ABC Seeking 1.7 Million with 30 Seconds for OSCARS 2012

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Dante Alexander

The OSCARS® race is well underway and prep strategically presses to air-date in regular schedule.  OSCAR® network ABC/Disney has its commercial rates on hand for Oscarcast.

Last week, The Academy and Hollywood played role in half-Pygmalion reconstitute refilling host ranks after set host Brett Ratner’s exit.

Battle of the best movies for year next will have price due: ABC set thirty second corp. airs at $1.6M to $1.7M, similar asking of 2011 fees cum 2012.  Mediaworks reminds entertainment sectors Actor Eddie Murphy’s bow to depart offered affect to low with simultaneous AMPAS statement: Brian Grazer will assume Producer role, Billy Crystal tapped for host.

To restock its lower aud pull with less viewer interest with “The King’s Speech,” over previous year’s “The Hurt Locker” solid viewership, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences expanded its competitive categories.  It increased its number of categories for mega-feature offerings to ten.

The alphabet network also masters the pre-OSCAR® red carpet programming.  Leveraging its current broadcasting agreement for Oscarcast, ABC K.O.’s opposing networks from tapping its lineage to coverage.  Whether industry caters to demand is subjective.  The numbers reveal which studio assumes title to OSCAR® reign.

Two weeks into the bid for Academy Award dominance and Warner Bros. has cast its die into bow for theatrical victor, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.

 

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Brett Ratner Resigns from Oscars – Billy Crystal Host

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Dante Alexander

OSCAR® 2012 answered the question, who will present next season’s bow.

Hollywood’s search for a host to open its annual recognition of cinema’s finest, picked up speed again after another industry mishap, relative to tête-à-tête   This time around producer-director Brett Ratner, X-Men: The Last Stand, partook of entertainment headlines with an abrupt decision to step down from producing next year’s OSCARS®.

Ratner opined view expressing his sentiment of Hollywood and its lackluster performance with production and value.

However, he used an axiom, misstated which drew rapid retort from organizations not in support of marginalization.  What Ratner said created a lash of reaction from entertainment at large, followed by a publicly issued apology, and near immediate reaction from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. A slur remarked during a Q&A, while promoting the film Tower Heist, Ratner, imbued resounding affect on multiple sectors, Hollywood, with general malaise in retrospect.  Actor Eddie Murphy, culled to host next years’ Oscarcast, stepped down from the gig thereafter.  The Academy has queued Don Mischer and Brian Grazer to replace producer lead, Grazer an award-winner of Best Picture Oscar, A Beautiful Mind.

Ratner’s commentary, while considered jest, was perceived derisively, its tone turning a spotlight on homophobic treatment of individuals on a larger platform – globally.

Additional comments the director made in an interview with Howard Stern, and open posturing about sexual lifestyle on Attack of the Show, furthered attention on previous errs. What the director said was paralleled keenly with colloquial reference, to a “cigarette.”

After Ratner’s opinions spread abroad Monday, Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued statement:

“This morning, Brett Ratner submitted his resignation as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards to Academy President Tom Sherak.  Ratner then issued an open letter to the entertainment industry in which he explained his decision.

“He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Sherak said. “Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent.”

The Academy has had its share of temporary woe with Oscar® frontlines – from possible rescheduling plan after Martin Luther King’s passing in the 60’s, to this year’s earlier near mod-host-fail with the beautiful and talented Anne Hathaway and goth-esque thesp, James Franco.  However, The Academy continues to aspire to reinvent and present fresh outlook and modern mainstay.  This week, Hollywood began its annual ritual of presenting its best picks in online and television advertisements, on tract to the Oscars® 2012.

Billy Crystal, previous Oscar® host, has been asked to deliver for the upcoming 2012 season.

Brett Ratner’s apology:

“An Open Letter to the Entertainment Industry from Brett Ratner

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few days, I’ve gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances. To them, and to everyone I’ve hurt and offended, I’d like to apologize publicly and unreservedly.

As difficult as the last few days have been for me, they cannot compare to the experience of any young man or woman who has been the target of offensive slurs or derogatory comments. And they pale in comparison to what any gay, lesbian, or transgender individual must deal with as they confront the many inequalities that continue to plague our world.

So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them. I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn’t count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted. With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I’ve so foolishly perpetuated.

As a first step, I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the

Academy and the high ideals it represents.

I am grateful to GLAAD for engaging me in a dialogue about what we can do together to increase awareness of the important and troubling issues this episode has raised and I look forward to working with them. I am incredibly lucky to have a career in this business that I love with all of my heart and to be able to work alongside so many of my heroes. I deeply regret my actions and I am determined to learn from this experience.

Sincerely,

Brett Ratner”

The outstanding achievement for 2011 will be honoured at the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood, California at the Hollywood & Highland Center®, televised live by ABC Television Network, February 26, 2012.

The Oscars® televises in over 200 countries worldwide, live.

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MGM and Netflix Strike Extended UK-Ireland Licensing Subscription

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Dante Alexander

 

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios announced a licensing deal for a new subscription service, an extended agreement which will offer a broad range of theatrical and first run features for Netflix.

Netflix Inc., and MGM Studios made their plans official Monday, November 7.

The subscription service will open streaming service within the United Kingdom and in Ireland.  Netflix users will receive options to see pay-TV content directly onto their screen televisions, computers, cellular phones, and game consoles and PC tablets.  Burdened with ironing out consumer displeasure with its litany of fees, and its now defunct plans to divide its subscription-based content, Netflix has refined its streaming content offering.

The co. announced in October it changed its plan to divide its company subscription service content into DVD and streaming pay accounts, and said with regard to its plan for subscription service Qwikster,

“It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs,” said Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings.

“This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster.

While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.

We’re constantly improving our streaming selection. We’ve recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.

We value our members, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get movies & TV shows.”

Unique to the Netflix and MGM partnering is the content delivered will be exclusive.

For one year, members with the subscription service will have first–run movies at their remotes and fingertips.  “Developing this relationship further will help us bring our films, both old and new, into the homes of our loyal audiences with the great ease Netflix offers customers,” MGM Prexy of Television Group and Digital, Roma Khanna says.

“Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters,” leading with Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, “21 Jump Street,” with Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Ice Cube, “Zookeeper,” featuring actor Kevin James, and the eagerly anticipated antecedents to director Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy,  “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” will be available under the new content offering slate.

MGM Chief Executive Officers Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, ready for the collaborative co. union expressed, “We are thrilled to grow our partnership with Netflix as they expand into the UK and Ireland.”

“We are delighted to be entering the UK and Ireland with a legendary studio like MGM at our side,” Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. “And we are excited to be extending our relationship with MGM from the U.S. to these important markets and proud to be the exclusive home for their films in the traditional Pay TV window.”

Ireland and UK Netflix members can expect to see the latest addition of pay-for-content media as early as 2012.

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The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part I: Inside Peek

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Dante Alexander

Vampires and were-wolven may dominate tween and adult-cult fan bases, but believe in tradition when it’s shuffled with Hollywood spin – and its marketing deck of cards.  It’s promoted star, next feature in entertainment franchise – The Twilight Saga.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I appeared during ABC and network primetime hours October 19 as an inside look-promote.  The strategic behind the scenes air of the first of the two-parter feature debuted during ABC’s first-run airing of Revenge:  The nighttime soap drama is pulling audience attends since its September bow with its litany of respectable socialites gone bad in Hamptons’ upper crust New York.

The Breaking Dawn air-date emerges synergistically by Summit Entertainment – who unveiled an inside look of the wedding of Bella and Edward; the story of fantasy love interwoven amidst dark teen apathy.  Summit Entertainment plans a Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I release in time for the fall-winter holiday slush with omnipotent marketing queue.

November 8th, the Breaking Dawn album releases, with a single from Bruno Mars, Grammy® Award winner, entitled, “It Will Rain.” Aqualung, Christina Perri, Lucy Schwartz and Sleeping at Last are queued among the artists performing on the highly-anticipated soundtrack.

The feature, directed by Bill Condon meets up the movie’s stars and matches theme with a concert tour to add to the holiday amaze.  A Red Carpet cast appearance is planned for Twilighters nationwide.  Twilighters: upload your TWILIGHT moments for inclusion into the Twilight Saga Time capsule.

Summit Entertainment’s Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I: Red Carpet Event Schedule:

7 November 2011  Atlanta, GA

The Buckhead Theatre
Cast Members Attending: Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli and Jackson Rathbone.  Performance: Christina Perri

8 November 2011  Chicago, IL

House of Blues
Cast Members Attending: Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz and Elizabeth Reaser.  Performance: Christina Perri

9 November 2011   Dallas, TX

The Palladium Ballroom at Gilley’s Dallas
Cast Members Attending: Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli and Jackson Rathbone.  Performance: Christina Perri

10 November 2011  San Francisco, CA

The Fillmore
Cast Members Attending: Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli and Jackson Rathbone.  Performances: Aqualung, Lucy Schwartz and Sleeping at Last

11 November 2011  Salt Lake City, UT

The Rail Event Center
Cast Members Attending: Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli and Jackson Rathbone.  Performances: Aqualung, Lucy Schwartz and Sleeping at Last

§

The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn – Part I opens across North America, Ireland, Spain and United Kingdom screens November 18, 2011.

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Apple iPhone 4S Works with a Few Glitches

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Dante Alexander

by Wired Cinema and Dante Alexander

 

Apple fans across the globe are happily lauding the latest tech-toy release from the Cos’ core solid.

However, in just one week, Apple’s consumer base has noticed several less-than-perfect glitches.

Voice attendant, Siri, and Sprint carrier service have end user issues with lower satisfaction queues.

The iPhone 4S’s outer design remains similar to its iPhone 4 predecessor, the former present with a bit of sleeker edge (its corners are less rounded than the iPhone 4) and svelte packaging.  The iPhones, notorious for outer case necessity to override potential loss of signal receptivity and GPS synchronization, are user-popular for their utility over complication.

This October, several exceptions arose which Apple customers would prefer the corporation expunge.

Yet Apple-favoured phone owners, including entertainment and literary sects, may want more than a better camera function that’s: rock star.

What’s working less than desired:

Appearance: Same old same old.

What iPhone 4 packaged within user interface (touch pad accessibility), iPhone customers noticed as depreciation: The adhesive used faded with usage creating a washed-out panorama of the cellular.

Apple phone users are noticing a similar occurrence with the iPhone 4S’ initial look and “shine.”

The screens of the latest phone release simple aren’t brand-spanking bright.

The upside, loyals with the pomme corp. believe future releases with improve as they’ve seen with the co. brand with impressive upgrades, over time.

Cell phone carrier: Servicing glacially.

Cellular service provider Sprint and its packaged data and reception offerings, has ranked lowest with end user acceptance.  The co. purports its service has not been impacted relative to provisional capability.  Gizmodo identified slower speed averages spot-testing the  iPhone 4S on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon; the iPhone 4 on Verizon and AT&T; the Samsung Galaxy S II on Sprint and T-Mobile; the Motorola Droid Bionic on Verizon, and the HTC Amaze.

The download capabilities within 4G phones toppled iPhone with performance.  Gizmodo offers a U.S. national speed test phone owners can use and learn just what 4G is relative to data up and down streams.

While the iPhones appear to have glacial down with incredibly slow data speeding, AT&T offers quick downloading by contrast, and may be the select choice with a good service plan.  Sprint is averaging best with the iPhone 4S series: it’s been clocked with second fastest downloads and fastest upload.

Siri: Who?

Voice recognition software is hot button for many a sci-fi/tech phone constituent, however iPhone 4S’ Siri is not having a best perform as of late.  iDownloadblog is offering a more hands-on solution to revive Siri, albeit subliminally with “fix.”

Turn off, turn on to reboot:

  • Go to Settings > General > Siri, and turn Siri off, then wait a few seconds
  • Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Your phone will take a few seconds to reboot
  • Go to Settings > General > Siri, and turn Siri back on, then wait a few seconds

iPhone 4S users can take a healthy bite out of their now glitch-free flavoured hardware “Apple.”

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Hollywood’s Footloose – Mid-October U.S. Box Office Races at Snail’s Pace

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Dante Alexander

by Wired Cinema and Dante Alexander

The “town” tries to unfurl a wrinkled brow as the domestic box office sets off at a snail’s breakneck pace.  The quaere is from Hollywood and its projected ticket sales for the weekend.  One of the execs from the city of dreams tipped, “Things were looking better during the day. But I’m sitting here looking at grosses tonight and I’m concerned for the Industry.  What’s worrying me is where are those hardcore movie fans at this point?”  The order for the day is requite within current ordinal number.

Movie Footloose, 2011 remake of the 1983 music dramedy taps in at first place.  The gambling sport for the future, Real Steel hits at second and another remake of 1951 sci-fi feature The Thing from another World, The Thing scares up place for third.

The fret is re the upcoming theatrical holiday seasons.  Whether the weekend’s initial numbers are true indicators of slow audience burn or low economic churn before the next seasonal rush, is the wonder.

The current projections* for the weekend’s start:

New:  1.  Footloose ( Paramount, 3,549 Theaters )  :  Friday $5.7M; Estimated Weekend $17M

2. Real Steel ( DreamWorks/Disney, 2nd Wk, 3,440 Theaters ) : Friday $4.5M; Estimated Weekend $15M

New:  3. The Thing ( Universal, 2,996 Theaters ) : Friday $3.8M; Estimated Weekend $10M

4. The Ides of March ( Sony, 2nd Wk, 2,199 Theaters ) : Friday $2.8M; Estimated Weekend $9M

5. Moneyball ( Sony, 4th Wk, 2,840 Theaters ) : Friday $1.8M, Estimated Weekend $6M

6. The Dolphin Tale (Alcon/Warner Bros, 4th Wk, 3,286 Theaters ) : Friday $1.7M; Estimated Weekend $6M

New:  7. The Big Year ( Fox, 2,150 Theaters ) : Friday $1.3M; Estimated Weekend $4M

 

*[Projections and estimates are for expected North American ticket sales.]

 

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Disney Saddles up Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp and Budget Hi-Low

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Dante Alexander

The spaghetti western favours well with Euro dollar in cost-return and amenably with matched public receptivity.  Today the cowboy-Western mirrors less than prescient box office draw.   Slower acceptance of this niche film class is reflective of Hollywood’s goal of high-concept with story hybrid – to ante up contemporary movies auds interest.

Walt Disney is ready to rustle the genre again with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the Mouse House for a remake of The Lone Ranger.

Not without quaere or projected expenditure reshuffling however.

Low B.O. domestic ticket returns and global returns play up a recumbent albeit conflicted Hollywood diatribe: Westerns are difficult to cull from pitch into magical ticket-sale grail.

“Cowboys and Aliens,” science fiction and fantasy blended with the Old West theme (done mildly successfully with Wild Wild West remake with Will Smith and Kevin Klein) outpoured action-drama, yet impacted audiences with more kitsch than entertainment spectacle.

Hollywood continues debate with production and cost – remake 3:10 to Yuma ($50M) was an effective draw at theatres – yet concept and good story besting supercilious f/x (Cowboys and Aliens and low auds receptivity) remain at odds in sentiment.

Lone Ranger has been within its own Hollywood shuffle; the story specs from trio director Gore Verbinski, actor Johnny Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer include hashing price vs. creative helm without press-ganging mainstay Disney over budget.  A December 21 release date has been tossed back and around again, with cost whittled to $215M: 22% down from the initial projections of $275M.

The Lone Ranger is slated for 2012-2013 release.

Disney heads Richard Ross and Sean Bailey will oversee.

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Steve Jobs Apple Co-Founder Passes

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Dante Alexander

Few affect the world and with far-reaching global implication:  Thomas Alva Edison, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Beethoven, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Michelangelo invented, persevered, trekked, composed, bemused and painted a history now stretching into present.

Apple founder, CEO and trailblazer Steve Jobs follows in historic tradition, and leaves behind an indelible memory of an extraordinary life lived by a dreamer.

Creator of the iPad, iPod and iPhone, Jobs mastered more than will over technological comprisal.  He required rework and revision to the slightest detail, tirelessly and relentlessly developing product line until functionally and ergonomically ready.  At 26 he graced the cover of Time and had earned his first million a year before – hardly limiting for a school dropout.  Jobs left study at Oregon’s Reed College, and after partnering with Steve Wozniak, Apple was introduced from his rents’ garage.  His vision so completely unique and inclinable Apple imponed him out in 1984.

He was only 30.

 

Dreamer 

The irreverent with purpose, Steve Jobs founded computer co. NeXT, later meeting up with Lucasfilm.

History soon had more triumph for its annuls when Job became a major staple in Hollywood theatrical.

He set sights upon Lucasfilm Ltd. relegated from producer-director George Lucas in ’86 for $5 million.  Under his creative mastery, what would become Pixar Animation would eventually yield a breadth of eagerly anticipated animated films.  The successful Toy Story franchise, may have never found its Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recognition without the man behind-the-geek with computer screen.

 

Innovator

1997 Jobs became CEO of NeXT; 2001 he rebooted the dwindling sales of appropriated singles’ music downloads, convincing the music industry to offer songs at $.99 a piece.  The iPod played hour after hour of music people wanted in lieu of entire albums/CDs purchased unwanted.  iTunes.com Jobs ratcheted as a platform persons could use to find their perfect, pitched note.

Editorial director for Billboard Bill Werde sidled, “Other companies sold digital music before Apple.  Other companies made digital music available on computers and digital phones and used it in commercials.  Apple’s brilliance — and I don’t think anyone doubts that this was Steve Jobs‘ brilliance — was that Apple made it exciting and simple and effortless and fun.

“Before Steve Jobs, digital music was math class.  After, it was recess.”

By 2007, Jobs presented the iPhone immediately outdistancing Blackberry and Nokia the instant it was marketed.  2010 Apple lavished the art, design, fashion and entertainment worlds with the iPad, replete with a virtually button-free touch screen unencumbered, and convenience of ease seemingly improved via repeated use.

“Without a doubt when you think of the Mount Rushmore of the music business — pioneers like Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, Clive Davis and Jimmy Iovine — Steve Jobs has earned his prominent place,” Werde redded.

 

Legend

Steve Jobs was a master of creative whim inside corporate chambers and about:  dalliances with Joan Baez and others revealed depth about the private side of one of Forbes magazine’s world’s billionaires.   Job retained place as member with The Walt Disney Company after releasing Pixar Animation – and  became the company’s largest influential shareholder.  Disney, the parent company of ABC network and its manifold, including studio overseer Bob Iger, purchased Pixar from Jobs 2006.

Iger, friends with Jobs expressed he had an “uncanny way of always expecting the impossible to become possible.”

Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America wrote, “Michelle [First Lady] and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs.  Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.”

Apple plans to celebrate Steve Jobs and his life privately in the company; the Jobs family issued statement October 5, “In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family.  We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve.  We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.”

Rememberance will continue to encapsulate the man as myth, techie deity, and legend.

Wall Street summer 2011, Apple’s stock surpassed ExxonMobil in value, a wrinkle within a shining moment, and was the planet’s most coveted corp.

Apple’s future remains unlimited and Steve Jobs, entrepreneur, creative visionary joins the ranks of the cultural avatars of the past.  Jobs passed after changes in health from cancer of the pancreas and intermittent pauses from Apple after completing a kidney transplant.  Merely a scratch upon the surface for quite possibly the world’s most celebrated sage of technology and software advancement – Steve Jobs, innovator, technician, and ingenious spirit shared a technological microcosm – his legacy, and the knowledge all things are truly possible, if we believe, in the impossible.

1996 interview with Steve Jobs on Wall $treet Week

 

“The magic of Steve was that while others simply accepted the status quo, he saw the true potential in everything he touched…”
–  George  Lucas

 

Steve     Jobs

1955 – 2011

 

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Netflix Aims Higher with Dreamworks Animation and Discovery Channel

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Dante Alexander

 

Trends are set in many directions in business and financial sectors and decision-making can make or break consumer following.  September, entertainment content delivery corp. Netflix tested corporate valuation raising its service pricing upwards as high as 60 percent.  This incorporates a second in consumer fees hikes for co. Netflix’s service in 12 years.  The company’s subscriber base dropped just 55,000 March to June in 2007; Netflix announced its price indices would increase again July 12.

Customer pushback effected cancellation of membership with matching derision amidst the latest changes.  Thursday, September 15 corp. overseers acknowledged consumer predilection for the former with estimate its subscription service – the largest America has seen, would comprise nearly 600,000 to $1M less members from June 2011 to current.

“Netflix isn’t looking like it’s as good a deal because their prices are getting higher,” analyst Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities has noted, “and their content isn’t getting any better.  It’s like they have taken the beef away from the buffet.”

The food for thought cycles beneath Netflix’s fail to secure renewed licensing with rights to stream Starz Entertainment content.  The company’s digital and streaming content offerings discontinue with Starz March.  Matched with the reports is Netflix’s biz war with Blockbuster Inc. for consumer follows, loyalty not necessarily issue.

Online streaming over DVD rental by mail is the white elephant in the virtual net room.

Consumer convenience marked the co’s purpose affecting a 17 Mil subscriber base within just three years.  Starz and greater entertainment providers maintained the company recompense with higher licensing fees, affecting Netflix to drive the costs to its customers.  Still the company has managed to continue relationships with distribution companies, creating content delivery platform with Dreamworks and by end of September, renewing delivery contract with Discovery.

Wall Street matched dwindling consumer sentiment with Netflix, lower stock prices, and a 6 billion cost effected to the cos’ shareholders.

For $10 monthly customers signed with Netflix enjoyed opportunity to sample unlimited streaming video and DVD rentals.  Netflix split the services focusing on option to purchase both plans by consumers, running parallel with an increase serviceable cost to $16.  The increase applied to video streaming while DVD rental remained applicable to newer film releases.  In response to price indices made Sept. 1, Netflix subscribers protested with membership cancellations and disapproving opinion via the company‘s website and Facebook account.

The company further complicated consumer displeasure through commentary on its blog, “blog.netflix.com.” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings offered version of an apology to consumers for the indices in pricing, yet continued to focus upon benefits proffered to Netflix’s subscriber base favoring the change.

“When Netflix is evolving rapidly, however, I need to be extra-communicative,” Hastings said on the blog. “This is the key thing I got wrong.

“In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success. We have done very well for a long time by steadily improving our service, without doing much CEO communication. Inside Netflix I say, “Actions speak louder than words,” and we should just keep improving our service.

“But now I see that given the huge changes we have been recently making, I should have personally given a full justification to our members of why we are separating DVD and streaming, and charging for both. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.”

The creation of the DVD rental sector, Netflix’s Qwikster, Hastings’ accolades addresses the company’s subscribers who desire option for DVD access and video games accessibility – under the umbrella of convenience.

“Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to, “Hastings says. “ It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies… It is possible we are moving too fast – it is hard to say.  But going forward, Qwikster will continue to run the best DVD by mail service ever, throughout the United States.  Netflix will offer the best streaming service for TV shows and movies, hopefully on a global basis.”

Netflix.com and Qwikster.com function currently and separate under the cos’ veil.

As of October 3, Qwikster’s site continued to be in pre-launch.

Chris Taylor from Mashable, CNN’s content and media partner compared the entertainment content delivery service to lofty product launch spin, suggesting with a former Coca-Cola employee, Qwikster has become “the worst product launch since New Coke.”

Taylor acknowledges Hastings’ savvy yet remains leery of the cos’ down line.

“As any marketer will tell you, there are some truly awful times to launch a new product — like August, when few potential customers are paying attention, or January, when they’re all shopped out from the holidays,” Taylor writes. “And then there’s launching your new product in the 10th paragraph of an apology for some previous poor communication, as Netflix CEO Reed Hastings did late Sunday with Qwikster. …”

When creating the DVD rental servicing, Netflix did not secure Qwikster’s matching social media queue within social media marketing source Twitter; Mashable’s predilection of Netflix’s management choices, suggest greater platform for social and media commentary.

Reed Hastings’ decision creates reaction twofold: a choice toward co. innovation marked by lowered consumer impression and as an appeal with its foray into an expanding global economy – less favoured by some; acknowledged by others for better or worse, as foresight.

Hollywood understands the meaning of complement.  HBO, which has limitation parameters with its digital content distributing, released Dreamworks Animation from contract two years ahead from agreement; with partnership with Dreamworks, Netflix now receives access to the company’s content-rich digital library.

Prexy of domestic distribution for Sony Pictures TV John Weiser, sees a broader canvassing with content delivery in servicing, noting Netflix is [now] an “important player and a great customer,” adding the two companies were “actively discussing producing original programming together.”

Discovery channel’s renewal deal with Netflix offers Netflix rights to air programming including “Animal Planet” and “Say Yes to the Dress.”

Dreamworks Animation CEO, former lead of Walt Disney Jeffery Katzenberg enumerated, “Netflix has emerged as an innovative brand with an impressive track record for attracting high-quality content providers to its service… we look forward to making DreamWorks Animation titles available to over 24 million Netflix members in the U.S.

“This arrangement allows us to get more value for our content while giving us a greater degree of flexibility in how we distribute it across multiple platforms in today’s evolving digital world.”

Netflix is aiming higher still in the realm of content delivery; The company is pumping $100 million to create and develop new series “House of Cards” and the company continues to forward plan with expansion…

Netflix has added focus toward acquiring North American rights to properties overseas.

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Warner Bros. Uses Social Media Content to “Aim High” on Facebook

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Dante Alexander

 

Innovation less than necessary to film studios’ expanding consumer-to-product reach, SMM, social media marketing is the next grail toward entertainment production.  One Warner Bros. pictures proselytizes to be the next potential media content big.

The “big” comes from the first “social [media] series” the studio believes will etch “interaction” into the attention-challenged user community of social network entity Facebook.

“Aim High,” a thriller and action series from Warner Bros. Digital Distribution sect touts a “next” in generational programming.  The ‘new’ is the series’ plural:  story of HS junior/special fed operative; Facebook end users offer individual profile specs, text and photographs within selection,  their choices made collage into series’ scenes of graffiti tagging, or election for school pres poster mirroring viewer participation.

Heath Corson and Riche Keen, creators and writers of “Aim High” are with complement from Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.  “Facebook is an increasingly influential destination for discovering and acquiring movie and television content,” comprises WBDD prexy Thomas Gewecke.

Potential Facebook user-cheerocracy can send personal details which may appear in varied social devices integral to the series.

McG, producer (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Terminator: Salvation) and Thor Freudenthal (director, Diary of a Wimpy Kid) comprise above the line.  The online series is with tract to tap into the super-million Facebook and online community base, instilling entertainment and brand awareness, with plan. “This effort takes video distribution to a whole new level by making the actual viewing experience personal and social in a truly innovative and entertainment way,” Gewecke says.

Series “LOST,” producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof and – incorporated a similar theme with letter and image submissions from its TV fan collective, woven into the story line near the drama’s end.

“Aim High” features Jackson Rathbone (The Twilight Saga); Greg Germann (Bolt, Ally McBeal); Johnny Pemberton (21 Jump Street); and Aimee Teegrden (Friday Night Lights’).

The series premieres as media content creative October 18, 2011.

 

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