Free Republic

Aereo could kill TV business model, broadcasters sayBy Andrew Feinberg - 05/11/12 01:22 PM ET Barry Diller's upstart Aereo service, which lets paying customers record and watch over-the-air television stations online, could destroy the economic model behind television, an NBC-Universal exec said in a court filing. Aereo is being sued by all of the major television broadcasters in federal court in New York, where the service was launched. In a sworn declaration, NBC-Universal executive vice president for content distribution Matt Bond said Aereo could alter how cable and satellite companies handle traditional TV stations. He said Aereo could let the...

The Suits Are Scared: Obama's Plan To Take Over Broadcast Television. I'm in New York tonight, and just back in my hotel room after watching Obama's news conference performance. I had a front row seat in my old network's main conference room. Us old retired TV newsie types are normally relegated to the back row of the bus, but due to my Elder Statesman / retired Crusading Reporter status, (and the fact that I bought two rounds at dinner) I was granted special dispensation to sit up front with "The Suits." "The Suits" is network parlance for the bosses from...

Broadcast television is fading into oblivion. Just two web sites, Google and Yahoo!, now account for more advertising revenues than do the prime time schedules of the three traditional television networks - ABC, CBS, and NBC - combined. In contrast to the explosion in e-commerce, broadcast TV viewers are fleeing to cable programming, which now easily beats broadcast TV in the ratings. And those left to watch broadcast programs don’t stick around for the commercials. Remote controls, VCRs, and the growing popularity of personal digital recorders are rendering the 60-second TV spot a quaint black white video clip. In some...

I suspect the DNC "Ostrich" ad will never run as a paid ad on broadcast television.Note this from the Washington Post:Kerry aides, who have made more than half a dozen response ads without buying time for them, did not provide information confirming that the spot would actually be aired.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Bill Gates (news - web sites) predicts a future for the entertainment industry in which traditional broadcast television is rendered irrelevant. It's a positive vision, however, because new and better business models made possible by technology are emerging. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Microsoft Corp. chairman and chief software architect, recalled a conversation in 1991 during which Larry Tisch was having buyer's remorse over his investment in CBS, noting that the impending changes were evident even then. "Broadcast TV is under a challenge. That's news to no one," Gates said. "You know,...

The US version of BBC sitcom Coupling has been banned by two local stations because of its sexual content. The stations - WNDU in South Bend, Indiana and KSL in Salt Lake City, Utah - are affiliated to national network NBC, which made the show. NBC has remade the cult hit British comedy, about six friends, with the first episode to be shown on Thursday. WNDU said the sexual jokes "push the envelope well beyond the boundaries of our community's standards". The station's managers said they were "disappointed and uncomfortable" with the content. NBC has admitted the show is "provocative"...