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From the WSJ: Only Joe Queenan can compare Leno to Hitler
NBC Will Regret Appeasing Leno: Conan was the Czechoslovakia of late-night TV.
Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky
In Shirky’s book, the power of the web is its electronic networks make it easier to create collaborative groups that are larger and more widely distributed than at any other time in history. Acknowledging our natural inclination to create groups (“Human beings are social creatures” p. 14), Shirky argues the new technology is revolutionary because of its cheapness (the collapse of transactional costs makes it easier for people to get together) and enhanced power (sharing and self-assembly are not limited to groups in close neighborhood proximity) in creating groups that are large and more widely distributed than ever before. Large decreases in transaction costs create opportunities that cannot be taken on by existing businesses because no matter how cheap it becomes to perform an activity, there isn’t enough of a payoff to sustain the cost incurred by the large institution (i.e., newspapers, magazines and other print media vs. bloggers). These opportunities allow for loosely structured groups, operating without managerial direction and exist “outside the profit motive” (p. 47). Pointing to the disparate surface manifestations of the group efforts behind the lost Sidekick cell phone, Indian Ocean Tsunami, London subway bombings and
Mock Ken Burns Documentary Chronicles NBC’s Late Night Civil War
“The Late Night War” from Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Dick Cheney of TV
Fans of car crashes and train wrecks might want to check out Monday’s Charlie Rose with Jeff Zucker. Zucker, who Jon Stewart has called the “Dick Cheney of television” for his polyannaish view of the networks late night wars, submitting himself to Rose’s firing squad (Rose began the interview by noting that since Zucker took over in 2000, “things have gone downhill for NBC and it is now in shambles”). While Zucker acknowledged moving Leno to 10 and Conan to the Tonight Show slot as a “mistake,” as an industry friend of mine argued, why would Zucker even agree to this interview?
I won’t argue with Zucker’s assessment of this experiment’s outcome. I know he was trying to find a way to keep Leno and Conan in house and prevent them from moving to the competition. I also believe TV programmers need to take chances in the face of
APOC: mission statement
I’m an avid media consumer, a user and abuser. Ten years ago, I would have lusted after that obscure French heist film, cult television series, or out-of-print 1950s jazz album, spending years hunting them down. They are now clicks away. I have unparalleled access to content and I can join other enthusiastic like-minded communities of people who share my eclectic tastes. These are great times to be a media junkie. And yet, I have hastened the demise of my own business. I foolishly believed in the mantra “content was king,” but it was really distribution that reigned supreme. The entertainment giants’ subsequent loss of control over content distribution has been the “tipping point” into a new media model that is not fully understood.
It’s been fascinating to watch how business decisions have been made with regards to the changing power dynamics of technology on society. I’ve watched as studio after studio
CMG 534 – January 11, 2010
Interesting opening remarks by Jeff Cole, Director of the Center for the Digital Future As a TV programming executive with 20 years of experience, he was preaching to the converted. Scheduling, one component of TV programming, was a real skill — organizing different programs that “flow,” in order to build and retain an audience in a particular day part (daytime, primetime or late night) — so much so, that one of the most successful magazines did nothing more than list TV schedules. Navigating the old media world was easy, but there are too many entertainment choices today with the internet, game consoles. DVDs and DVRs, rendering live viewing as nearly obsolete.
Jeff touched upon the 3 models for acquiring content: stealing, subscriptions (i.e., cable, NetFlix) and advertising (broadcast and cable). I wonder what he thinks of Hulu?
