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VIDEOAGE "PAPER CLIPS": A WEEKLY PRESS REVIEW ***Please scroll down to the bottom of this edition of "Paper Clips" for news on the L.A. Screenings. PROGRAMMING Those waiting
with bated breath for the launch of Al Jazeera International will
have to wait a little longer. The much-hyped Arabic satellite television
Al-Jazeera's English-language channel will be delayed until June
"for technical reasons." Al-Jazeera International is due to transmit
from four regional broadcast centers in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London
and Washington with 250 journalists based in 30 countries. Known for directing
some of the greatest scripts in cinematic history, Steven Spielberg
is now focusing his attention on the unscripted. The venerable U.S.
director has joined forces with reality TV guru Mark Burnett for
On the Lot, a competition/reality show in which the winner
receives a studio deal with DreamWorks. ADVERTISING Though buyers
are almost unanimously predicting that this year's TV upfronts will
bring in approximately the same amount of ad dollars as last year,
nobody knows for sure. According to Advertising Age magazine,
there are three possible outcomes to this year's upfronts: The first,
is that broadcast nets will opt for advertiser-friendly prices,
without raising prices much from last year (something that ABC was
lauded for in 2005). On the other hand, if broadcasters hike up
prices significantly, cable will see serious gains. The third possible
scenario involves this year's "wild card" -- the digital factor.
Website and mobile phone content could mix advertiser dollar allotment
up a bit. CONTROVERSY Two Swedish
filmmakers, Claes Eriksson and Vilgot Sjoman, have won a lawsuit
against Swedish TV channel TV4, claiming it damaged the artistic
integrity of its movies with commercial breaks. The appeals court
in Stockholm said the artists had not given permission for breaks.
Unfortunately, the four-year trial came to an end just after Sjoman
died of a brain hemorrhage on Sunday. EXECUTIVE
SHUFFLE TECHNOLOGY One more boost
for broadband TV: Actor Danny DeVito has announced that he will
create a channel on the broadband entertainment service ClickStar.
The channel, called Jersey Docs, will showcase documentary programming
from around the world. DeVito said he came up with the name and
idea of Jersey Docs years ago but couldn't realize them until technology
made it possible. ClickStar was founded in 2005 by Revelations Entertainment
-- a partnership between Morgan Freeman and producer Lori McCreary
-- with investment from Intel Corp. FILM According to
media analysts Screen Digest, the number of digital movies released
in cinemas around the world has doubled. There were 97 digital releases
in 2005, compared with 47 the year before. China had the highest
number of these releases, followd by the U.S. and Italy. Thanks
to Fox, Warner Bros. and Disney's support of the digital format,
many of last year's most widely-released films were of this more
technologically-advanced format.
What you should know about the L.A. Screenings '06: Because of three concurrent medical conventions, there is a shortage of hotel rooms citywide in L.A. As a consequence, TV buyers will be scattered about town. As usual, however, VideoAge will keep track of the buyers' whereabouts and will continue to deliver to all buyers both copies of its publications in their hotel rooms. The first issue will come out on May 19th (the day after the networks make their announcements), and will focus on Latin America (with a Spanish-language section). The second issue, out on May 23, focuses on DISCOP. More than ever, this year, the two VideoAge L.A. Screenings issues are essential editorial vehicles to reach buyers. To make sure that you'll reach the buyers at the L.A. Screenings, call: +212-288-3933 or e-mail: dsvideoag@aol.com |
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| For more information
on deadlines and special advertising packages, contact Dom Serafini
at dsvideoag@aol.com
This newsletter is also available at www.videoage.org This free service is directed to international television executives. To subscribe, please e-mail us at paperclips@videoageinternational.com. To unsubscribe,
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