Blockbuster sides with Blu-ray
Video and game rental chain Blockbuster has reported that Blu-ray titles are significantly outpacing HD-DVD at its stores. As a result the company is to expand the number of stores worldwide offering the Blu-ray format to 1,700 by the middle of next month. Blockbuster will continue to offer Blu-ray and HD-DVD titles through its online rental service, and will offer both formats at its 250 stores that currently carry the two high-definition formats. Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies were introduced to the marketplace in 2006, and Blockbuster began offering all available high-definition formats through its online service as well as select titles in 250 stores in November 2006.

'Sicko' Posted on YouTube Before Documentary's Release
Viewers hoping to get a free look at Michael Moore's newest film, "Sicko," were out of luck Monday after YouTube pulled links to pirated versions of the health care documentary that surfaced on the video-sharing Web site over the weekend. YouTube cited a copyright claim by Lionsgate, which is distributing the $9 million documentary with Weinstein Co. "Sicko" opens nation-wide June 29. A 124-minute version of the film had been posted on YouTube by at least two users. It could be watched in 14 video clips. Each segment had received 500 to 600 views before it was removed. Weinstein Co. was responding aggressively to protect our film. "Sicko" chronicles the struggles of ordinary Americans -- some with insurance coverage, others without -- to navigate the health care bureaucracy. Mr. Moore contrasts the system with those of Canada, France and Great Britain, which have government-run programs, portraying U.S. insurance companies and supportive politicians in both parties as the villains. He ends up accompanying a group of 9/11 rescue workers who had become ill to Cuba, where the film describes them as getting better care and cheaper drugs than at home. Moore's previous targets have included General Motors Corp. in 1989's "Roger & Me" and the Bush administration in "Fahrenheit 9/11." That film also was widely bootlegged and available in a pirated version online around its June 2004 opening. It went on to earn $119 million at the domestic box office.

Top 10 Web Sites by Parent Company and Top 10 Web Sites by Brand, May 2007
Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and Time Warner all received more than 100 mln unique visitors to their Web properties in May 2007.

Consumers switching off 'traditional' TVs
The market for 'traditional' televisions is coming under increasing pressure from devices such as portable DVD players, media players and PC TV tuners, rather than standard TVs and set-top boxes, research reveals. New estimates suggest that about a quarter of the 360 million digital terrestrial television receivers expected to ship globally in 2013 will be in " non-traditional" consumer electronics devices. Non-traditional devices will form a fast-growing segment of the market for silicon receivers of digital terrestrial video. The small footprint, low power and low cost of silicon solutions will extend the opportunity for delivering digital broadcast television to consumers. The market will expand from traditional TV and set-top box applications to other fixed and portable consumer electronics devices. Predictions that the global digital terrestrial television market's development patterns will be influenced by regional adoption of broadcast standards. Most industrialised countries have already settled on one of several available standards for fixed and mobile digital video broadcast, with variants on digital video broadcasting leading the way.

Gone in 30 Seconds
As they have for more than half a century, thousands of advertising executives, art directors, writers and moviemakers converge tomorrow in Cannes, France, for the industry's annual Oscars week -- the Lions festival, which honors the year's best ads. The superstars of the show are the 30-second TV commercials submitted by ad agencies. But as the creative types gather to honor one another, the 30-second TV spot is imperiled as never before. Its competition: A dizzying array of digital and Internet options, many of which produce instant results and valuable consumer data, something that TV ads cannot. Once upon a time, ad firms dreamed up campaigns on sketchbooks and typewriters, and bought television network time in 30-second chunks. Now, if agencies do not know how to use Internet search algorithms and data analysis, how to build turnkey e-commerce sites with Flash video, how to shoot viral video and plant the results on YouTube, they are increasingly useless to clients. The pop-culture idea of a Madison Avenue adman -- "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" or Darrin Stephens from "Bewitched" -- is becoming a fading afterimage in today's ad industry. Consumers are spending more time online and less watching network television. When they do watch, more viewers have the ability to use TiVo to bypass ads. Consumers demand more from their advertising -- they want product information, consumer reviews and purchase options, not just a glib message pitched by a celebrity. And they want information tailored for them, not a mass audience. The signs of change are seen in dollars. In 2006, network television advertising revenue increased 2% while Internet ad spending rose 35%, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said. It is clear that ad money is moving to the Internet from traditional advertising. This year, TNS Media Intelligence predicts that all ad spending will grow 1.7% compared with last year. TNS also said Internet ad spending would rise 16% and network TV revenue would rise 1.3%.

‘Daily Show,’ ‘Colbert’ viewers most informed about news
Despite all the new ways of getting news, The Atlantic Monthly reports that Americans don’t know appreciably more about current events than they did before 24/7 news became the norm. There is an exception: People who get their news from the web and viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report know a lot more about the news. A Pew Research Center study found that Americans’ awareness of the U.S. government, current events and international affairs is pretty much the same as it was in 1989. However… The most knowledgeable Americans were those who got their news from the Web sites of major papers and those who watched programs like The Colbert Report or The Daily Show; they correctly answered 54% of the questions about current affairs, while regular viewers of local TV news and network morning shows got only about 35% right. Of course, there’s the question of cause and effect here: it’s possible Daily Show and Colbert watch those shows because they know more about the news - a prerequisite to understanding the jokes. Still, in case you think we pop culture junkies are wasting our brain cells - “Respondents who demonstrated a “high” knowledge of politics and world events were also adept at identifying celebrities such as Beyoncé Knowles.”

IPv6 to Boost US Government Security
Federal migration toward IPv6 could become a "wildcard catalyst" driving US government security improvements. "Many agencies will be operating in dual-mode during the transition and will need to configure and support their IPv4 and IPv6 networks at the same time. If firewalls or intrusion detection systems are not properly configured to recognise IPv6 traffic, IP packet switching networks can be exploited to deliver malware. Such configuration should be supervised at an enterprise level, but many agencies are not set up for this at the moment. The Government Insights report predicts that, as Federal agencies take a risk management approach to security vulnerabilities, they will increasingly be forced to deploy enterprise-wide configuration management tools. The study recommends that agencies make security automation software part of their IPv6 network transition plan, and use this software to set and monitor configuration settings. By standardising and enforcing security configurations, and managing access controls across multiple systems, government agencies will address the IPv6 issue, and simultaneously address multiple network security shortcomings. These include patch management, software programming, interface requirements and monitoring configuration settings for accidental or malicious changes.

A Battle for Europe's Airwaves
Europe's media and telecommunications industries are suiting up for another battle over valuable airspace. With large swaths of spectrum coming up for sale over the next two years, broadcasters, mobile-phone operators and providers backing new wireless technologies like WiMAX are jockeying to influence how regulators in Britain and across the continent will handle the allocation. At least five European countries are planning auctions for this year or next. At stake is the future of broadcasting and communications, since many of the licenses coming up are for 20 years. The auctions will also influence devices, services and technologies that the average person uses to watch TV, make phone calls and surf the Net. It's reminiscent of the frenzied 2001 auctions for 3G airspace, in which mobile operators plunked down more than $100 billion for licenses to gain access to a band of high-frequency 2.2-gigahertz spectrum. But this time regulators are releasing several slices of spectrum, including two key tranches. One is in the traditional low-frequency analog-broadcast range, generally around 400 to 800 megahertz, which is freeing up as countries switch from analog to digital TV. Another is in the 2.6-gigahertz range. Britain plans a broadcast-spectrum auction in 2009, and other countries, including France and Ireland, could follow. Some, like Germany, are simply allocating switchover spectrum rather than auctioning it. Many incumbents fear that regulators such as Britain's Office of Communications (OFCOM) will loosen bidding rules so that players in one industry can bid on spectrum that has long belonged to another. Broadcasters could potentially lose airspace to mobile and WiMAX companies, which covet broadcasters' low-frequency spectrum, where signals travel much farther than they do in mobile's higher frequencies. Likewise, mobile operators are concerned that regulators will let WiMAX and other providers bid on higher-frequency 2.6-gigahertz waves that regulators had reserved for mobile operators six years ago. Regulators pledged the band to mobile carriers like Vodafone and Orange in 2000 and 2001, when European mobile operators spent their billions on spectrum for advanced 3G services that are still behind schedule In theory any spectrum can transmit any type of signal, so a purely free market would allow a mobile vendor to outbid a broadcaster for airwaves, much as a trendy restaurateur might bump an old shoe shop off Main Street by paying higher rent. But broadcasters and mobile operators that have invested decades and hundreds of billions of dollars housing businesses in specific frequencies say completely free markets are nonsense.

Porn Industry Says U.S. Mobile Market is Tough to Crack
The porn industry has so far been unable to deliver its adult content by mobile phones in the U.S. largely because telecoms carriers have been unwilling to risk a public backlash, said sex film producers at the Digital Hollywood conference last week in Santa Monica. While mobile porn is popular in Europe and other parts of the world, where mobile carriers can block minors from viewing porn, U.S carriers have declined to adopt age verification infrastructure—or take any other steps to peddle porn—for fear of the reaction from conservative Americans, said Clint Fayling, of BrickHouse Mobile, which bundles porn content for mobile phones in Europe. “The carriers make so much money on voice, and it’s a lot to have them stick their head out there and compromise a base that’s largely Midwest or largely family to say we have adult content,” he said, during a porn panel. Despite concerns of the carriers, porn industry insiders still see a huge opportunity in mobile porn. Sex content is widely believed to account for 60-80% of Internet traffic, and it’s expected to become a $3.3 billion mobile industry globally by 2011, according to Juniper Research. “I think the revenue potential is massive,” said Jay Grdina, who operates the Playboy-owned ClubJenna, formed around adult film star Jenna Jameson. But for mobile carriers in the U.S., data services—and especially video—are still a small part of their business. Even assuming porn would become a large part of that, risking any voice business drop off from negative PR just isn’t worth it yet, said Mr. Fayling, who offers soft-core porn content for U.S. No carriers were represented on the panel. Those concerns were confirmed earlier this year, when Canadian carrier Telus quietly began delivering explicit porn clips through an age-restricted system. The carrier was quickly bombarded by the Catholic church, which led protest that included shareholders dumping stocks and customer lawsuits. Less than a month later, Telus phones were porn-free again. Such a reaction is a little puzzling, given that porn already is widely distributed across the Internet, on cable TV, and video-on-demand channels in the U.S. without much fuss.

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