Did This Spot Blur the Line Too Much Between What Is Programming and What Is a Commercial?

"The day when commercials are indistinguishable from the programs they support finally arrived -- just before 10 p.m. Eastern on Thursday night [March 11]."

That's the provocative first sentence in an article from Brian Steinberg at our sibling publication, Ad Age.

To see the commercial he's talking about, and read his important, thought-provoking piece, click here.

Discovery Teams with Yahoo for Major Promotion

Discovery Communications is teaming with Yahoo! in major promotion, reports Multichannel News.

The promotion starts on Saturday, March 20th, and it is to push Discovery's big spring programming effort, the 11-part series "Life."

According to the article, "In a first, Discovery will takeover Yahoo!'s home page, including floating elements, on the premiere date. Users will be able to select a Life-themed design that will remain up on the computer for the balance of the day. In another first for the portal, Discovery will have use of Yahoo!'s rich ads in search and have tandem units that interact on the Yahoo! Mail welcome page."

"Life" premiere's on Sunday, March 21.

Leno’s Likability Dropped in Wake of Return to Latenight

The number of people who view NBC’s Jay Leno unfavorably skyrocketed this winter, in the wake of the network’s announcement that he was returning to latenight, according to a Marketing Evaluations Inc. survey,DailyFinance reports.

Marketing Evaluations is better known as the research firm that compiles “Q” scores, which measure likability.

Leno’s positive Q rating was at about 21 last summer, and in the most recent survey was at 19. But his negative Q rating jumped to 35, from 26, an unusually big jump.

Google, Intel, Sony Teaming to Bring Web to TV Sets in Major Way

Google, Intel and Sony are teaming up to develop Google TV, a platform for bringing the Internet to TV sets through new TVs and set-top boxes, the New York Times reports, citing sources.

The technology to be developed, based on Google’s Android operating system now used in smartphones, is expected to make it easier to use Web applications on TV sets. Google will open the TV platform to software developers within a couple months, the paper says.

Tiger Woods' Next Woman Will Be Good For Him

Tiger Woods is headed South to visit another woman, and that could be a good thing, says TVWeek Open Mic blogger Chuck Ross. Click here to read.

Ad Spending Dropped 12 Percent in 2009

The final toll of last year’s bad ad market is becoming clearer: Domestic ad spending dropped 12.3 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, according to statistics being released this morning by WPP’s Kantar Media, the New York Times reports.

The good news? The drop in ad spending in the fourth quarter was just 6 percent compared to a year earlier, a sign that the free fall may be ending. By comparison, ad spending fell 14.2 percent in the first quarter, 13.9 percent in the second quarter and 15.3 percent in the third quarter, the paper says.

Major Renewals for Wendy Williams

Debmar-Mercury has renewed “The Wendy Williams Show” in syndication through 2012 in 80 percent of the country, the company has announced..

The renewals include 18 of the top 20 markets, and 37 of the top 40 markets.

According to the Debmar-Mercury announcement, "In the key female talk demos that count with advertisers, according to season-to-date national barter rankings through Feb. 28, Wendy leads a pack that includes Live with Regis & Kelly, The Doctors and Rachael Ray in the 18-34 age group (and finishes within .08 of Dr. Oz); surpasses Rachael Ray and The Doctors within the 18-49 bracket; and remains in a virtual tie with The Doctors among the 25-54 set."

Posthumous Record Deal For Michael Jackson Tunes is Biggest Record Deal in History

Michael Jackson's estate has made the richest record deal in history, the Associated Press is reporting, citing "a person familiar with the deal."

It's a deal with Sony Music Entertainment for seven projects over the next 10 years.

According to the story, "The record-breaking contract through 2017 could be worth up to $250 million if certain conditions are met. One of the albums will be of never-before-released Jackson recordings that will come out in November, the person said."

A Third Lawsuit Filed Against an Ad Run During This Year's Super Bowl

This year's Super Bowl ads have been incredibly litigious. First, Lindsay Lohan filed a suit against E*Trade for its Super Bowl babies ad.

Then, luxury goods maker Louis Vitton sued Hyundai for using the Vitton logo in one of its Super Bowl ads.

Now, Drive-In Music Company is suing Kia Motors for allegedly ripping off a song it owns, "Let a Woman Be a Woman" by funk group Dyke & the Blazers, in the car maker's Super Bowl ad, the Hollywood Reporter reports.  

Drive-In also named CBS in the suit for airing the commercial in the first place and continuing to air it, as well as the NFL for featuring the ad on its web site.

The ad features toys road tripping across the country in a Kia.  

A Must-Read Article and Must-See Video: The End of Broadcast

Our good friend Harry Jessell, who runs the editorial at TVNewsCheck and who, for many years was a reporter and then the editor who ran B&C, unearthed an important video the other day that everyone connected with TV should watch, regardless if you're in broadcast, cable, satellite, advertising, and in any capacity in these related TV industries.

It's a speech that former Federal Communications Commissioner Reed Hundt delivered at Columbia University. As Jessell says, Hundt "candidly talks about his decision to promote the Internet over broadcasting as the one and only "common medium" for the United States while he was chairman of the FCC between 1994 and 1997, and how his work then will culminate...when the current FCC under his protégé Julius Genachowski unveils the National Broadband Plan [on Wednesday, March 17th.]"

As Jessell notes, Hundt says in the speech, this broadband plan "will reflect ... the end of the era of trying to maintain over-the-air broadcast as the common medium and the beginning of a very detailed, quite substantive, commitment to having broadband, the son of narrowband, be the common medium."

Furthermore, Hundt says,  the "broadband plan will have in it a specific pathway to shrinking the amount of spectrum that broadcast will be able to use. In all previous eras, the government has expanded the spectrum for broadcast so as to give it a chance to thrive as it moved from analog to digital. Now, it's going to be moving in reverse."

To read Jessell's excellent commentary in its entirety, click here. [You may be asked to register.] To see the video of Hundt's speech, click here. Under the video you'll see a little blue arrow that you need to click on to start the video. [The speech lasts about 45 minutes, but it's must-see. Hundt comes on after 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the video. Lots of traffic sometimes affects this video, so if you have problems at first gettin it to work, try again later.]

Another good thought-provoking piece on this issue of National Broadband is one by David Murphy at PCMag.com entitled "Who Hates the National Broadband Plan. Click here to read it.