MEDIA TRENDS ANALYSIS BY SCREEN ACTORS GUILD

Today, SAG distributed a white paper July 15, 2008 that is “is an analysis of trends that have emerged or intensified in the media landscape since the Directors Guild of America negotiated its deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on January 17th, 2008.

In sum, what was once termed “new media” has become a standard as media companies invest heavily in the massive convergence of media and technology, making anything available, anytime, and anywhere.”

Below is SAG’s list of recent ‘New Media’ deals chronicled in the white paper which is located HERE.

Developments

• February 4, 2008—Cablevision offers Universal and Warner Bros. movies on
demand the same day they debut on DVD, as long as viewers purchase the
movies on disc.
• February 20-21, 2008—CBS and NBC begin streaming classic shows from their
libraries online in their entirety.
• February 25, 2008—ABC and Cox Communications begin work on a video on
demand (VOD) system that disables fast-forwarding of commercials.
• March 11, 2008—Apple and Lionsgate agree to allow iTunes users to make
digital copies of selected movies to watch on computer, iPod, iPhone or Apple
TV.
• March 12, 2008—Fox and NBC launch Hulu.com, a website that allows users to
watch movies and TV shows for free with “limited commercial interruptions.”
• April 2, 2008—NBC announces it will produce short, original episodes of The
Office, Chuck and Heroes specifically for the Web, beginning in Summer 2008,
along with an original online-only show called Fears, Secrets & Desires.
• April 13, 2008—Yahoo expands its online video presence and ties to big media
and entertainment by acquiring for $160 million the online video platform Maven
Networks, which has deals with CBS Sports, Sony BMG, News Corp.’s Fox
News and other content providers to help manage, distribute and monetize their
video platforms.
• April 16, 2008—Over ten billion online video views in the U.S. in February
2008, a 66 percent gain versus February 2007.
• April 17, 2008—Networks are acquiring the rights to new content to make the
leap from Internet to television as NBC has signed up the series Gemini Division,
and Channel Five has picked web drama Sofia’s Diary.
• April 28, 2008— Warner Bros. TV Group says it is resurrecting its WB Network
TV brand as an ad-supported video network that will offer a mix of new
programming and old series aimed at women viewers.
• April 30, 2008—Sezmi opens up a new set-top box with one terabyte of storage,
a broadband Internet connection, and an antenna.
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• April 30, 2008—Time Warner says it will release all of its DVD titles on VOD
on a day-and-date basis this year.
• May 1, 2008—Hulu launches a YouTube channel of its own, bringing NBC back
to YouTube.
• May 1, 2008—iTunes goes “day and date” with DVDs with new releases and
catalog titles available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner
Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures
Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studio.
• May 2, 2008—Disney-ABC Television Group begins research in collaboration
with Nielsen Co. regarding inserting multiple commercials into ad breaks for
primetime series on its broadband player.
• May 7, 2008—NBC streams free, full episodes of The Office & 30 Rock to
iPhones in unprotected Quicktime format.
• March 13, 2008 – Bob Iger states at a New York media conference that he
expects the Disney to pull in $1 billion in digital revenue this year.
• May 15, 2008—CBS purchases CNET Networks making it one of the 10 most
popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million
unique users per month, and approximately 200 million users worldwide.
• May 19, 2008—NetFlix Web-to-TV set-top box debuts with a price tag of $99.
• May 28, 2008—Blockbuster Inc. announces its intended launch of in-store kiosks
that will allow consumers to download movies onto portable devices in two
minutes.
• June 1, 2008—CBS says it will unveil a new video player that has new ad
targeting (using a content and advertising engine CBS picked up in its acquisition
of Last.fm), content sharing and HD.
• June 2, 2008—A study suggests marketers should adopt VOD sales as VOD ads
are more effective than broadcast ads. The reason is viewers are more likely to
recall a spot seen in an on-demand context than they would an ad on linear TV.
• June 3, 2008—Sony PlayStation launches an original, unscripted monthly series.
• June 4, 2008—CBS will stream its shows online at Yahoo TV, running pre-roll
advertisements.
• June 5, 2008—All BBC TV channels are being prepared to be made available
online.
• June 10, 2008—Disney to stream movies online, offering them for free based on
an ad-supported revenue model.
• June 10, 2008—HBO buys stake in Funny or Die, signing an additional
development deal as well.
• June 10, 2008—NetFlix set-top boxes sell out in less than three weeks.
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• June 11, 2008— GoTV Networks, which produces and syndicates original and
partner programming via mobile and broadband technologies, enters into a
strategic partnership with talent agency CESD to combine GoTV’s production
studio with CESD’s talent roster.
• June 12, 2008—Warner Bros. Television Group announces that its content will
be distributed through branded channels on Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media,
TiVo and Veoh Networks.
• June 16, 2008—Weeds delivers 2.5 million Apple downloads.
• June 18, 2008—YouTube experiments with full-length video, enabling YouTube
to offer more ads per view and other ad opportunities.
• June 19, 2008—Fox airs Rescue Me five-minute minisodes on FX and the Web
in order to rekindle audience interest in the show due to the hiatus during the
WGA strike. The minisodes don’t connect to the new season.
• June 23, 2008—British commercial broadcast giant ITV reports a surge in its
Internet activities with a four-fold rise since its launch in video catch-up, which
allows viewers to watch shows they’ve missed that week since its launch.
• June 24, 2008—ABC syndicates content to Veoh and moves its prime time to the
Web.
• June 27, 2008—Sony to create new movie download service directly to TV that
utilizes the Bravia Internet Link.
• June 30, 2008—Google tests new ad-based content monetization model with Seth
MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy and uses its AdSense advertising
system to syndicate the program to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined
to be visited by the target audience.
• July 15, 2008—Netflix and Microsoft announce a deal that will allow Netflix
subscribers to stream 10,000 movies and TV shows to Microsoft’s Xbox consoles
for viewing on television sets, beginning in Fall 2008. The deal doubles the
number of movies and shows available on Xbox for download.