Hulu co-owners Comcast, Disney and News Corp. have acquired Providence Equity Partners’ 10 percent share in the joint venture video site for a reported $200 million. The deal has been six months in the making.
If the reported sale price is accurate, Hulu would be valued at about $2 billion.
“With the official exit of Providence Equity, there is wide speculation over the future of Hulu, its existing licensing agreements, and its ability to maintain exclusivity over premium content,” reports MediaPost.
The sale also raises speculation that CEO Jason Kilar may cash out his shares (worth almost $100 million) and exit the company, as first reported by Variety over the summer.
“Thanks to Kilar’s vision and leadership, the service has grown from a single website serving up last night’s episode of ‘The Simpsons’ to a service featuring content from more than 400 partners as well as original series from filmmakers Richard Linklater, Morgan Spurlock, and Kevin Smith,” notes Fast Company in a related article. “Revenue soared 60 percent last year, to $420 million, and is on pace to exceed $600 million this year.”
Hulu Plus has more than 2 million paying subscribers (at $7.99/month) who can view the Hulu library on mobile phones, game consoles, tablets and Apple TV.
A report from Pandora says the Internet radio service will pay more than 2,000 artists over $10,000 during the next year. More than 800 artists will earn more than $50,000 — and very popular artists like Lil Wayne and Drake will earn about $3 million.
Pandora founder Tim Westergren claims Pandora accounts for 6.53 percent of radio listening in the U.S. He argues that if this number were higher, artists would receive much more money from royalties.
He also says his fight to lower royalty fees is not anti-artist, but rather an argument for Pandora to invest more in its development. This would allow Pandora to offer a better product and gain more customers. So although royalties would be lower, the scale would help to ultimately pay artists more.
When asked about Spotify’s impact on Pandora, Westergren remained defiant: “The only thing that’s worrying me is the royalty situation in Washington.”
According to recently published statistics, Spotify’s “revenue grew 151 percent to $244.5 million from 2010 to 2011, [yet] its net losses went up 60 percent to roughly $59 million,” reports TechCrunch.
As Myspace hopes to become relevant again in the crowded Internet ecosystem, CEO Tim Vanderhook recognized the site needed a new design.
“You couldn’t just put a new coat of paint on this thing,” he explains. “You really had to build everything from scratch, you had to rethink what the brand was actually going to stand for, and then you had to give people a totally different experience.”
While Facebook crushed Myspace in the social media realm, nothing really ever took over Myspace’s position as a place to cultivate young musical artists.
The new Myspace features a horizontal screen to accommodate the widescreen laptops and TV’s that are more prevalent in today’s technological landscape. The redesign focuses primarily on creating a “social network for the creative community,” reports Fast Company.
Another interesting development is the inclusion of “a smart, multivariable search function that pulls in all the results across artists, albums, and users,” explains the article.
The site also places importance on playlists and mixes, and will include a drag-and-drop tool for making the lists, according to a promotional video tweeted by Myspace co-owner Justin Timberlake.
Ultimately, Myspace hopes to become a “platform where finding music, playing music, and sharing music are all seamless, coherent parts of the greater experience,” notes Fast Company.
Traditional American newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post have been exploring new ways to produce valuable video content that does not simply emulate television.
The presidential election has provided each with valuable opportunities to experiment with new video techniques.
WSJ has bolstered its video content by using a filterable reverse chronological stream of videos called WorldStream. The application allows reporters to submit videos quickly, and allows for instant editing. This eliminates the time consuming process of calling editors and describing video.
The paper says there is no optimal length for video content. Tablet users prefer longer videos usually, but mobile users prefer short, quick sound bites. This means video producers must cater to both interests.
The New York Times produced more than 20 hours of video surrounding the political conventions, but said the largest challenge was to create unique content in such a saturated market. The paper also experimented with new ways to show viewers that the videos existed, such as tweaking the design and presentation to encourage video clicks.
The Washington Post used Google+ Hangouts as a way to reach users in an attempt to promote a “more casual, living room-style” for its videos.
The video departments for these newspapers are not as large as big cable companies and do not have similar production budgets, so they have to get creative to be successful in video content.
Producer Harvey Weinstein gave the keynote speech during the BFI London Film Festival, during which “the movie mogul pulled no punches when it came to the threat posed to moviemakers by piracy, particularly Internet piracy,” writes The Hollywood Reporter.
“I think we [as an industry] are being done a massive disservice by these companies,” Weinstein said of large companies like YouTube and others, “citing the fact that users can access nine clips of the movie ‘Chicago’ on YouTube and end up watching the whole thing for free,” reports THR.
“We need to rally filmmakers, content providers and musicians around the world,” Weinstein added, noting that those who work on movies are losing potential broadcast fees to video-sharing sites.
He applauded France for its efforts. “If an Internet company steals content, they shut it down,” Weinstein explained. “And let me tell you, Apple France, Yahoo France or Google France, none of them have gone out of business.”
Weinstein also spoke of the threat of consolidation among conglomerate-run U.S. networks.
“He warned of a time in the not-too-distant future whereby the 500-channel world we think offers diversity and choice actually is run by six companies,” explains the article.
Microsoft’s much reported “Do Not Track” (DNT) plan for its forthcoming Internet Explorer 10 “will likely be ignored by the advertisers it is designed to curtail, an ad lobby group confirmed,” writes Business Insider.
A statement from the Digital Advertising Alliance, which represents some 5,000 major advertisers, said: “The DAA does not require companies to honor DNT signals fixed by the browser manufacturers.”
“The trade associations that lead the DAA do not believe that Microsoft’s IE10 browser settings are an appropriate standard for providing consumer choice,” explains the statement. “Machine-driven do not track does not represent user choice; it represents browser-manufacturer choice.”
“The DAA said that The Council of Better Business Bureaus had also promised not to sanction any company that ignored DNT,” reports Business Insider. “The statement is the second overt sign that Microsoft’s DNT signal will be widely ignored on the Web and that users who leave it on will be tracked against their will.”
The board of directors for the Association of National Advertisers described Microsoft’s actions as a “deliberate abuse of open standards” in a letter to CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this month.
Microsoft’s impending releases of its Surface tablet and the Windows 8 operating system suggest a fundamental shift in the company’s structure. While Microsoft traditionally worked with hardware partners, its new focus on the Surface tablet signals a renewed sense of autonomy.
“This is a significant shift,” writes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in this year’s letter to company shareholders. “It impacts how we run the company, how we develop new experiences, and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses.”
Ballmer stresses the fact that while Microsoft has positioned itself as a premium hardware company, it will still continue to work with partners on CE devices such as PCs, tablets and phones.
Microsoft will focus on building devices for specific needs. Ballmer highlights the Xbox and the Surface as Microsoft-made items that address specific needs in the market. Ballmer explains that Microsoft plans to “‘establish one platform’ around Windows across the PC, tablet, phone, server, and cloud,” reports The Verge.
“While Ballmer doesn’t say whether Microsoft is looking to expand Surface hardware beyond the tablet, it’s a safe assumption that if the brand is successful then it will continue to fuel additional devices in future,” notes the post.
“It truly is a new era at Microsoft,” says Ballmer. “We see an unprecedented amount of opportunity for both this year and the long term… I couldn’t be more excited and optimistic.”
Microsoft may be redefining itself as a hardware company with the release of its Surface tablet, but Fast Company suggests this could be a risky move, as “Windows has long been Microsoft’s bread and butter.”
Surface could complicate this, as it pits Microsoft directly against its partners in many other areas; the companies that buy Windows for their PCs will now compete in the competitive tablet market against their partner Microsoft.
And just as Microsoft is re-imagining itself as a company, the newest Windows also pushes boundaries of innovation. The new system uses grids of tiles that essentially bring the tablet experience to both mobile devices and PCs.
“Microsoft has united around a set of design principles that it dubbed Metro, a slick, intuitive, and playful visual language that is seeping into the company’s product portfolio, from Office to Bing to Windows Phone to Xbox, creating a common platform for hardware of all types,” explains Fast Company.
Windows 8 provides a stripped-down interface to emphasize what Microsoft calls an “authentically digital” experience. “It’s not about adornments,” says Sam Moreau, director of user experience for Windows. “It’s about typography, color, motion. That’s the pixel.”
“Windows 8 could also transform the nature of the software giant’s competition with home-run king Apple, potentially reversing a string of embarrassing defeats, especially in the mobile market,” notes the article. “Even more improbably, Microsoft is building this comeback attempt not on its traditional strength — engineering — but on, of all things, design.”
The Author’s Guild has experienced another setback in its battle against Google’s book-scanning project.
Last week, we reported that Google had settled with a group of major publishers. “Now a judge has ruled that the libraries who have provided Google with their books to scan are protected by copyright’s fair use doctrine,” reports Ars Technica.
“While the decision doesn’t guarantee that Google will win — that’s still to be decided in a separate lawsuit — the reasoning of this week’s decision bodes well for Google’s case,” notes the article.
Copyright scholar James Grimmelmann called Judge Harold Baer’s ruling a “near-complete victory” for the libraries.
The decision “makes the case seem so lopsided that it makes the appeal into an uphill battle,” he explains. “Perhaps together with the AAP [American Association of Publishers] settlement, this is a moment for a reevaluation of the Authors Guild’s suit against Google. My estimate of the likelihood of settlement just went up substantially.”
Media analyst Bill Desowitz says that Digital Domain was a significant presence at last week’s VES Summit in Marina del Rey.
“Co-founder and former CEO Scott Ross implored the industry to get behind a trade association and stand up to the studios,” writes Desowitz, “while new CEO Ed Ulbrich discussed the reboot of DD 3.0, which he said was more like 1.0 so far.”
“The business is much too warm and cuddly,” noted Ross, suggesting the studios need to get tougher with directors and VFX companies should negotiate for better compensation. He does not believe now is the time for unionization, although he is not against the idea.
“Ulbrich said the recent bankruptcy and sale to Beijing Galloping and Horse and India’s Reliance has been a wild ride,” adds Desowitz. “They paired up like ‘Survivor’ and now DD has the capitalization to continue as a thriving VFX studio.”
Digital Domain may eventually open a facility in China. “We need to send people over there to help close the [talent] gap,” said Ulbrich. “Going to India allows us to mature in LA by scaling up with larger projects. India is part of the future of the VFX business.”
Desowitz explains that VES emphasized the intersection between creative and business concerns — with an additional focus on how social media is having an impact on decisions. He moderated a panel — “Is Television VFX the Future of Feature Film VFX?” — that addressed being productive with limited resources and leveraging globalization and virtual production.
“Meanwhile, Mary Ann Hughes, VP, Film and Television Production Planning, The Walt Disney Co., suggested that there are no standalone VFX incentives in California (indeed few in the U.S.) and that the problem with convincing legislators to create them is that they insist on proof that production would stay locally even with the incentives.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned last week of the possibility of a “cyber-Pearl Harbor,” suggesting the country is “increasingly vulnerable to foreign computer hackers who could dismantle the nation’s power grid, transportation system, financial networks and government,” reports The New York Times.
Panetta’s speech in New York City was a reaction to “increasing aggressiveness and technological advances by the nation’s adversaries, which officials identified as China, Russia, Iran and militant groups,” notes the article.
“An aggressor nation or extremist group could use these kinds of cyber tools to gain control of critical switches,” Panetta said. “They could derail passenger trains, or even more dangerous, derail passenger trains loaded with lethal chemicals. They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down the power grid across large parts of the country.”
While Pentagon officials say Panetta’s speech was not hyperbole, they also acknowledge that he’s pushing for new legislation on Capitol Hill.
“It would require new standards at critical private-sector infrastructure facilities — like power plants, water treatment facilities and gas pipelines — where a computer breach could cause significant casualties or economic damage,” explains NYT.
“If we detect an imminent threat of attack that will cause significant physical destruction in the United States or kill American citizens, we need to have the option to take action against those who would attack us, to defend this nation when directed by the president,” said Panetta.
It is estimated that by 2016, mobile payments could be a trillion-dollar industry, according to Fast Company. Currently, a mobile-payment race is emerging between tech giants Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon.
It surprised many when Apple didn’t include NFC technology in the iPhone 5. The closest Apple has come thus far with mobile payments is Passbook, which is more of a digital wallet.
As for Google, its Google Wallet has been out for a while with limited success. “But Google’s just made a very important move to expand Wallet in a new direction: Micropayments, online,” notes the article.
“Saying in a tweet that it had ‘started an experiment to help content creators bring high-quality content to the Web,’ Google launched a system that lets users buy Web content for a small fee of between $0.25 and $99,” according to Fast Company.
Also, Facebook’s offer of “in-app frictionless payments via carrier billing” hints at a potentially strong mobile payments future.
“Among the fighters in the Great Tech War, it’s Amazon that’s so far been the quietest in terms of mobile payments,” suggests the article. But there are rumors stirring about Amazon pursuing a low-fee mobile pay solution to compete with the likes of Square.
As Amazon launched its new Paperwhite e-reader and an associated book-lending scheme in the UK, Germany and France, CEO Jeff Bezos spoke on how the company makes no profit on hardware sales.
The Paperwhite is an e-ink powered device featuring a built-in light to put it in direct competition with Barnes & Noble’s Nook Glowlight and Kobo’s Glo.
“Amazon is seeking to distinguish its line-up by offering a subscription package that includes access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library,” writes BBC News.
That would allow for users to borrow up to one book per month from a variety of both famous authors and ones publishing their works through Amazon’s publishing system.
It is consumption like this, of books and movies and TV, that Bezos is counting on. He “made clear that the devices’ success would depend on how many books and other media files were subsequently bought by their owners,” notes the article.
“We want to make money when people use our devices, not when people buy our devices,” he said.
Amazon also wants physical sales. The Lending Library will be tied to the Amazon Prime price, so will include free and fast delivery from physical objects in the Amazon warehouses.
Camera review website Digital Photography Review has launched a new platform called Connect which is “dedicated to the fast growing world of mobile photography,” reports Wired.
DPReview promises to provide detailed reviews of cell phone cameras that focus not only on resolution, but on the “sensors, lenses and software that all contribute to the look and quality of the images,” explains the post.
Connect “will be combining DPReview’s qualitative assessment of performance and image quality with technical testing,” through its partnership with DXO Labs.
Editor Barney Britton says a new studio will help create objectivity for the nine to ten page cell phone camera reviews.
“We’ll be able to test cameras and phones using a common scene which greatly improves on our current setup,” he says. “This means we can shoot from a reasonable distance away on cellphones, avoiding issues with distortion and sharpness that plague attempts to shoot smaller scenes with fixed wide-angle lenses/cameras.”
As reports indicate that the iPhone 4 is the most used-camera in America, DPReview will fill a much needed void of analyzing which cell phone cameras are best. The detailed, respected reviews could incentivize cell phone companies to improve their cameras, speculates Wired.
Toys R Us has entered the video-streaming business with its toysrusmovies.com, “a new digital service for users to stream and download movies and television shows geared toward children,” writes CNN Money.
The prices are on par with Apple’s iTunes, with movies priced at $2.99 for a 24-hour rental and TV shows are $1.99 per episode.
“With this move, Toys R Us is wading into a crowded arena of competitors that include Netflix, Walmart Stores, Amazon and Apple — all of which are growing their online video presence,” explains the article.
According to Toys R Us spokeswoman Katie Reczek, the site’s family-friendly content will set it apart from these other services. Additionally, it won’t require a subscription, so the a la carte approach could be attractive to consumers.
Toys R Us Movies will offer more than 4,000 titles to start. It will also feature new movie releases on the same day the DVDs hit retail stores and TV shows will be available the day after they air, according to the article.
In addition, Toys R Us also announced that its tablet for children, the Tabeo, will launch October 21. A Toys R Us Movies app is in development for the device.