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“The Influence of Audience” conversation, Saturday July 19
July 14th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

On 7/19 I’ll moderate a discussion on “The Influence of Audience” for BLT LA, at the Luxe Hotel in LA (Sunset @ 405). If you’re interested in attending and haven’t before just email me. If you’ve been there before, you know to avoid the sausage which is shipped via pneumatic tube from Satan.
My .002: Social media has obviously increased discussion of the effect of audiences on the creation of media. But in truth (whether through market testing in TV, multiple mix releases in music, or test screenings of multiple endings for features) the community has always had a role in the birth, growth, and evolution of popular media.

It’s worth taking a look at cases where fans and haters have influenced the direction of major projects; and valuable to discuss, as a creative community, the ways in which communities can be engaged to improve the artistic options and commercial success of media projects.

Please let me know your thoughts and post any comments etc. below – thank you.



Posted: July 14th, 2008 under » Editorial, » Events, » Media.
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Mobile IPO stats
July 9th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

By request: there has been one mobile IPO so far in 08 (OnMobile). There were 16 in 07, 10 of which were in the first half of the year.



Posted: July 9th, 2008 under » Finance.
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… and PE is still up
July 9th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

Unlike the dismal IPO/venture stats we mentioned yesterday, private equity is only slightly (3%) off its stellar, record-setting 2007 total ($313B) - press release is here.



Posted: July 9th, 2008 under » Finance.
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ATT Dumps Dish, at least for now
July 8th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

As expected, AT&T has ended its current five-year agreement with Dish, effective in this December. It did the same with DIRECTV a few months ago. Not clear what the long-term dance will be (or not be) between ATT and satellite - the acquisition speculation is not far behind us. if ATT does want a sat partner, this certainly clears the way for a year-end DTV/Dish bidding war.



Posted: July 8th, 2008 under » Finance, » Media.
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Madonna
July 8th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

Nobody cares



Posted: July 8th, 2008 under » Editorial, » Media.

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No venture-backed IPOs in Q2…
July 8th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

According to the NVCA, there was not as single VC-led IPO in the last quarter. Not one. This follows a slow Q1, in which there were only five.

In the first half of 2007, there were 43.



Posted: July 8th, 2008 under » Finance.
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SITE UPDATE
June 25th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

We are updating the site with new features today. All bugs should be resolved by end of day. Thanks.



Posted: June 25th, 2008 under » Editorial.

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Canoe and the future of cable
June 22nd, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

You may have read about Canoe Ventures, a long-in-development but recently-unveiled consortium of the US cable MSOs to create a national ad sales platform for cable. The venture points underlines the need for cable to modernize its ad sales businesses and compete more effectively. It gets ridiculed for obvious reasons (cable isn’t known for its lightning business response), but the effort could really matter. Will be posting some links re Canoe soon.



Posted: June 22nd, 2008 under » Media.
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On-screen caller ID = The Clapper
March 30th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

Every 18 months, someone trumpets Caller ID displayed on TV (an easy task for a cable modem or DSL obviously) as the long-awaited killer app of interactive TV

If this were true, then (to paraphrase James Carville) the digital TV industry would be the most expensive act of masturabation since Ross Perot’s candidacy.

We have cordless phones now. And, really, you can look at your phone while you watch TV.

Other than your boss, Caller on TV is not interesting to anyone on Earth.



Posted: March 30th, 2008 under » Media.
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ARC: The A&R Channel Site
March 14th, 2008 by Seth Shapiro

Just back from the road after some weeks in Philadelphia, San Francisco and elsewhere, all great.

btw the ARC website has been up for some time here. Please let us know what you think and, especially, if you have any shows or artists we should be looking at. Thanks.



Posted: March 14th, 2008 under » Media.
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