In front of a room-full of potential advertisers at the Digital NewFronts, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt declared "the future is now" for YouTube, which recently passed 1 billion unique visitors monthly. While many would have expected Schmidt to purport that YouTube's content is as good as what's on TV, he made a simple and very clear statement instead: YouTube content is better than TV. 

The event, billed as a "brandcast,” featured celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Macklemore and YouTube personality Felicia Day, but the real star was the platform itself. Schmidt said YouTube is “not a replacement for something that we know," according to Business Insider. “It's a new thing that we have to think about, to program, to curate and build new platforms."

"I thought that YouTube was like TV, but it isn't. I was wrong," added Robert Kyncl, YouTube's global head of content. "TV is one-way. YouTube talks back. TV means reach. YouTube means engagement."Continue reading...

The $60 billion-a-year television broadcast industry is up for grabs as billionaire magnates Barry Diller and Rupert Murdoch square off as consumers continue to cut ties with traditional TV services.

While attending the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas this week, News Corp.'s COO Chase Carey threatened it may end Fox’s 26-year run as a free broadcast channel if US courts continue to allow the Diller-backed Internet startup Aereo to retransmit broadcast programming for free.

News Corp. and Aereo are goalposts at opposite ends of the television playing field. The former pays billions for quality content ranging from NFL games to The Simpsons, Glee, The Following and New Girl. Aereo pays nothing for content that it captures from over-the-air broadcast TV signals via small antennas, which it delivers to computers and smartphones—comparatively cheaply. 

News Corp., defending its fee model for cable and satellite companies, says it is willing to lose viewers and switch to a pay-TV-only offering to undermine and protest Aereo.Continue reading...

Bounce TV just launched in the US with the slogan "TV Our Way." Its first on-air program? Michael Jackson and Diana Ross in The Wiz.

Its schedule is packed with movies with “proven playability among black audiences,” such as A Raisin in the Sun, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, Shackles, Glory, and a week of Richard Pryor comedies. The rest of its on-air lineup features acquired TV shows such as Soul Train, a mix of original programming: sports (primarily, black college football games), documentaries and faith-based programs.

Bounce TV isn't the first or only network targeting African Americans, of course.Continue reading...