Author: Paul
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WB/UPN Combination Will Hurt Sinclair, Trigger Consolidation
The news this week that the WB and UPN will be merging into one network has many mid-sized station owners shaking. That’s because a lot of markets have one affiliate for each network, but when they combine, one of those stations is going to lose its network affiliation. Already big players like Tribune and CBS…
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So-called HD-Radio, ain’t so HD
John at DIYmedia has posted a good introduction to what is now being called HD-radio, otherwise known as digital radio, or IBOC (acronym for In-Band On Channel). For the low, low price of about $500 you too can buy a digital radio capable of recieving almost-sorta-kinda-near-CD-quality audio on the FM dial, that the NAB and…
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Digital Video May Be Cheaper, but That Doesn’t Mean You’ll Profit
Wired News covers the problem the digital-video only film studio, InDigEnt, is having sustaining success and making money for itself and the filmmakers who take a chance on producing ultra-low-budget flicks on DV instead of film. The problem, of course, is not getting the movies made — it’s getting them distributed, since that’s where the…
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Senators Discuss Plugging the A-Hole
Public Knowledge’s Policy Blog has a rundown summary of today’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Broadcast Flag. According to PK Sen. John Sununu was the hero of the day, questioning why Congress needed to interevene and noting that other technologies, like VHS videotape, flourished without government mandated protections. If there wasn’t a consensus on…
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One the US’s Greatest Publishers Going Out of Business
I’ve always been a fan of Loompanics Unlimited, the publisher of such great titles as The Outlaw’s Bible and Understanding U.S. Identity Documents. Before there was a public internet, Loompanics made good on the notion that information wants to be free, publishing information and ideas that no other book publisher would touch. Loompanics is perhaps…
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Newfangled Field Audio Recorder Shootout: Edirol R-1 vs. Sony MZ-M100 Hi-MD
EQ magazine features a short, but useful, comparison of the new Edirol R-1 compact-flash audio recorder and Sony’s top-of-the-line Hi-minidisc recorder. The reviewer finds them to be pretty equal, with each having its advantages: the Edirol is bigger but has built in mics; the Hi-MD media is a lot cheaper than CFs, and isn’t quite…
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FCC To Start Issuing Backed Up Indecency Fines
It’s been rumored for a while, but apparently now it’s official — the FCC’s Media Bureau is going to start issuing broadcast indecency fines from 2005. They’ll be done in packages which will each be signed off on by the FCC’s Commissioners, and are supposed to provide a little more guidance on what the FCC…
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Catch Up on Your Indecency
Last Thursday the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on “Decency,” and the hearing’s video is now available on-line at the Committee’s website, along with printed statements from the invited guests who gave tesimony. I did short report on the hearing on last Friday’s radioshow, available for listening online. You can also read that headline.…
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Government Handouts and Playing Hardball with Cable and Satellite Win Big Money for Nexstar & Sinclair
Nexstar is this year’s Sinclair Broadcast Group — a medium-sized TV station owner getting aggressive about squeezing cash out of stations any way possible. Nexstar isn’t as outwardly political as Sinclair is — there’s no Nexstar equivalent to Mark Hyman‘s The Point — although it recently refused to air NBC’s controversial “Book of Daniel” on…
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mediageek radioshow headlines: Indecency at the Senate; Google Won’t Pay Telcos; Stern Back on FM… Pirate FM
These are the media news headlines as read on the mediageek radioshow on Jan. 20, 2006: Indecency Day at the Senate Commerce Committee; Consumer Groups Prefer A La Carte; Google Says It Won’t Pay Telcos for Consumer Bandwidth; Stern Gets Pirated. Indecency Day at the Senate Commerce Committee Decency, and indecency was the big topic…