Remember that news about NBC cutting costs?
Well CBS may also do that in the very near future as they announced yesterday a third quarter loss of $12.5 billion (linked to a $14 billion write-down) with ad revenue declining in its main divisions, including television.
Incidentally, digital revenues have rose 6% this year with a 12% increase regarding Internet display ads.
As for their revenues, they are up 3%, thanks primarily to CSI: NY’s cable syndication.
All in all, CBS is now in the top 10 Internet company and the “#1 producer and provider of premium online content”.
No wonder they are trying to cash in on the future.
Meanwhile, Yahoo Video is now the (distant) second in video streams with a 56% increase (to about 265 millions).
Still, Google’s YouTube is very far ahead with 5 billion video streams in September.
Let’s not forget though that most Yahoo Vids have ads in them (= money = good for the company).
Speaking of, Lisa Klink has posted about “[trying to come] at the TV biz sideways”. Meaning that wannabe TV (and for that matter any) writer wanting to break in will have better chance of doing that by trying various other “creative outlets”.
TV writing is becoming increasingly more competitive due to a number of reasons, including strong cuts in budgets, therefore creating a smaller gap for people to squeeze in.
Any kind of “out of the box” success will definitely be a plus, distinguishing you from the rest.
First, I’d like to welcome all my new readers, especially the ones that are from the far-away APA Blog. :)
I hope you won’t get too lost in the crazy rants I sometime post.
Speaking of crazy rants (and crazy days for that matter)…
Wednesday is Obama Day.
And by that I mean he’s tomorrow’s Daily Show guest.
What? You thought I was gonna talk about another show he’ll be on tomorrow night simultaneously on NBC, CBS and FOX?
Also, ABC is airing Pushing Daisies.
Who will win the rating war: a pie-maker or a terrorist lover?
As for next Tuesday.
Mmmm…
What are you supposed to do on November 4th again?
Right, buy French fries.
Delish’.
Today, don’t forget that Strike.TV is officially launched.
And, no, I am not producing anything over there, thanks for asking telepathically.
Also today, I successfully cooked “Sautéed aubergines and leeks with ginger”.
Yay me.
In other worldwide TV news, France Television’s primetime will begin next year at around 8:35PM instead of 8:50/9PM (as ads will be suppressed after 8PM).
To try to counter its rival network, M6 will also program its primetime at around 8:35PM.
This is a huge change in the French TV landscape.
That’s like having Mad Men on NBC right after the Super Bowl leading to record-shattering ratings of 10 people watching the show.
Only, you know, at 8:35PM.
Forgive me but I couldn’t leave you with a smile on your face, so here goes:
The Footloose remake has been fast-tracked by Paramount with… Zack Efron in the lead. Right after he signs that half-mil check.
FOX has done it.
Sho has done it.
Even Spike TV has done it.
And now, NBC is finally beginning to join the online early-screening club by releasing a week early on Hulu the season premiere of 30 Rock.
Personally, I’ll wait another week to see the epi in glorious HD, but feel free to enjoy the premiere over here.
Who’s betting that, thanks (but no thanks) to Sarah Palin, 30 Rock is gonna break records come next week?
CBS is clearly embracing online video content.
After last week’s deal with YouTube, the Eye has launched today its own “social viewing rooms”.
The “Watch & Chat” section is still in Beta.
I just tested it with Survivor.
For now, it seems that you cannot create your own viewing room, and only 2 are available for a given show. It probably will change when the fully fledged version of the social room is launched later this year.
People join the room and are given the ability to chat, and also sorta interact on the video. You can throw for instance a tomato at the video, or even an Intel logo (gasp!). Think WLM winks but put on screen.
Also throughout the episode (about one every 5 minutes) is a little quiz question about the show.
Soon to come are polls and more interaction.
Still, I’m not yet ready to give up my HD Survivor (or for that matter any other HD CBS show) for some basic interactive features.
CBS is definitely trying to gain online momentum by offering somewhat original interactive options to its viewers.
Whether or not it will succeed in bringing home a solid viewer base…
Well, we’ll have to wait and see.
Since we’re talking about CBS and Survivor, we must talk about Jeff Probst.
Heard about that new show he’s trying to bring to the network?
It’s called Live Like You’re Dying and it seems to be a “Make a Wish” for adults, on TV.
Terminally ill patients will have the opportunity to live “the last adventure of their life”, living out their personal dream.
As you might expect, opinions are starting to diverge on whether or not the show should exist at all, let alone be broadcast on national television for the world to be entertained by.
I for one think it should not be put on TV.
It’s one thing to make a foundation and help people fulfill their dreams, it’s another to put it on prime-time for entertainment value.
Although an idea to erase that “entertainment purpo$e” side of the show would be to give all the money acquired by the ads shown during the program to a charity.
The pilot should be shot around January (after Survivor’s 18th season’s filming is over) for a TBD air date.
Interesting new TV deals were made today (isn’t MIPTV great?) :
De Niro (yes) will co-exec with Jane Rosenthal up to three pilots inked in a deal between CBS and Tribeca. The deal basically guarantees that at least one of the three scripts will be made into an actual series pilot.
The first of the three shows will be penned by The Departed’s Oscar-winning writer William Monahan and will be set in New York.
If picked up, the show would probably premiere next season on CBS.
As for more sorta-tech-savier TV show news:
NBC will be making the “first ever green-screen drama developed for prime time”, the drama being none other than a “new take” on Jason and the Argonauts.
Just to see how original this “Jason” idea is, DreamWorks (who is now in bed with Universal) has also a project named “The Argonauts”, while Zak Penn (probably the guy that is going to write The Avengers movie) is also writing and producing his own version of the tale for 20th Century Fox.
Oh, and what about Sanctuary? Isn’t that a prime time green-screen drama?
Speaking of computer tech, you might have heard of a webseries named “MoCap, LLC” which is basically a mockumentary look at a fake small MoCap (short for motion-capture) studio. The show was shopped around by Worldwide Biggies and Spike TV has just ordered from them six half-hour episodes, scheduled to premiere sometime around January.
From webseries to TV series: is that a leap that will grow more and more common?
I’m also unsure about CNN’s move to make a D.L. Hughley-hosted news show (à la Daily Show/Colbert Report).
Are they just trying to get some young viewers back or what?
