2012 January | Content Delivery and Security Association

Google, UMG, Amazon and Merlin talk digital music (Music Ally)

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

A panel called ‘How to work with the fab four’ was the centrepiece of Midem’s Visionary Monday afternoon session [Jan. 30], moderated by Ted Cohen. The panel comprised Charles Caldas, CEO of Merlin; Zahavah Levine, director of content partnerships for Android at Google; Craig Pape, director of music content acquisition at Amazon; and Rob Wells, president of Universal Music Group’s global digital business. First question: is there room for new digital service players, or does the industry need a year to take a breather?...

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Gannett Misses Earnings Targets On Special Charges, Digital Revenue Up (paidContent)

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

Gannett Co. posted lower than expected earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011 after incurring special charges related to workforce restructuring and asset write-downs. A report also showed that its newspaper empire continues to struggle but that its digital business is up 11 percent for the year. Gannett posted earnings of $0.49 a share for the fourth quarter compared to $0.72 a share for the same quarter one year ago….

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BBC, ITV Sign Landmark Streaming Deals With Sky (The Hollywood Reporter)

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

The BBC and ITV have signed landmark deals with BSkyB allowing their catch-up services to be carried on the Sky platform and be available in millions of homes for the first time. The deals come as Sky prepares to take on rivals including Netflix, which streams content to a variety platforms, and is on a content landgrab of its own….

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Senate cybersecurity bill sparking concerns about government control (The Hill)

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

A comprehensive cybersecurity bill set for a vote in the Senate this week is drawing some late concern from the tech industry that could threaten several years of legislative work. The bill has not been released publicly, but according to sources familiar with its content it takes a light touch approach to regulating network security at firms deemed part of the nation's critical infrastructure….

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Where’s the Fire? Kindle Sales Pushing Six Million for the Quarter (John Paczkowski, All Things Digital)

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

Has anyone seen one of Amazon’s new Kindle Fires in the wild? I haven’t. But evidently they’re everywhere. You just need to know where to look to find them — like Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan. According to Rohan, the Fire is selling very, very well. So well, in fact, that on Sunday evening he raised his estimate for fourth-quarter Fire sales to six million units from five million, proclaiming the device a true tablet market contender….

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How Americans used their phones to assist with purchasing decisions this holiday season (Pew Internet & American Life Project)

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

More than half of adult cell phone owners used their cell phones while they were in a store during the 2011 holiday season to seek help with purchasing decisions. During a 30 day period before and after Christmas: • 38% of cell owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making • 24% of cell owners used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store • 25% of adult cell owners used their phones to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store, to see if they could get a better price somewhere else….

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Upload King’s Quiet Steps (The Wall Street Journal)

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

Megaupload Ltd. founder Kim Dotcom, who flaunted his playboy lifestyle, became the public face of file sharing when he was arrested 10 days ago on charges of online piracy. But one of his main rivals has preferred to keep a lower profile, largely staying out of sight while his company has lobbied Capitol Hill. Christian Schmid is the founder of Switzerland-based RapidShare AG, which, along with Megaupload, is among the world's largest “cyberlockers.”…

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Chuck Parker: A follow-on summary of the Second Screen apps reviewed so far

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

Chuck Parker is Conference Chair of the 2nd Screen Summit (S3), taking place at the Burbank Airport Marriott on Feb. 22. As expected, CES did turn out a few new apps and a few apps updated themselves, providing their consumers a better user experience (and rating in the process). The summary conclusion is that Fanhattan and BuddyTV are now joined by M-Go and Dijit in the front running pack. MediaEcho, Zeebox, IntoNow, GetGlue and TVplus create a second pack. SOA Gear, Clicker, Rovi, Umami, Viggle, TV Dinner, Yap.TV, BravoNow and USAAnywhere make up a 3rd pack. So, enjoy the current score card and check out the list below the graphic to see which apps are still to come, and plan on joining us in Santa Monica at the Second Screen Summit on Feb. 22 to discuss the business models, consumer experiences, and metadata that surrounds this exploding segment of the media industry…. Read more at Parker’s blog here.

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Walmart To Host ‘Twilight’ Blu-ray, DVD Promotion in 2,700 Stores

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

Major Blu-ray/DVD releases continue to garner retail marketing support from mass merchants, with Walmart signing on to promote Summit Entertainment’s “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1” at midnight events across 2,700 locations on Feb. 11. Walmart offers exclusive content for its “Breaking Dawn” Blu-ray and DVD editions, including collectible packaging, a fabric poster, and music videos from soundtrack artists Bruno Mars and Christina Perri. “When it comes to entertainment, Walmart is the destination for new movie releases, video games, music and more,” says Seong Ohm, senior vice president and general manager of entertainment for Walmart U.S., in a statement. “We’re excited to give the millions of Twilight fans a place to unite, celebrate and receive exclusive Breaking Dawn collectibles at a great price.” The “Breaking Dawn” Blu-ray will be available at Walmart for $26.96, while the DVD edition will sell for $22.96 — representing premiums of several dollars over Amazon’s preorder prices for the standard Blu-ray/DVD editions ($22.99/$19.99).

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Megaupload Carries Fallout for Cloud Service Providers

January 30, 2012 · Posted in RSS Feeds · Comments Off

Two companies that stored customer data for Megaupload are facing fallout from the file-hosting site’s shutdown and criminal copyright prosecution by the U.S. government. A letter filed in the case Friday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia noted that Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group could begin deleting data from their servers on Feb. 2, following the government’s execution of search warrants and the copying of some of the data (via AP/NPR). While the government claims that Megaupload encouraged its users to share millions of infringing files, the company insists that millions of its account holders have lost access to family photos and other personal files since the government shut down the site earlier in January. The seeming prospect of account data being deleted has sparked outcry from Megaupload customers (see paidContent and ReadWriteWeb). An attorney for Megaupload tells AP that the company is working with prosecutors to try to preserve the data. Meanwhile, Carpathia said in a statement on Monday that Megaupload users must resolve their data access concerns with Megaupload directly. “Carpathia Hosting does not have, and has never had, access to the content on Megaupload servers and has no mechanism for returning any content residing on such servers to MegaUpload’s customers,” the company says. “We would recommend that anyone who believes that they have content on Megaupload servers contact Megaupload. Please do not contact Carpathia Hosting.” As for Cogent, Seeking Alpha reports that the loss of Megaupload’s business has already held implications for the publicly traded company. “The financial hit [to the company’s stock price] isn’t nearly as bad as the traffic hit of the nearly 50 petabytes per day of data which Cogent delivered, now reduced by around one-fourth,” a SeekingAlpha contributor reckoned last week.

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