CBS's annual holiday party for the press is always the most inclusive of these affairs. The company's minister of propaganda Gil Schwartz makes sure there's plenty of Grey Goose to guzzle, along with trays circulating the room filled with pigs-in-a-blanket and other circa 60s finger food. Like NBC's media soiree last week, this year's CBS shindig was a decidely somber affair compared to years past. It didn't help that last Thursday (as at NBC), stories were circulating that layoffs were in the works at the network (rumors now confirmed.) Yeah, there was a crowd, but it was nowhere near as packed as usual -- the weather was vicious cold with sleet, which certainly kept numbers down. Notably absent was CBS supremo Les Moonves. He's usually a voluble fixture at these events, holding court, enjoying off-the-record sparring with the assembled. Maybe Moonves was held back by bad weather, or maybe it was the ongoing writers strike, CBS's depressed stock price or this catty story by Graef Crystal that moved on Bloomberg (if that link is dead, you can read Nikki Finke's piece about it here) on December 12 noting his hefty compensation package. Something didn't put him in the mood to deal with a bunch of soused impolite questions from a pack of ink-stained wretches.

Still, you have to give CBS and NBC credit for going ahead with their respective parties this year. ABC canceled its holiday festivities for the media that covers the media and Fox, as usual, never planned anything. Don't those guys know that if you give the folks who cover you adult beverages and a buffet, they're more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt?  read more »

CBS's annual holiday party for the press is always the most inclusive of these affairs. The company's minister of propaganda Gil Schwartz makes sure there's plenty of Grey Goose to guzzle, along with trays circulating the room filled with pigs-in-a-blanket and other circa 60s finger food. Like NBC's media soiree last week, this year's CBS shindig was a decidely somber affair compared to years past. It didn't help that last Thursday (as at NBC), stories were circulating that layoffs were in the works at the network (rumors now confirmed.) Yeah, there was a crowd, but it was nowhere near as packed as usual -- the weather was vicious cold with sleet, which certainly kept numbers down. Notably absent was CBS supremo Les Moonves. He's usually a voluble fixture at these events, holding court, enjoying off-the-record sparring with the assembled. Maybe Moonves was held back by bad weather, or maybe it was the ongoing writers strike, CBS's depressed stock price or this catty story by Graef Crystal that moved on Bloomberg (if that link is dead, you can read Nikki Finke's piece about it here) on December 12 noting his hefty compensation package. Something didn't put him in the mood to deal with a bunch of soused impolite questions from a pack of ink-stained wretches.

Still, you have to give CBS and NBC credit for going ahead with their respective parties this year. ABC canceled its holiday festivities for the media that covers the media and Fox, as usual, never planned anything. Don't those guys know that if you give the folks who cover you adult beverages and a buffet, they're more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt?

What else can you say when confronted with modmylife.com, the web site which combines voyeurism with actual remote control?

The general idea is - get ready - viewers of a lifecam (that is, a realtime stream from a portable webcam) can issue commands, which the lifecam-carriers (in this case actors, known as modstars), do their best to carry out. We presume the first rule of robotics applies.

What else can you say when confronted with modmylife.com, the web site which combines voyeurism with actual remote control?

The general idea is - get ready - viewers of a lifecam (that is, a realtime stream from a portable webcam) can issue commands, which the lifecam-carriers (in this case actors, known as modstars), do their best to carry out. We presume the first rule of robotics applies.

Writers Guild of America chief Patric Verrone sent what I'm sure he meant to be a stark warning to U.S. media companies -- that writers and audiences will migrate to the Internet in the event of a prolonged strike. In an interview with the Financial Times (first excerpted on Deadline Hollywood), Verrone said “[there are] entrepreneurial possibilities for the talent community to go directly into production and distribution. With every day that goes by, our members are exploring Internet TV. The ability to explore this business without media conglomerates is becoming a real possibility.” (click here for the rest of the story.)  read more »

Writers Guild of America chief Patric Verrone sent what I'm sure he meant to be a stark warning to U.S. media companies -- that writers and audiences will migrate to the Internet in the event of a prolonged strike. In an interview with the Financial Times (first excerpted on Deadline Hollywood), Verrone said “[there are] entrepreneurial possibilities for the talent community to go directly into production and distribution. With every day that goes by, our members are exploring Internet TV. The ability to explore this business without media conglomerates is becoming a real possibility.” (click here for the rest of the story.)

Porn biz, that is. Not actual porn (you pervs..)

In case you missed the link to this NY Times story on our Media News feed (the block on the right) - a quick summary: Penthouse buys Various, which owns adultfriendfinder.com and a bunch of other 'couples-oriented' porn properties. Media junkies of course recall that the path to the VCR lay through the porn world, and much of the current media expectations of the non-porn-viewing audience (that you can record, watch later, swap, TiVo, etc.) can be directly traced to technology first deployed in the X-rated world.

(more after the break)..  read more »

Porn biz, that is. Not actual porn (you pervs..)

In case you missed the link to this NY Times story on our Media News feed (the block on the right) - a quick summary: Penthouse buys Various, which owns adultfriendfinder.com and a bunch of other 'couples-oriented' porn properties. Media junkies of course recall that the path to the VCR lay through the porn world, and much of the current media expectations of the non-porn-viewing audience (that you can record, watch later, swap, TiVo, etc.) can be directly traced to technology first deployed in the X-rated world.

(more after the break)..

This has been a bad few days for those scribes who cover the TV industry. Using the on-going writers strike for coverage, the networks first force the Television Critics Assoc. to cancel its Winter Press Tour, that January boondoggle held at the swank Ritz Carlton in Pasadena.

(story continues after the break)..  read more »

This has been a bad few days for those scribes who cover the TV industry. Using the on-going writers strike for coverage, the networks first force the Television Critics Assoc. to cancel its Winter Press Tour, that January boondoggle held at the swank Ritz Carlton in Pasadena.

(story continues after the break)..