I Wanna Be On®

Weinstein Era Drawing to A Close

The Weinstein Company will be waking up to a new day with a harsh reality-- obsolescence.

Suffice it to say, Harvey Weinstein was the ultimate power broker at Oscars past.  This year, the most crucial year in his entire Hollywood career, he drew a blank!

Besides their bankruptcy attorneys, will anyone be returning the Weinstein's calls after the parties tonight?

NBC's Olympic Figure Skating Coverage: Conclusive Proof of The Great Depression Revisited!

Scott Hamilton-- what really happened behind the grunts?

Professor Presti has not studied economics since Oxford, but NBC's Figure Skating Olympic Coverage must be considered a major economic indicator, akin to unemployment reports.

Last night as I Wanna Be On was studying Olympic coverage, we noticed a disturbing absence during the Women's Figure Skating Medal's Ceremony-- no screen graphics!  As compared with previous coverage, the Olympic Figure Skating Commentators did not use a single graphic during the entire coverage period!  There were no explanations of jumps or weaknesses contained therein without screen graphics back up.

Based on the commentary quality of the figure skating events, Professor Presti concludes that NBC could simply not afford a graphics generator to supplement event coverage.  In the context of the bigger picture and Conan's parting-monologue swipes at NBC and its Winter Olympic-related losses, I Wanna Be On concludes that the total economy must be suffering from a great depression-type malaise.

While you may not readily accept our conclusion since it represents a major extrapolation of quasi-related media events on economic variables, I Wanna Be On wants our readers and clients to think about the following ten (10) factors:

1. Shifts away from economic concerns have been based primarily on positive news stories.
2. Negative economic news and undesirable economic shifts do not receive equal press coverage.
3. Major moves in the stock market are driven by non-economic fundamentals and acceptance of optimistic media stories.
4. Almost 25% of homeowners hold mortgages that are "underwater"-- a recent news story that has received barely a mention from the major news outlets.
5. The criminalization of investment bankers and Madoff-types have distracted attention away from meaningful analysis of underlying fundamentals.
6. Has anyone seen any insightful news stories on international trade, even with the Greek debt crisis, and its impact on economic growth?
7. Unemployment numbers are the greatest fictional story since Harry Potter-- every time reports contain a decrease, they never discuss how much is attributable to unemployed people who have given up looking for work.
8. Consumer prices are extremely unstable and are most susceptible to hedge-fund and commodity speculators (who need much more regulatory scrutiny than the investment bankers), though no news outlet discusses the run up in oil price speculation in 2008 prior to the economic meltdown.
9. Companies that are reporting significant growth in the last 18 months should be attributing any positive news to either the disappearance of competitors or bargain-basement merger price opportunities.
10. Like with Hollywood financial reporting tactics, the American public has been instructed to think about the "good" economic news (i.e., Box Office numbers), not the "bad" economic news (i.e., future project financing, unemployed agents and producers, etc.).

 I Wanna Be On puts forth this theory for our readers and clients to ponder in the post-Olympic economic environment when we will see the "true valuation" of endorsement deals for Gold Medalists.  If those numbers are not strong or falter, like potential viewers for Jay Leno's return to late night, NBC may need to get some investment coin from Kim Yu-Na for its future programming initiatives.

I Wanna Be On welcomes your thoughts on the foregoing, so please comment and email us.

Why Do YOU Wanna Be On?

We wanna know!  So e-mail us you "wannabe" dreamer or "celebrity burnout"! 

Professor Presti can help you achieve your dreams.

 

iPad: The Adobe vs. Apple Battleground

Apple has once again fostered hype and interest in its latest gadget, the iPad. While most rumors focused on a holographic-interface and other ground-breaking features, the actual device is somewhat underwhelming to many.

That said, the iPad represents a tremendous turning point in Apple's history as well as media content distribution through the iTunes Store. iPad could effectively become a portable television should various licensing agreement gods favorably align to Apple's vision of entertainment content and delivery.

So why would Apple cut Adobe's Flash Player plug-in out of their second mobile device after doing so with the iPhone?  Why remove access to another highly popular method of content distribution?

Why is Apple so adverse to deploying Adobe's Flash on its device?

According to the Wall Street Journal, Steve Jobs believes that "plug-ins create instability on the Mac OS" and does not want Adobe Flash Player running on the Apple device platform. Adobe responds to Mr. Jobs' concerns that it has developed a version of Flash that runs on smartphone platforms, as well as its Apple's new iPad, if Apple would only allow the plug-in into the walled garden of iPhone OS.

Also, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch claimed last week that forcing developers to never use plugins in favor of HTML5 will set back multimedia on the Web for years.

HTML5 — The new standard

Industry cognescenti are betting that HTML5 will be replace Flash as the new video Internet standard. Google's YouTube has even implemented HTML5 as a player for some of its videos as an experiment. Should HTML5 succeed to challenge Flash as a viable Internet video interface, Adobe would have to revisit its entire platform strategy.

However, HTML5 has not been approved as a formal standard and may not be for another decade.  While some browsers support proposed tags for HTML5, others do not, especially Internet Explorer.  Some users of Internet Explorer will receive spotty and undocumented support for HTML5 while users of older versions will receive none at all.

Test Some bloggers, like Richard Leggett, have provided great a review of the main technical issues with the Adobe and Apple Flash feud.  In particular, the fact that Flash was developed for a different PC chip platform outside Apple's ARM chip architecture.  This fact, along with H.264 broadcast fees required for new HTML5 broadcasting, will make the shift from Flash to HTML5 somewhat challenging.

 Moreover, Flash 10.1 and its impact on CPUs and device battery life may well be the ultimate differentiating selling point if Apple's push for HTML5 eventual success.  The current Flash landscape for developers and programmers and their ability to adapt will ultimately determine if HTML5 will become the new normal Internet interface.

Most importantly, browser compatability and component integration to operate HTML5 will be the biggest hurdle for Apple to succeed in declaring Flash's death.  Whether or not Microsoft will cradt IE to operate efficiently with HTML5 technology will be a major factor in this feud.

The battle of walled gardens

Apple has much to gain if its HTML5 strategy succeeds.  For example, Wall Street Journal reports that Apple may have approached Microsoft for participating in its Bing search engine as an alternative to Google.  Though Google and Apple may be cooperating in creating the new HTML5 standard, both companies have some bitterness from the iPhone v. Android battle.  Hence, Apple may be looking for alternatives to Google's dominace in search engine technology.

Should HTML5 live up to Apple's hype, Apple may be able to develop an amazing video search engine (which could entice Microsoft to adapt its IE browsers) to rival Google, especially if Bing could start chipping away at Google's market dominace.

Just think, if Apple and Microsoft have a market advantage in HTML5, what will that do for launching a viable Internet alternative to YouTube?  The possibilities are boundless, given the fact that Apple has become an innovative device company with a content complement through its iTunes Store,  Watch out for the HTML5 Apps!

So what's next? 

The iCam!  It is my opinion that Apple needs HTML5 to succeed so that it has a new device platform to capture and exploit.  If Apple can launch a new HTML5 HD camcorder, the amatuer and professional filmmaking world will be in a midst of a major revolution!  In addition to potential search engine strategy, Apple could begin to revisit its Final Cut Pro software offerings and launch a cloud application for online video editing (depending on how HTML5 evolves from its current incarnation).  These are truly exciting times and Apple could be undertaking a major shift in home electronics as it challenges Flash's dominance for Internet video.  Stay tuned for the next episode-  Same Apple Time, Different Apple Internet channel!

Image courtesy Apple Computer

NBC Should Replace Scott Hamilton with Conan for Remaining Figure Skating Competitions!

Check out this clip to confirm I Wanna Be On's headline:

 

 

NBC Olympic Figure Skating Commentary: Did It Follow Conan Off the Air?

I Wanna Be On® is amazed that Scott Hamilton is actually covering Olympic Figure Skating.  So far, his commentary for both Pairs and the Men’s Short has been practically non-existent!

Is the absence of constructive and meaningful commentary a result of NBC budget issues or a protest to Conan’s departure?  It is all rather perplexing.

Professor Presti cannot believe the silence during the majority of the figure skating competition events, especially as compared with other Olympic event coverage.  NBC has not even been identifying the figure skaters’ music selections.  Did NBC pay the licensing fees?  Or, perhaps, is this Conan’s revenge for his pronouncement about how much money NBC was losing on its coverage of the Winter Olympic?  Whatever the cause, I hope NBC will remedy this problem before the Men’s Long Skate.

Should this continue throughout the figure skating competitions, I Wanna Be On® will conjecture that Scott Hamilton and his colleagues must be getting paid by the word for their commentary and NBC does not want to pay more than 100 words per skating event. 

Check out the results from NBC.com

CBS is Pro-Gay On Super Bowl Sunday!

I Wanna Be On® wants the world to ponder the following Super Bowl commercial:

How can anyone accuse CBS of being anti-gay?

Brief Update: I Wanna Be On® Relaunch Coming Soon

We have been receiving inquiries regarding the lack of posts about the Oscars, the Superbowl and other celebrity events.  To that end, I Wanna Be On® wants to stress that we are updating our platform and will be launching a revised Internet platform in the next couple of weeks.  Stay tuned, our celebrity trend models are still churning even if we are not posting here!

If you have any suggestions for our relaunch, please send them to info@iwannabeon.com.

An Important Lesson from The Grammys: Get Conan!

CBS take heed-- award shows are in the toilet.  The Grammys were really over produced to the point where even exciting performances felt flat.

For the next award show, call Conan!  He could do a great job and should be available.  Never mind, the gig should be within the bounds of his separation agreement.

The Death of Daytime Television: What Next?

Based on recent reports in the trades and daytime talk shows moving to cable outposts, I Wanna Be On® can confidently state that daytime television is de facto dead!  Even Oprah's move to her cable station appears to signal that daytime network television requires a major strategic overhaul.

Professor Presti conjectures that the programming hours between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. will become filled with new types of "branded entertainment."  Basically, Ben Silverman's vision for the NBC primetime line up will now be applied to daytime as a test market to combat audience attrition.  I Wanna Be On® believes that "branded entertainment" will be the first defense for network's seeking to overcome advertising deficits.

Though there exists little or no guarantees that branded entertainment can offset advertising losses, I Wanna Be On® foresees other possible deployments, especially integrating Blu-Ray technologies in cable boxes and shop-at-home outlets.  

More importantly, I Wanna Be On® predicts media convergence between websites, like SeenOn! and network television stations, will maximize daytime programming ad revenue dollars as stations (both national networks and local affiliates), cable providers, and retailers forge new revenue sharing agreements.

We are truly living in revolutionary times in media and Professor Presti encourages all his students and clients to position their media ambitions to exploit the potential forthcoming trends.