AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

The New York Times
Google is experimenting with a new method of distributing original material on the Web, and some Hollywood film financiers are betting millions that the company will succeed.
In September, Seth MacFarlane, creator of “Family Guy” on television, will unveil a carefully guarded new project called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.” Unlike “Family [...]

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The Wall Street Journal
Video Programming And Ads to Be Served On TV, Cellphones, Web
The nation’s largest phone companies sell packages of wireless phone service, Internet access and pay TV to consumers. Now they’re taking integration one step further, airing video programming — and selling ads — across all three platforms.
Content and advertising deals used to [...]

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Crave
Sony has just confirmed the rumor we all heard back in April: video downloads will be available on the PS3 this summer. Details right now are scarce, but we do know the service will first be rolled out in the United States, followed by Japan and Europe later in the year. As we mentioned before, [...]

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The Wall Street Journal
Stringer Sees Growth In Download Services, Connected Electronics
After spending the past three years restructuring, Sony Corp. set a new growth strategy centered on video-downloading services and electronic products that can be connected to each other and to the Internet.
The Japanese electronics maker said Thursday that it plans to offer a video-downloading service [...]

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paidContent.org
Sony (NYSE: SNE), which is always on the hunt for a new strategy or direction, has offered up its latest growth plan across its various myriad business lines. As described by a Thomson wire report, the company will focus more on organic investment—$16.7 billion through 2011—than on cost cutting, as it’s done in the past. [...]

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Mashable
Even though there are skeptics, like John Malone of Liberty Media and DirecTV, that think NBC’s large push for online coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games this summer won’t be worth the overall costs, NBC is determined to continue to roll out new features even as the games near.
In partnership with Wave systems’ Wavexpress, a [...]

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Seeking Alpha
Hulu.com, the online video site owned jointly by NBC Universal and News Corporation (Fox) launched earlier this year, currently streams numerous network and cable television programs (and a few movies too), including the majority of NBC’s and Fox’s Primetime lineups. Both Fox.com and NBC.com continue to stream most of their respective programming, either [...]

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NewTeeVee
Quarterlife creator Marshall Herskovitz and I haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, so when I introduced myself to him at the Digital Media Summit in Hollywood, I wasn’t sure if he’d shake my hand or pop me in the face. Turns out Herskovitz was a nice guy and has been very thoughtful — almost meditative — about [...]

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Variety
HBO is getting into bed with Will Ferrell’s FunnyorDie.com Internet vid venture.
Pay cabler has bought a small equity stake in the 2-year-old comedy website and has commissioned 10 half-hours of programming from Funny or Die as part of the deal.
The wide-ranging pact also envisions the two sides partnering on a host of future projects, from [...]

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AdAge.com
Ovation TV is finally ready for its close-up. Ten years after its birth, and one year after a major overhaul and rebirth under new ownership, the now-national arts and culture TV channel has lined up marketing partnerships and integrated promotions to boost subscriber cable systems and attract more marketers by partnering with the [...]

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