Mediagazer: In 2010, cable TV's ratings put networks on notice (Gary Levin/USA Today)

11:50 AM ET, December 24, 2010

Top News:

Theater operators fight studios' plan to release movies in homes earlier — The chains are trying to build support for preserving ‘theatrical windows.’ — Theater operators are mounting a challenge to plans by Hollywood studios to release movies in the home when they are still in theaters.

Discussion: The Wrap, Media Maverick and Company Town

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Does the FCC Want to Kill Hulu? — One of Washington's proposed conditions on the Comcast-NBC U deal will force the merged company to offer NBC's shows to any Web competitor. — So what does that mean for Hulu, which has already locked up exclusive rights to NBC's Web video?

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Company Town, Media Decoder, NetNewsCheck Latest, Electronista, DailyFinance, Los Angeles Times and SAI, more at Techmeme »

Henry Blodget / The Wire:

Come On, Demand Media, Just Drop The Bogus Accounting — The reason the Demand Media IPO has been delayed, Kara Swisher says, is that the regulators are taking a closer look at the company's accounting. — As well they should. — Because it's unusual.

Discussion: Search Engine Land, NetNewsCheck Latest, CNET News, Techi.com, SAI and BoomTown

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Demand Media's Accounting Is Even More Bogus Than It Seems — Demand Media is making headlines today for disclosing its unorthodox method of accounting in a new filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The so-called content farm, which is trying to get approval for a $125 million IPO …

Discussion: MediaPost, New York Magazine, Yahoo! News and VentureBeat

Jackie Cohen / All Facebook:

Facebook Drives More Video Traffic Than All But Google — Facebook has surpassed Yahoo in the amount of traffic sent to video destinations, although Google still has the lead in this regard. — This comes from a report by Brightcove and TubeMogul based on data what the two call aggregate media sites …

Discussion: Fast Company and MediaPost

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

Should names of Julian Assange accusers be published? — Should news outlets print the names of the two women who have lodged rape allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, considering that their identities have already been widely publicized? Washington City Paper doesn't think so.

Discussion: Das Krapital, New York Magazine, New York Observer and FishbowlDC

Gary Levin / USA Today:

In 2010, cable TV's ratings put networks on notice — Cable networks have been challenging broadcasters' hold on TV viewers for years, but the big networks' lackluster fall is proof of a new parity. — Nielsen figures show the Big 4 and basic cable gained 1% in 2010 as overall viewing continues to rise to a record 34 hours a week.

Discussion: TVWeek.com

Blake Farmer / NPR:

‘Street Papers’ Sold By Homeless Are Thriving … Homeless newspapers around the country have grown by double digits over the past few years, even while most printed publications struggle to keep their paying customers. The so-called street papers create jobs for homeless people, who buy the papers at cost and sell them for a dollar.

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

The Dirty Secret of Connected TV's: Advertising is Not Ready for Prime Time — While more and more online video publishers are connecting with audiences in their living rooms with smart TV's, Blu-ray players and devices such as Roku and Google TV, advertising on these platforms is not yet in place.

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

Tremor Media Coughed Up At Least $65 Million For ScanScout — Tremor Media, a New York-based online video monetization and advertising company, recently acquired streaming ad placement service provider ScanScout for an undisclosed sum. Now, thanks to this SEC filing, we know they spent at least $65 million on the merger.

Discussion: BizReport

Susan Crawford blog:

Why Comcast/NBCU matters — Since January 2010, I've been writing about the Comcast/NBCU merger. Now we're in the end-game - so let's pull some threads together for this last post for the year. — This merger has more angles than a marathon trick-billiards match, but the most important one is this …

Discussion: MediaMemo, Company Town and Multichannel

Longreads:

Foster Kamer: My Top 5 Longreads of 2010 — Foster Kamer (ex-BlackBook + Gawker + Village Voice) is online features and news editor at Esquire. — 2010 was an incredible year for writing, bottom line. Despite the proliferation of things whose output is mostly antagonistic to great writing …

Thanks:markarms