AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

NewTeeVee
Josh Catone over at ReadWriteWeb has an interesting suggestion for Warner Bros. to get folks interested in the upcoming superhero feature, Watchmen: Take a page from Trent Reznor’s book. The Nine Inch Nails front man has been experimenting with innovative distribution and marketing schemes ever since his band said farewell to Universal Music, giving away [...]

[Read more →]

Advertising Age
Warner Will Walk a Fine Line as It Markets Batman Flick ‘The Dark Knight’

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” declares Aaron Eckhart in the forthcoming Warner Bros. summer blockbuster “Batman: The Dark Knight.”
Unfortunately, in the case of his co-star Heath Ledger, both possibilities came [...]

[Read more →]

Advertising Age
Also Plans Cartoon Site, KidsWB.com, to Feature Looney Tunes
Hulu may be a singular name, but it isn’t such a singular media property anymore. Time Warner’s Warner Bros. studio unveiled plans today to revive the dormant WB broadcast-TV network as an online-video site, along with another site devoted to KidsWB, its kiddie-TV sibling.
TheWB.com is slated [...]

[Read more →]

paidContent.org
Warner Bros. TV Group is partnering with its Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) sibling Essence magazine on a series of online and broadcast moves, starting with a revamped, video-heavy website for the pub this summer. Then, jumping off from the new Essence.com, WBTVG will work on turning the site’s broadband programming into series for television. [...]

[Read more →]

Oil and Hollywood Don’t Always Mix - The New York Times
LAST fall, just as the movie capital was starting to panic over slowing injections of cash from hedge funds, Warner Brothers struck oil.
The studio, home to Bugs Bunny and Harry Potter, reached an unusual multibillion-dollar agreement with investors in Abu Dhabi. The partners agreed to [...]

[Read more →]

The WB To Be Reincarnated As Streaming Video Site: Report - paidContent.org
Warner Bros. Television Group is giving The WB TV network another chance at life - this time as a new, dedicated website with free, ad-supported streaming video, Mediaweek reports, citing unidentified sources. The site could serve as a repository for all WB-produced series that [...]

[Read more →]

Warner Bros. Unveils Media Lab - TV Week
Warner Bros. introduced its new state-of-the-art media lab Thursday night. The on-site research center will facilitate consumer testing for media content, including broadband, pay-per-view, video-on-demand, wireless and gaming.
The studio teamed up with Hewlett-Packard to set up eight user bays with retractable HD monitors connected to broadband Internet access, [...]

[Read more →]

Wall Street Journal
In a move that could tip the balance of power in the format war over the next generation of DVDs, Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Entertainment said it plans to release high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format, dealing a major blow to rival HD DVD.
The arrangement means the HD DVD format, which [...]

[Read more →]

Cookson to top Sony’s tech unit - Variety
Sony Pictures has tapped Chris Cookson, Warner Bros.’ top tech exec, to take on a newly created role as president of Sony Pictures Technologies.
Cookson, a 15-year WB vet who has been chief technology officer since 1999, will focus on ways in which Sony Pictures Entertainment can work with [...]

[Read more →]

Industry Moves: Gewecke New President, Digital Distribution, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment - paidContent.org
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group fills a gap with the appointment of Thomas Gewecke as president of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD). Gewecke, most recently EVP-global digital business for Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG Music Entertainment, will report to Kevin Tsujihara, the group’s president. [...]

[Read more →]