RED MEAT: TV Upfront Coverage; Yahoo! Can't Catch A Break; Head-Scratching Deals; Data Wars Spark Between Facebook, MySpace, and Google; Political Steel Cage Matches - MediaBizBuzz for May 19

This year39s Upfronts were a modest affair Perhaps they reflected the Zeitgeist skewing lean and mean as the US economy continued to be soft After fending off Microsoft39s Steve Ballmer Jerry Yang learned that there was no rest for the weary as corporate raider Carl Icahn let it be known that he wanted the merger to go through even if he had to singlehandedly replace Yahoo39s entire board Amid that soap opera were a pair of deals that left the punditry divided CBS39s 18B pick up of CNET and Cablevision39s acquisition of Plaxo Last week Facebook MySpace and Google simultaneously launched portable data initiatives inadvertently starting an arms race to quotownquot the most users In record time they39ve come to blows with Facebook launching a denial of service attack on Google39s Friend Connect service In the political sphere no sooner did Hillary Clinton take West Virginia by 40 points that John Edwards39 endorsement of Barack Obama all but erased her victory But whatever residual bitterness remained among Democratic factions seemed to vanish at George Bush39s veiled quotappeasementquot attack of Obama in front of the Israeli Knesset Does human nature require a common enemy to unite And is adversity a requisite for evolutionary growth Lack of content owing to the Writers Strike at the Upfronts meant that networks took different tacts at showing themselves off to best advantage Turner promised relevant ads just like the Web Fox promised 50 less ads Remote Free TV for its fall show Fringe NBCU leveraged its brand equity and Ed Martin weighed in as to their efforts The CW39s Dawn Ostroff curated a stylistic affair designed for the 1834 demo and our Nina Spezzaferro thought it was onthemark NBC39s announcement that it was going to take WNBCNY and make it hyperlocal in the vein of NY1 didn39t sit well with Charlie Warner Jack Myers broke with his tradition of forecasting Upfronts stating outright that quotThe Upfront is no longer a representative indicator of network performance and the information released by the networks is at best questionablequot For our entire coverage of the week go HERE If you39ve two minutes rate your Upfront experienceIf the Upfronts were less about the Bling Yahoo faced intrigues that were positively Byzantine After Icahn made his position known there was a continuum of response Marketwatch39s John Dvorak didn39t mince words he thought that Icahn would destroy Yahoo Mark Cuban one of those named to be on Icahn39s replacement Board made mischief positing a scenario where Google could be cockblocked as a search advertising seller Silicon Alley Insider39s Henry Blodget painted a scenario where Icahn would lose a proxy fight TechCrunch unbidden advised on how to structure a Google deal that would insulate Yahoo Sunday night paidContent was reporting that MSFT and Google were talking again Apparently the Devil you do know is better than the devil you don39t The day after its Upfront CBS raised a few eyebrows with its acquisition of CNET for 18B TechCrunch39s Michael Arrington dissed the deal out of the gate Cynthia Blumfield didn39t get it Madison Avenue however cottoned to it Jupiter let on that they might be onto something if they could sell adds across this broader audience All Things D39s Kara Swisher viewed the deal as an analog for Yahoo39s final act The most insightful take following on the protracted closing of the Clear Channel sale was offered by paidContent39s Steven Rosenbush who looked at the CBSCNET play as the quotsignature deal of 2008quot a manageable acquisition that CBS could pay in cash unlike the Clear Channel sale which was an elephant From Les Moonves himself quotThis is a great way to jump start our position in the internet worldquot Contradicting itself TechCrunch here gives kudos to what it refers to as CBS39s Superdistribution strategy Should CBS get the benefit of the doubt where CNET is concerned CondeNast39s purchase of Arstechnica for a rumored 25M looks genius it39s a destination for smart coverage of technology and will fit well into Wired Digital such a deal Just on the radar Best Buy is acourting Netflix Silicon Alley Insider likes the sound of that With the upcoming release of Sex and the City The Movie the Financial Times has a hoot of a time using the show as a metaphor for the entertainment industry writ large In its view paidfor still trumps free small box beats big box and adults outgun teenagers This much is true the currency of the HBO brand is such that it put a dent in the iTunes store39s inflexible pricing structure with some episodes going for 299 Details here But the LA Times has a bone to pick with the premium channel saying that it had a failure of nerve Rather than shakeup the industry model it plays it safe not upending its preexisting deals with DVD release or being as forwardlooking as rival Showtime Turning to the first strikes in the War Over Data Citizenship TechCrunch publishes a debate among the Gillmore Gang Tempers flare with most holding that Facebook has put themselves in a nowin situation This coincides with Fortune39s less than flattering portrait of Facebook39s financial picture Here39s Facebook39s spin We39re the Cable of the Internet Really Technology continues to befuddle both the judiciary and lawmakers While Congress took the step of registering disapproval after the FCC rollback of crossownership rules it looks like any attempt to undo the decision will be met by veto pen The RIAA learned that a recent ruling that quotmaking availablequot content constituted infringement was incompatible with a binding precedent A mistrial will likely result Strangest of all is the trial over the MySpace suicide where members of a family masqueraded as an amorous boy only to harass a teen to her end where the US Attorney39s Office in LA overreaching since no applicable law is on the books is using a Terms of Service ToS violation as a way to prosecute Think of that precedent How many of us read ToS agreements anyway The mobile space has been flexing its muscle of late The Times describes the technology available in South Korea since forever where Live TV can be seamlessly offered on phones ATampampT details enhancements to its infrastructure for early 2009 Dish Networks is looking for a partner for the mobile spectrum it purchased for a cool 712M no doubt its hurting with steep declines in its subscriber base Techdirt offers a word of caution to the recording industry that is now looking to mobile as its savior Don39t P2P will happen soon Actually it39s already here CloudTrade is offering legal P2P songs by two indie record labels it39s also in talks with UMG Perhaps SonyBMG is striking the right balance It39s entered into an agreement with Dada Entertainment to offer DRMless fulllength MP3s Dada has a 995mo subscriber fee As we inch closer towards the general election John McCain can be seen as the carbon version of quotold mediaquot contesting the new On Saturday Night Live39s season finale he tried a little jujitsu urging the American people to place their trust in someone quotvery very oldquot Did his strategy win the day Decide for yourself amp160

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RED MEAT: TV Upfront Coverage; Yahoo! Can't Catch A Break; Head-Scratching Deals; Data Wars Spark Between Facebook, MySpace, and Google; Political Steel Cage Matches - MediaBizBuzz for May 19

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Jerry Weinstein

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

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RED MEAT: TV Upfront Coverage; Yahoo! Can't Catch A Break; Head-Scratching Deals; Data Wars Spark Between Facebook, MySpace, and Google; Political Steel Cage Matches - MediaBizBuzz for May 19

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

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