NBC unveiled a 65-week
schedule of new programming
during a new 'infront'
presentation, offering
advertisers an early glimpse
of spread-out premieres and a
longer timeline to facilitate
the planning of national ad
campaigns. The schedule
includes a new Office
spin-off, a final ER season,
the Summer Olympics and the
SuperBo
more

NBC unveiled a 65-week
schedule of new programming
during a new 'infront'
presentation, offering
advertisers an early glimpse
of spread-out premieres and a
longer timeline to facilitate
the planning of national ad
campaigns. The schedule
includes a new Office
spin-off, a final ER season,
the Summer Olympics and the
SuperBowl. The network
stressed an openness to
collaborating with advertisers
on content, unveiling the new
creative partnership with
Liberty Mutual. The network
also released plans for
online-only shows, including a
sci-fi series, a UGC
confessional show and a
reality show about a hair
salon.


MYSPACE has settled its
litigation with Universal
Music and will soon launch
MySpace Music, a joint venture
with Universal, Sony BMG and
Warner Music. EMI is still
negotiating. MySpace Music
will allow users to stream
music on-demand using an
ad-supported business model.
Downloadable DRM-free tracks
will be offered in some form.
The labels will receive equity
in the JV (and possibly large
upfront cash payments) in
exchange for rights. An
announcement is expected soon
with a launch sometime this
summer.


GOOGLE will layoff 25% of
DoubleClick employees, cutting
around 300 workers. It will
also sell Performics, a
DoubleClick-owned search
engine marketing unit that
conflicts with its dominant
search engine business. In
related news, AT&T expressed
support for Google's Android
mobile phone platform.


COMCAST will launch 'extreme'
high-speed Internet access
today in the Twin Cities using
DOCSIS 3.0. The service will
cost $150 a month and offer
connection speeds of 50 Mbps
down and 5 Mbps up. The
company expects the new
service to reach 20% of its
customers before the end of
the year and its entire
service area by mid-2010. It
will compete with FiOS and
other next-generation Internet
services.


AMAZON has announced an
innovative new service that
lets consumers compare prices
from anywhere in the world -
including the aisle of a
brick-and-mortar store.
TextBuyIt allows users to send
Amazon a text message
containing the UPC or ISBN
code of a product. In return,
they will receive a message
with prices and the chance to
order it directly from Amazon
using their cell phones. It's
a useful new service for
consumers that extends the
price-competitiveness of the
web to the aisle of their
local store. Of course, the
stores may not be too happy
about that. Amazon ruffled
other feathers this week when
it declared that all POD books
sold on Amazon.com must be
printed using its
recently-acquired Booksurge
subsidiary. Book publishers
find the move monopolistic and
downright scary. However,
Amazon says it will allow for
faster shipping times and
better service for consumers.


YAHOO canceled 'The 9,' the
online show dedicated to viral
videos. The company also added
voice-activated searching to
its mobile phone software.
J.D. POWER acquired UMBRIA, a
company that monitors brand
reputations on blogs and
social media sites.

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