A little early, just 'cause: (more posts Saturday Morning)
by Karlene Lukovitz 
by Karl Greenberg Couric Goes Live Online For CBS
The Hollywood Reporter
Katie Couric will anchor a live, daily Webcast for CBS News during both the Democratic and Republican national conventions that will begin after the network's prime-time coverage goes off the air.
The Webcast that will be distributed live on CBSNews.com, CNet.com, YouTube and Google and be produced by Rick Kaplan of the "CBS Evening News." It will last at least 30 minutes, depending on the news of the day, and begin at 11 p.m. ET.
CBS News correspondents and outside bloggers will share their analysis during the program. "Hopefully, these Webcasts will offer users valuable information in a fun and easily accessible way, " says Couric. - Read the whole story...
Leaked TV Shows Offer a 'Pre-Air' Season
Wired
With just a month before fall television programs hit the air, more than 10 highly anticipated shows have leaked online, offering users sneak peaks at "Life on Mars," "Leverage," "Do Not Disturb" and others. The number of leaked shows is steadily increasing and the leaks start as early as May, says Eric Garland, a digital tracking executive.
Welcome to the dawning age of the "pre-air" season, where shows bubble up online several months before their debut on network television. For example, the first episode of J.J. Abrams' highly anticipated supernatural show "Fringe" surfaced on file-sharing networks in June -- three months before its scheduled premiere. - Read the whole story...
Gannett To Cut 1,000 Newspaper Jobs
Reuters
BET Kicks Off Weekly News Program
Associated Press
BET, the TV network aimed at blacks, unveils a weekly news show August 15 that's a cross between Keith Olbermann and Bill Maher -- with an African-American perspective. Its debut is in preparation for the Democratic National Convention.
Called "The Truth with Jeff Johnson" and airing at 11 p.m. on Fridays, the program stars a BET personality who has also been an activist for the NAACP and People for the American Way.
Besides election coverage and commentary on the week's news, Johnson says he wants the show to address topics like the use of vouchers for private schools and health issues relevant to blacks. - Read the whole story...
WPP'S Enfatico Draws Industry Fire
New York Post
Last year, when WPP Group landed an unprecedented deal to create one giant agency to handle Dell's massive account (which had been handled by 800 shops worldwide), it upended the ad business. Lately the ad business has been firing back.
In blogs and private conversations, detractors are counting the days until the deal falls apart. They repeatedly point out that Enfatico is running behind schedule and has yet to produce any advertising for Dell since it won the $4.5 billion contract. Other ad chiefs question if Enfatico will be able to keep top creative talent happy working on one piece of business.
There's a lot riding on Enfatico. If it succeeds, other big clients may want to follow suit. If it fails, it would prove embarrassing and costly for WPP. Enfatico's startup process involves 800 employees and 15 offices; it is about 90% complete with the first ads due by December, say WPP reps. - Read the whole story...
Time Warner's $9.25 Billion Dilemma
BusinessWeek
How Time Warner's chief executive Jeffrey Bewkes decides to spend a $9.25 billion cash windfall arriving later this year will be a crucial test in the eyes of investors.
Some shareholders, wary of Time Warner's track record on acquisitions, see repurchasing shares as the only way to go. But the right deal, such as Scripps Networks Interactive, could help TW bulk up its programming and boost ad and licensing revenues, ultimately lifting the stock.
In the end, Bewkes may split the difference--using some of the cash to buy back shares while scouting overseas for smaller TV, Web, movie and videogame deals. - Read the whole story...
OMD Set To Win Callaway's $50 Mil. Account
Adweek
AT&T Considers ISP Monitoring
The New York Times
In a letter in response to an inquiry made by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, telecom giant AT&T said it was considering ISP-level targeting. According to The New York Times' Saul Hansell, AT&T expressed in its letter more interest in the controversial approach than other big Internet service providers. ISP-level targeting involves deploying a monitoring technology to capture where users go on the Internet in order to serve targeted ads.
AT&T claims that it would deploy ISP targeting "the right way," meaning the advertising system would require customers to agree to being monitored. The opt-in approach is certainly the preferred method of privacy watchdogs, if ISP-monitoring has to be tolerated at all. Currently, most companies that deploy ad targeting offer some kind of opt-out, recording the behaviors of users without asking them first.
The Congressional committee requested information about the ad targeting practices of 33 companies after reports emerged claiming that ISPs like Charter Communications were preparing to track users' surfing behavior through the ISP monitoring service NebuAd. Charter has since suspended its plans to use the service. - Read the whole story...
Obama Rules The Web
Economist
Barack Obama is crushing John McCain when it comes to raising funds on the Web, the Economist reports. In June, the Illinois Senator raised $52 million for his campaign--$31 million of which came from donations of $200 or less. Most of these came from the Web. On Facebook, Obama has 1.3 million supporters to McCain's 200,000. He is also using Twitter, the microblogging service, to spread the word about his every campaign move. Former Howard Dean adviser Andrew Rasiej claims that Obama "understands the DNA of the internet" in a way that John McCain simply does not (McCain has admitted as much).
Peter Daou, Hillary Clinton's Internet director, says that YouTube, more than any other Web site, has had the biggest impact on the race for the White House. For example, artist Will.i.am's pro-Obama "Yes We Can" video has been watched nearly 8 million times since it was unveiled six months ago. Meanwhile, "Raining McCain", the most-watched ode to the Arizona Senator, has been viewed less than 2 million times.
Both candidates also have their own YouTube channels. In all, Obama's videos have been viewed 52 million times, compared to McCain's 9.5 million. Obama's most popular video is his 37-minute speech on race in America; it has been viewed 4.7 million times. Next up: The Google video site is moderating a contest asking users to submit short two-minute videos about why they are supporting either Obama or McCain. - Read the whole story...
Facebook, ConnectU Finally Settle
BBC News
Facebook won final approval to acquire ConnectU, a social networking rival whose founders had accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea, despite an appeal against their agreed out-of-court settlement earlier this year. ConnectU claimed that Facebook misrepresented its value during the settlement talks.
The controversy was all about Microsoft's stake in the social networking giant, as ConnectU's owners were to be given an undisclosed amount of money and Facebook stock as part of the settlement. Following Microsoft's purchase of a one percent stake in October 2007, Facebook was given a valuation of $15 billion, but the company claims that that value shouldn't be used to rate its worth because the deal was specific to Microsoft. Instead, Facebook said its real value was $3-4bn. In exchange for the money and Facebook stock, ConnectU's owners, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (who happen to be Olympic rowers), agreed to hand over to Facebook all the stock they held in ConnectU. - Read the whole story...
Android To Hit Stores in October
The New York Times
The New York Times is reporting that the first Android-powered phones will go on sale in the U.S. as early as October. According to the report, the phones will be created by HTC and run on T-Mobile's nationwide network. Android will be the phone's operating system software.
Many tech blogs are calling the new HTC device the "dream," claiming that it will be able to match many of the capabilities offered by Apple's iPhone and other smartphones, including touchscreen technology. Video of the phone has popped up on YouTube; a Times source who's seen the HTC device claims it matches the one in the video.
Still, the phone's release date is not certain, because the FTC first needs to certify that the Google software and the HTC phone meet network standards. Executives from the three companies hope to announce the phone in September so they can benefit from holiday sales, the Times said. Like the iPhone, users will be able to personalize their phones by downloading third-party software. As Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in an interview yesterday, "We can make more money on mobile than we do on the desktop, eventually." - Read the whole story...
Yahoo Chooses Chapple, Biondi For Board
The Wall Street Journal
Web Spending Overtakes TV In Britain
Reuters
Apple Passes Google In Market Cap
Bloomberg News
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