Mediagazer: Hollywood dreams take digital direction (Claire Atkinson/New York Post)

8:05 AM ET, December 20, 2010

Top News:

Google TV Faces Delays Amid Poor Reviews — Google TV has just enacted its first programming cancellation. — The Consumer Electronics Show next month in Las Vegas was meant to be the great coming-out party for Google's new software for televisions, which adds Web video and other computer smarts to TV sets.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Digital Trends, Guardian, ConceivablyTech, CNET News, Examiner, SlashGear, Electronista, VentureBeat, Daring Fireball, Engadget, SAI, MediaMemo and Technologizer, more at Techmeme »

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

Newspapers in 2010: Another Bad Year, But the Bleeding Slows — The newspaper industry, devastated during the recession, had another bad year in 2010. — Overall, circulation for newspapers in the U.S. declined 5 percent during the six months ended Sept. 30, according to the Audit Bureau …

Thomas E. Weber / The Daily Beast: Cracking the New York Times Popularity Code

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

Online Ads Pull Ahead of Newspapers — This year, for the first time, advertisers will have spent more on Internet ads than on print newspaper ads, according to new estimates from eMarketer. — The digital-marketing research firm says U.S. spending on online ads will hit $25.8 billion …

Discussion: VentureBeat

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:

CNN's New Chief Dives In — As Network Loses Ground, Ken Jautz Moves to Inject ‘Passion and Personality’ — Ken Jautz, the new head of CNN's U.S. network, is getting his hands dirty. — Since taking over in late September, Mr. Jautz has started shuffling programming and personnel …

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Blip.tv Readies HTML5 as its Standard Player, Replacing Flash — While most of the the major video sites and online video services providers are providing HTML5 support, primarily for Apple iOS devices, Blip.tv is going to adopt HTML5 as its standard player for the Web and other platforms …

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Rebooting Web Publishing Design — Let's start by reviewing the basic ingredients of a successful online publishing operation: — 1 / Quick load. — 2 / Ease of operation and update — 3 / Consistent visual identity — 4 / Platform independence — 5 / Open to the rest of the web

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Hollywood dreams take digital direction — Talks between Google and Miramax over a digital-rights deal has some Hollywood insiders seeing green for funding-starved independent studios. — Emile Sherman, one of the producers of “The King's Speech,” an Oscar-worthy movie made for $39 million in 39 days …

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

A Hollywood Brawl: How Soon Is Too Soon for Video on Demand? — LOS ANGELES — Perhaps the biggest fight on Hollywood's horizon involves where and when consumers can watch movies. — Studios want to offer new movies on video-on-demand systems in living rooms about 45 days after the movies arrive in theaters.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Afghan War Just a Slice of U.S. Coverage — As the Obama administration conducted an Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy review this month, the news media did too, and the coverage came peppered with question marks. — The same week that ABC News scheduled a series of segments titled “Afghanistan …

The Independent:

Stephen Glover: Who would want to buy The Times? — Media Studies: The Times has been shedding sales faster than its rivals — There are rumours flying around that in return for being allowed to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB he does not already own, Rupert Murdoch will be required to sell The Times and Sunday Times.

Bradley Johnson / AdAge:

A Sign of Hope in Ad Biz: Help Wanted — Ad Industry Employment Is Starting to See a (Slow) Rebound. Digital Accounts for One in Eight Media Jobs — CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — The recession officially ended in June 2009, yet the U.S. unemployment rate (9.8%) has barely budged from the peak (10.1%) reached during the downturn.

Liz Shannon Miller / GigaOM:

5 Questions With...Boxee CEO Avner Ronen — For this week's Five Questions With..., we've got someone who's never been afraid to speak his mind about the industry. As the CEO of Boxee, Avner Ronen has become a fierce advocate for the viability of streaming content (not to mention a vocal critic of other companies).