Attention TV Stations and Cable Operators: Another Reminder That the Future, With its Changing Business Models, is Closer Than You Think

Technology marches on, reminding us once again that we need to adopt our business models along with these changes.

Netflix, which has 17,000 titles on demand, has now gone live on Sony Bravia TVs and Blu-Ray players, Multichannel News reports. That means Netfiix titles can be streamed directly by consumers on these devices.

Netflix, which has over 10 million subscribers, is also available on LG TVs and Blu-ray players, but the Sony deal represents a major breakthrough because of the popularity of its products.

Furthermore, Netflix, which has been available on Microsoft's X-Box 360, is also now available on Sony's hughly popular Playstation 3. Right now Playstation 3 owners will need to insert a special disc into those machines to get Netflix over the Internet, but a firmware solution is promised for next year.

The article notes that Netflix's "content partners include Starz Entertainment, MTV Networks and ABC and Disney Channel."

--Chuck Rossa

Vivendi Holding Out for More Money for its NBCU Stake

Vivendi wants more than General Electric is offering for its 20 percent stake in NBC Universal, reports The New York Times DealBook, citing a Wall Street Journal report.

G.E. needs to acquire the stake before it can conclude its deal to sell Comcast a majority stake in NBCU.

DealBook added Vivendi also wants G.E. to acquire at least part of the NBCU stake before the likely close of any Comcast deal, which would protect it should the Comcast deal fall apart.

--Elizabeth Jensen

AOL Spins Off on Its Own Dec. 10

Time Warner and AOL will officially separate Dec. 10, when AOL will begin trading under its own stock symbol, according to Forbes.com.

Forbes quotes All Things Digital's Peter Kafka, who says that AOL's once-lucrative subscription business is "'withering away," that its advertising revenue has been dropping almost two years and the money from a Google search deal is also waning.

Forbes speculates that the hire of Tim Armstrong as AOL CEO could be the decisive factor in the future of the service.

-- Allison J. Waldman

Two Join NBC Universal Integrated Sales Marketing Team

Eileen Kiernan and Sandra Cordova Micek have joined NBC Universal’s Integrated Sales Marketing team as VP of Green is Universal and Healthy at NBCU and VP of Women at NBCU, respectively.

Their function is to oversee NBCU's media deals across different platforms. Kiernan, whose background was with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and Micek, who was at Yahoo!, will report to Maryam Banikarim, senior VP of integrated sales marketing at NBC Universal.

-- Allison J. Waldman

NBC.com Tries Its Hand at VoIP

NBC.com is getting in the Internet phone business, with a free voice over internet protocol (VoIP) application, B&C reports.

The free application is called Communicator, and will offer unlimited calls and text messages, as well as a way for fans to connect with some NBC programs.

--Elizabeth Jensen

NBC Olympics Sales Lagging

NBC’s Vancouver Olympics inventory isn’t sold out, with fewer than 90 days before the event, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Agency estimates are that NBC has about one-third of its avails which still must be sold if sales are to be wrapped before the games begin. By comparison, in late November 2006, the network’s Torino coverage was about 85 percent sold, but that was at a time when the economy was growing.

--Elizabeth Jensen

Second Top Murdoch Adviser Leaves News Corp.

Rupert Murdoch lost another top adviser after the summer departure of News Corp. president Peter Chernin, the New York Times reports.

Executive vice president Gary Ginsberg, who oversaw the company’s communications, investor relations, marketing and corporate responsibility, and played an equally important role as liaison between the conservative Murdoch and the Democratic Party, is stepping down after 11 years.

He’ll leave at the end of the year, and didn’t say what he planned to do. Murdoch called him “one of my most trusted and effective executives over the past decade.”

--Elizabeth Jensen

Univision in Major Deal With Online Service

Univision Communications, which includes Univision, TeleFutura and the Galavision cable network, has made a major deal to bring full-length programming to the Internet's biggest video site, Reuters reports.

The deal, with YouTube.com, is a revenue sharing arrangement, with the majority of the revenues going to Univision, the report says. Revenue will come from ads.

YouTube has done other content deals with other media companies such as the Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner, but the article points out that one of the provisions that makes the Univision deal different is that it will feature full-length content along with shorter programming. 

Univision it TV's leading Spanish-language programmer, and YouTube said there was a "huge demand" for Spanish-language programming on its site, Reuters reported.

--Chuck Ross

New Competitor to Cable TV and Satellite Debuts in L.A. Monday, Nov. 16

A new TV service debuts in Los Angeles today, eventually  hoping to become an alternative to programming distributed by cable and satellite providers.

It's called Sezmi, and snares programming through over-the-air signals (including cable channels that it gets by leasing spectrum from local broadcasters) and the Internet.

According to a story at Technologizer, "Sezmi’s lineup of cable channels isn’t as expansive as a higher-tier package on cable or satellite, but it’s got Animal Planet, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CNN, Comedy Central, Discovery, MSNBC, MTV, Nickelodeon, Oxygen, SyFy, TBS, TCM, TLC, TNT, VH1, and more. The most notable omissions are sports channels–I don’t see ESPN or others in the lineup–and premium movie channels such as HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax. But Sezmi does offer a store that sells and rents movies and TV shows from a library of thousands of titles (powered in part by Roxio’s Cinemanow). You also get access to Internet video such as YouTube and podcasts."

Sezmi charges between $5 and $25 a month.

You can also read more about the service in stories from the Los Angeles Times and Paid Content.

--Chuck Ross

Vivendi Purchase May Portend Sale of NBCU Stake

Vivendi SA won a bidding war for Brazil’s GVT (Holding) SA late last week, which one analyst said is a “clear signal” the company is planning to sell its 20 percent stake in NBC Universal, in order to pay for the new acquisition, Bloomberg reports.

The window for Vivendi to sell its stake opened Sunday. A sale would pave the way for Comcast to take a controlling stake in NBC U.

--Elizabeth Jensen