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New Media News Every Morning

NBC chief accuses Apple of destroying the music business

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new media newsIn what I believe a desperate move to woo other media companies to support its startup venture Hulu.com, NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker has accused Apple of destroying the music business with its parity pricing strategy implemented in iTunes stores.

Moreover, Zucker believes Apple will also “destroy” the online video business if the traditional media companies will not take a stand against this pricing policy.

You might remember that last month iTunes stopped selling NBC TV shows due to disagreement over price. According to Financial Times, Mr Zucker said “he urged Apple for months to price one programme at $2.99 per download – as opposed to the current $1.99 – as an ‘experiment’ but was rebuffed by Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.”

What is apparent in Zucker’s remarks is his big concern for profits over consumers’ welfare. If this is a reflection of Hulu’s future direction, Zucker might have a hard time finding suckers who are willing to pay more.

Originally posted on October 30, 2007 @ 10:55 am

Download free video editing software at Videothang.com

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internet newsVideoThang is a free software designed for people who just want to share their experiences without reading a manual or uploading to a web site.

This cutting edge software will change the way all consumers share the experiences they’ve captured whether as video or digital pictures.

It speeds sharing as well as feeding the need to get videos to sites such as Facebook and YouTube, but also automatically sizing editing files for easy email sharing for those people who are interested in sharing with the world.

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“Consumers today capture their experience through video and digital photos, and research has shown that 67% of them want to edit before they share, but available software takes too much time to master. With VideoThang, every consumer can quickly create and share their experience and then get back to their life,” said Kathy Sharpe, Founder of VideoThang LLC.

Originally posted on October 19, 2007 @ 5:31 am

Will Radiohead’s set-your-own-price scheme work?

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inrainbows.gifRock band Radiohead is changing the rules of the music industry by allowing their fans to set the price they want to pay for their new album In Rainbows.

You won’t find this new album in your favorite online and offline music stores. Instead, you can go directly to the In Rainbows official website to download this 10-song album.

This new scheme has resulted to mixed reactions from fans and business analysts. Even though it’s too early to predict the outcome of this move, several bands like Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Charlatans and Ash, and Jamiroquai are considering this option as well.

Originally posted on October 11, 2007 @ 1:05 pm

NBC to offer free downloads of popular TV shows

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nbc.jpgThe recent discord between NBC and Apple iTunes over price has resulted to NBC Direct, a new service which will allow users to download and view NBC’s popular primetime and late-night entertainment programming on their desktops for up to one week after broadcast. Beta testing to start this coming October.

The list of programs available at launch will include “Heroes,” “The Office,” “Life,” “Bionic Woman,” “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

“With the creation of this new service, we are acknowledging that now, more than ever, viewers want to be in control of how, when and where they consumer their favorite entertainment. Not only does this feature give them more control, but it also gives them a higher quality video experience,” said NBC Digital Entertainment Executive Vice President Vivi Zigler.

Although other TV networks have maintained their partnership with iTunes, they are also cooking up initiatives similar with NBC’s. For instance, Fox Broadcasting is now offering free season premiere episodes via iTunes of its 7 popular TV shows including “Prison Break” and “Bones”.

Originally posted on September 23, 2007 @ 11:39 pm

Excessive downloading could get you unplugged

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If you find yourself a bit addicted to downloading media files, here’s a warning for you. Cable Internet and entertainment provider Comcast has unplugged several subscribers for excessively downloading music or movies. However, the company declined to give specific headcount of violators.

Excessive here by definition is downloading either 1,000 songs or four feature films per day. Comcast believes these activities slow down the network, adversely affecting other subscribers.

Apparently, the term “unlimited Internet access” is now limited to those passionate people who get high every time they download. I can sense some chaos building up soon for this will surely irk thousands (if not millions) of users nationwide.

Originally posted on September 10, 2007 @ 7:25 am