every morning, and afternoon and night, too. Independent animators are reaching wide audiences by putting their work online and there’s a ton of great cartoons to be found. Here are four places […] Read more »

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Media Execs Expect Big Revenue Growth for Short-Form Video; 38 percent of respondents to Accenture’s latest media survey say short videos will generate biggest growth. (release) Quincy Smith on YouTube Users; during a keynote, CBS Interactive president notes that clips often do better when posted by […] Read more »

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Think of the web series Take Me Back as the Canadian version of Saw. First, it’s created by two dudes from Montreal (Joseph Baron and Seth Mendelson). Second, instead of a puppet making a victim gouge their own eyes out, the mysterious kidnapper forces our abducted […] Read more »

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Holy (expetive), the YouTube-for-the-religious site GodTube has raised $30 million, according to paidContent. The money came from hedge fund GLG Partners and the valuation for this round was approximately $150 million. GodTube had previously raised $2.5 million from private investors (see our previous coverage). This funding […] Read more »

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Actors and the studios have agreed to extend their contract negotiations until May 6th, in what is being viewed as a positive (small) step towards averting another crippling strike in Hollywood. Formal negotiations were supposed to end today, but both sides agreed to continue talking after […] Read more »

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Viacom to Shell Out $100 Million for New Pay Channel; company will be lead investor but not majority owner. (Multichannel News) 7 Million Downloads for South Park; animated franchise is MTV’s best-selling show on iTunes and Xbox. (Silicon Alley Insider) Silverman: OdTeeVee Will Be Event-Driven; NBC […] Read more »

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Rumors hit the web yesterday that Akimbo laid off nearly all of its staff, save for the executives. A spokesperson for the company has confirmed that there were layoffs, but could not provide specific numbers. The rep did say that the layoffs were focused on legacy […] Read more »

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ABC will test inserting multiple commercials into ad breaks for primetime shows viewed through its broadband player next week, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The move would break the norm of having a single advertiser within a longform web vid and begin the downward spiral toward […] Read more »

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Adobe Kicks Off Open Screen Project; initiative aims to make using Flash and AIR consistent across PCs, TVs and mobile. (Adobe) New Beta YouTube Player; features slimmer control panel with fewer buttons and smaller time counter. Check it out here (click on the “YouTube Player Beta” […] Read more »

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Apple said today that new movie releases from major studios can now be purchased through iTunes on the same day as the DVD release. The company said new releases and older titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount […] Read more »

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Though I am loathe to encourage any company to create yet another set-top box for my TV, Sezmi is hoping it has the right combination to replace at least a couple of devices connected to your TV. Sezmi (formerly Building B, and not to be confused […] Read more »

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In another bit of news from its earnings call today, Time Warner says it will release all of its DVD titles on VOD on a day-and-date basis this year. That means you’ll be able to order a movie like The Dark Knight via your cable operator […] Read more »

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Why do you subscribe to HBO or Showtime, is it for the movies or the original series? It’s a question that sprang to mind when Viacom, Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM announced they were creating a new pay TV network. There was a lot of hubbub over […] Read more »

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Sonic Solutions Buys Simple Star; Sonic’s Roxio to incorporate platform that allows people to turn video clips into shows that are shareable to PCs, TVs and social networks. (VentureBeat) Comcast iGuide Time Shifts Itself; glitch made guide listings off by two and a half hours for […] Read more »

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The big news coming out of Time Warner this morning was that the company is finally selling off its cable division, the second largest in the country (our pal Stacey at GigaOM says its the beginning of Time Warner’s death by 1,000 cuts). But the other, […] Read more »

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Kitschy 80s TV icon The People’s Court is being resurrected for the digital age. People’s Court Raw is throwing its robes into the UGC competition/argument space by letting people post video versions of their disputes online and letting the audience vote for who is right. As […] Read more »

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ScanScout Hooks Up with ClearSpring; in-video ad company partnering with widget maker for broad social platform distribution. (MediaPost) Economic Slump Hurting Cable, Not Satellite; perception of satellite’s HD programming as superior helping growth. (Reuters) New TV Series Scarlet a Marketing Hoax; elaborate ad campaign promotes LG’s […] Read more »

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Well, the analysts at Pali Research were almost right. There is an additional “mystery” partner in the Viacom, Parmount, Lionsgate, MGM pay TV endeavour — but that partner is reportedly Blockbuster. According to The Wall Street Journal, the struggling movie rental chain is in talks to […] Read more »

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