High Stakes Poker: Microsoft Folds; Hillary Clinton Doubles Down; Innovators Risk It All For The Reward - MediaBizBuzz May 5

Welcome to SuddenDeath Overtime The steel cage match that was Microsoft vs Yahoo was such a nailbiter that it took until Saturday before we had our denouement and what a tale it was The Democratic primary continues to be at loggerheads we39ll see if Thursday brings any clarity And while we39re in the midst of a recession confirms Warren Buffett last week saw many brightspots Iron Man did 201M worldwide for its opening weekend Grand Theft Auto IV failed to disappoint and Viacom was largely saved by its Rock Star not any particular MTV or VH1 personality but the game After a naval gazing slash introspection slash denial it seems that we39re ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work on a raft of NEXTS platform distribution standards monetizing content and beyond Done DealThree months after tendering its initial offer Microsoft failed to reach terms with Yahoo Rather than pursue a hostile takeover Steve Ballmer withdrew MSFT39s offer on Saturday Here39s a timeline of the two companies taking us from 3997 to the present Since we39re living in a transparent age in this regard Ballmer39s letter to Yang was made public The Wall Street Journal39s Deal Blog dissects it line by line it does little to change Ballmer39s perception as an ogre In Yang39s letter to his constituency he refers to the deal as quotunsolicitedquot and a quotdistractionquot Forbes wonders afterall it was only 4share that separated the two if Ballmer39s hubris killed the deal Now comes more idle speculation PaidContent pontificates on where MSFT might park its 50B war chest Some believe that this bad end puts Yang on notice while others are certain that it39s last call for Ballmer TechCrunch has a poll Venture capitalist Fred Wilson has created a futures market for Yahoo39s stock market close today Who are the winners in this corporate MampampA misfire Google and perhaps AOL who might find itself the belle of the ball vying for the affections of both MSFT and Yahoo Finally the Times Online thinks that it ain39t over until it39s over Make It Work Online VideoThere was something in the air last week On Tuesday the JackMyers Networking Breakfast The Future of Media and Entertainment brought together content creators Dina Kaplan of bliptv and Albie Hecht of Worldwide Biggies our interview with Kaplan and Hecht is here Carat CEO Sarah Fay Shane Steele former head of Interactive Marketing for CocaCola and now a consultant and Jack Haber Colgate Palmolive39s VP for Global Advertising and eBusiness Ed Martin covered the proceedings Researcher Jenny Pearson posted from a somewhat more quantitative perspective Moderator Jack Myers had some afterthoughts I had some observations as well On the left coast the Economics of Social Media conference similarly explored the Future of Online Video with a roster including Google MTV Revision3 and Veoh Ben Silverman told TVWeek that the future of broadcast would be quoteventdrivenquot and that in the fall NBC would be experimenting Its Aussie import Kath ampamp Kim would take TV viewers to the Web for the last scene We39ll see how that flies ShineReveille yes Silverman39s exshingle merged with Goldman Sachs39 Media Rights Capital making it the largest distributor of independently produced TV content MySpaceTV announced that they were rolling out 12 pilots Virginia Heffernan of The New York Times performs a eulogy and waxes nostalgic for the Upfronts while Multichannel News recognizes that it39s cable39s time to shine BusinessWeek39s a bit more pessimistic reporting that cable39s costs are spiraling as it competes Brian Stelter the TVNewser cum Times39 Decoder tracks doings around the stillstealth Viacom pay network With GemStar gobbling up Macrovision whither TVGuide Nikke Finke is certain that they are being gutted while paidContent shows a bit more restraint Apple announced a gamechanger It struck agreements with the six major studios to release their feature films on iTunes the same day as their DVD window release Silicon Alley Insider remarks that there39s simply no upside for MGM to remain above the fray The titles will be sold for 1499 while it39s rumored that Apple is paying the studios 16 a copy Can you say loss leader Regardless the LA Times details how this is a tipping point for Hollywood movie distribution Apple TV has certainly spurred innovation The Times has a chat with a professor from MIT39s Sloan School of Management who thinks that the engame is consolidating your hardware into one box a WiiDVDCablePVR if you will Is Sezmi the answer to his prayers Rafat Ali of paidContent takes a test drive Certainly the long awaited HomeGrid Forum standards between Intel Infineon Texas Instruments and Panasonic are crucial in getting us to that quotLast Milequot Of course TechDirt39s Michael Masnick reminds us that many folks are already combining BitTorrent and RSS feeds to get their content broadcasters need to embrace P2P Gaming Blows UpGaming continues to emerge as a leading entertainment platform For those of you who will never see the inside of Grand Theft Autos IIV The New York Times39 Dave Itzkoff has a guided tour of the byzantine game GTA39s parent Take Two is still enmeshed in EA39s hostile takeover scheme its stock dip seems to indicate that stockholders welcome EA Viacom39s Rock Band shipped 3 million copies and trumpeted 10 million downloaded songs While it seems that the game39s success literally enables Viacom to wager that 100M on its new network a poster on Silicon Alley Insider has this insightful observation quotThere39s more content available than any other game of its kind and it39s actually reasonably priced Add to that the fact that you can now purchase entire albums in rock band form and that some bands will be debuting their albums exclusively on rock band before any other medium Viacom is going to be rock and rolling in dollars RIAA take note this is how to compete with freequot The Price of MusicSpeaking of the RIAA the trade organization lost a landmark case Atlantic v Howell Finding Making songs available on a filesharing network did not in and of itself constitute infringement That hasn39t stopped it from stepping up takedown letters at a University near you ASCAP RIAA39s brotherinarms had a better week winning a rate judgment against AOL Real Networks and Yahoo the cost of streaming music on the Web just went up The XMSirius deadline has again been postponed this time to May 15th Mobile Enters AdolescenceATampampT announced a mobile TV deal with MediaFLO PaidContent thinks it39s DOA Adobe launches its Open Screen initiative recognizing that it39s going to have to provide Flash for the 3G iPhone A resurrected Nokia is tapping into crowdsourcing it allowed its users to iterate Sport Tracker which has since been downloaded 1 million times What conversation is complete without an iPhone rumor A 199 ATampampT subsidy BusinessWeek has a slightly different take than the Times Advertising MakeoverA meeting of the American Association of Advertising Agencies kicked off a flurry of activity in the ad space Nielsen had two announcements the launch of its Digital Strategic Services ostensibly to quotprotectquot brand reputations online monitor yes but protect It also debuted Total Web a metric that combined PC mobile ABC said that it was going to run more ad spots online HearstArgyle39s Boston39s WCVB began testing Backchannelmedia39s interactive TV platform Google TV Ads went live Cox purchased Adify for 300M ComScore emerged unscathed from the Google debacle with a 35 increase in revenues Taking the Risk Knowing When To Cash OutSAG and AMPTP are taking a time out until Wednesday Nikke Finke thinks that the studios are prepared to wait it out until midJuly As we head into the Indiana and North Carolina primaries tomorrow HuffPo39s Thomas B Edsall reports that the Clinton campaign is considering a quotnuclear optionquot using its leverage on the Rules and Bylaws Committee to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations Looking at the time and money spent on the MicrosoftYahoo deal is this a political gamble worth taking

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High Stakes Poker: Microsoft Folds; Hillary Clinton Doubles Down; Innovators Risk It All For The Reward - MediaBizBuzz May 5

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Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

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