If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Major US broadcasters are lining up their digital offerings for consumers, whether they like it or not.

"Television networks increasingly need to make content available to fans no matter where those fans are and what devices they are using," said Greg Ireland, IDC research manager.

Disney-owned ABC is the first major broadcaster to live-stream programming to iPhones and iPads starting this summer for residents of New York City and Philadelphia via WATCH ABC, including local news, daytime talk shows and prime-time dramas. Plans include expansion to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago and eventually, buy-in from all ABC affiliates.

"Many people are starting to wonder if cable is worth keeping, and they're thinking of cutting the cord and going online only since they can get content from Netflix, Amazon and other places,” notes NPR. “Live streaming is a way the broadcast industry is trying to cement the system they've had in place for a long time, even as more people are watching TV and video online. So, they're going where the viewers are going, but they're scared that people are going to cancel their cable subscriptions."Continue reading...

AB InBev reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice over its disputed $20.1 billion acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which faces inquiry over Mexico worker deaths.

GE to buy Lufkin for $3 billion in oil-and-gas-industry play.

PepsiCo seeks to patent novel high-protein nutrition beverages.

Adidas stops controversial sale of t-shirts around injured Louisville player Kevin Ware.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong to be honored for pro-women Makers series.

Apple's former advisor to Steve Jobs admits brand screwed up iPhone naming system.Continue reading...

AT&T is leveraging the popularity of its "It's not complicated" campaign by switching out children from the TV commercials that broke in November with retired basketball stars such as Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Bill Russell for March Madness.

In partnership with the NCAA and Turner Broadcasting's TBS, TNT and truTV, AT&T is showing its social media muscle, pumping out Promoted Tweets from the NCAA's @MarchMadness Twitter handle during numerous college basketball games, such as Florida Gulf Coast's two-game run to the Sweet 16 round.

"We want to provide behind-the-scenes content so people from their living rooms on their couches can be a part of the on-site game experience," said Blair Klein, social, digital and emerging communications lead at AT&T, to Adweek.

"Engaging fans around the things they are passionate about helps live our core values—connecting with customers and allowing them to engage with each other and the brand. This [Twitter-based] program reflects that, as well as the speed of conversation. It ties in with our 'fastest 4G LTE network' copy."Continue reading...

Newcastle Gets Real

Newcastle has taken a new tack in its advertising and it’s all about turning old beer advertising on its head. Beer marketers love to throw “heritage” imagery at consumers to make beer drinkers feel like they are part of something bigger, so Newcastle decided to go back to its roots, the English town of Newcastle, where residents—known as Geordies—are filled with humor and realism. The result? Newcastle’s “No Bollocks” ad campaign.

“If you look at the Geordies, they’re very friendly, down-to-earth; they don’t take themselves too seriously, and tell it like it is. We figured that is a really interesting space for us to be in," says Newcastle Brown Ale Brand Director Charles van Es, according to Fast Company's FastCoCreate blog. "We wanted to use that wit and dry sense of humor as our brand voice. We want to be transparent about the fact that we’re marketing to you and the fact that our beer comes from England.”Continue reading...

Just as infamous murder suspect and police officer Chris Doran was scribbling his now famous manifesto against the Los Angeles Police Department, Hollywood was releasing Gangster Squad. About the LAPD's battle against crime boss Mickey Cohen, the film is just the latest in La-LA land's collection that put a sheen on the efficacy of the department's iconic corruption.

Ironically enough, the real life "gangster squad" that the film was based on was formed by the LAPD in 1946 to preserve Los Angeles' image as, in Gangster Squad author Paul Liberman's own words, "a sun-washed Garden of Eden." Unfortunately, it's the exact same LAPD that has been—more than any other American city's authorities—a scourge to the image of its home. A locked-in vicious cycle of LAPD mythologizing was maybe best captured in yesterday's image of the LA Times homepage announcing the Dorner shootout alongside numerous banner ads for the "raw" LAPD TV drama Southland.

"No city's image is more closely bound to its police department than Los Angeles to the LAPD," John Buntin, author of L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City, told brandchannel. Buntin's book chronicles the LAPD of the Mickey Cohen "Gangster Squad" years and its transition to its Dragnet era and eventually the disaster of the Watts riots.Continue reading...

As news broke on Tuesday afternoon that the authorities had begun closing in on suspected gunman Christopher Dorner, who has for days been the subject of an intense manhunt, the Los Angeles Times found itself hosting a collision of art and reality on the front page of its website.

For a time, the newspaper's coverage was wrapped inside a dominant ad for the TNT police drama "Southland," with images (above) of actor-officers with their guns drawn. Several minutes after the news began unfolding, The Times took the ad down (below). 

The Times explained to brandchannel through a spokesman: "Given the heightened interest and anxiety around this breaking news, The Times and TNT determined that it would be in the best interest of our readers and Southland viewers to temporarily take the ad off the latimes.com homepage."Continue reading...

RIM prepares for BlackBerry 10 global launch this morning.

UPS acquisition of TNT formally blocked by EU.

Boeing had concerns about batteries before Dreamliner failures.

Taco Bell and Volkswagen get heat over their Super Bowl ads as Kia unveils full Space Babies spot.

Toyota recalls 1M Corollas and Lexus sedans.

AT&T bites deeper into Vampire Diaries with social "rehash."

American Airlines signals serious merger intentions with United Airways.

Apple refused bigger damages from judge in Samsung case.

Bob Evans plans to sell Mimi's Cafe.Continue reading...

Cadillac sees its ATS named North American Car of the Year at the North American International Auto Show, while Ram celebrates naming of 1500 as truck/utility vehicle of the year.

Hostess strikes a deal to sell Wonder Bread and other brands plus production facilities to Flower Foods.

HP CEO Meg Whitman receives $15.4 million.

American Express travel cuts point to end of an era.

Apple cuts orders for iPhone parts.

Billabong receives another takeover bid. 

Deutsche Bank reportedly considers 20-percent bonus cuts in Europe.

GM's Chevrolet division relaunches Corvette brand.Continue reading...