Digital Entertainment Consortium Nears Tipping Point

How do you make digital entertainment more entertaining? A sprawling consortium of Hollywood content providers, consumer electronics companies, and Internet players said on Sept. 12 that its members are planning to develop a standard that will let consumers buy movies and other digital content once and play them almost anywhere, on any type of device, without the onerous restrictions that have hobbled the growth of digital downloads.

The consortium is called the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE). Its members have been working since May to create rules that will let consumers share their purchased content on a number of devices in the home, or stream them over the Internet to laptops, cell phones, or other electronic gear. "No matter where you are in the world, if you previously purchased Spider-Man 3, you should be able to access Spider-Man and stream it," Mitch Singer, the group's president, said in an interview.

BusinessWeek: Digital Content Wherever You Want It

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MediaPost Publications - TNT Uses Tolls In TV Marketing Ploy - 08/29/2008

TNT is turning to one of the more persuasive promotional techniques to drive tune-in for a new series: a freebie. The network will cover the toll charge for drivers in four metro areas this weekend in support of the premiere of drama "Raising the Bar."

For two-hour periods in the afternoon, drivers in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Atlanta--all top-10 DMAs--and Orlando will be able to go through without having to forage for cash. The promotion runs today in Atlanta and on Monday in the other markets in advance of that night's 10 p.m. Labor Day show debut.

The booths across the toll plazas will be covered in signage. In Atlanta, drivers will sail right through. In the three other markets, they will stop and be handed a card reading, "Your free toll was courtesy of TNT and 'Raising the Bar.' 'Raising the Bar' premieres tonight on TNT."

MediaPost Publications - TNT Uses Tolls In TV Marketing Ploy - 08/29/2008

I can't begin to tell you how many times I personally have been waved off any and all promotional ideas leveraging toll booths. "We can't do it." "The authorities won't let us." "It's too complicated!"

Excuses, excuses, excuses. No more.

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Fox to stream premieres for dorms

In a first, Fox will stream the premiere of "Fringe" and season opener of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" online at the same time as they bow on TV.

But there's a catch: Only computer users on college campuses will be able to log in to watch the simul-stream.

Move helps Fox expose the trend-setting college audience -- who are more likely to have computers than TVs in their dorm rooms -- to the shows. 

Computers logging into Fox.com from a college-based .edu domain will be given full streaming access to "Terminator" on Sept. 8, the same night it returns on Fox, and the series premiere of "Fringe" Sept. 9, when it launches on the net.

Fox to stream premieres for dorms - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety

This is great. Audience segmentation has been greatly enabled by the roll out of client-server database technology. We can apply segmentation to nearly every form of communication we design. Why not!?!?

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