With the launch of the Apple iPad, the retirement of Larry King and the ascension of WikiLeaks, 2010 was a year for the media history books. Here's columnist Jonathan Berr's list of the top media stories of the year.
Apple has just annointed Flipboard, an innovative news aggregation app, as its Application of the Year. It's just one of several such apps that sort of mimic how cable companies operate as bundlers of content. And therein lies the promise of a mass, ad-supported business model.
Dish Network reached an agreement with Fox on Friday, ending a blackout of some channels and ensuring customers will keep getting the World Series. So far, Cablevision subscribers are still out of luck.
In spite of the growing number of Americans interested in watching television on the Internet, a new ABI Research report finds that seven out of eight viewers aren't ready to give up their cable or satellite services just yet.
Studios including Sony Pictures (SNE), Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and Warner Bros. (TWX) are in talks with cable companies about offering movies soon after their theater release for as much as $30 per showing. The companies are in discussions with In Demand, a partnership of Cox Communications, Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable, Bloomberg News reported.
With Apple and Google joining Amazon and Netflix in aiming to channel entertainment to your TV, where does that leave the cable guys and broadband providers? They're all girding to fight it out. The biggest winner: consumers.
Netflix's deal with Epix to add movies from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM to its Watch Instantly service drew bearish reactions from analysts and investors. But the needed deal will help Netflix gain a winning position in the long run.
When the FCC decided in 2004 to start fining broadcasters over the use of fleeting expletives, the agency became a caricature of a state censor. Now, the Second Circuit has ruled that the 'indecency' policy was unconstitutionally vague. So what's next for dirty words?
It's aiming to attract new customers away from cable and satellite providers with a 30-day, no obligation, lock-in-the-price-for-two-years contract. Verizon is also launching a new month-to-month billing plan.
You couldn't ask for a better star to build a new network around than Oprah Winfrey, who just might be the most popular entertainer in America. But will her magic be as potent on cable as it was in broadcast -- and in prime time as it was in daytime?
Oprah returns with a new show that will air in the evening, vying with the big networks for audience share. Her new show could be up against some of the most popular shows on television, competing for eyeballs and top advertising dollars.
While the two sides in this dispute reached a tentative agreement to settle before millions of viewers were left with no Academy Awards telecast, more fights like this are bound to occur. So, don't be too quick to ditch your rabbit ears.
