Home Media Magazine - September 2-8, 2007 - (Page 12) ELECTRONIC DELIVERY Starz and AMD Give Away Free Month of Vongo By Chris Tribbey tarz Entertainment and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have teamed up to promote Vongo, Starz’ online subscription video download service. Consumers who buy AMD processors, motherboards or ATI Radeon Graphics will receive one free month of Vongo. “As students are ramping back up for school, it’s essential they have both the right tools to be successful academically and have the right entertainment gear to take a break,” said Nelly Frias, AMD’s e-tail channel marketing manager. The AMD/Vongo promotion can be found on Web sites mwave.com, tigerdirect.com and newegg.com. “By offering a free, 30-day subscription to Vongo … we are further raising Vongo’s awareness and driving usage among an audience that is clearly interested in multimedia performance and entertainment applications on the PC,” said Joe Cantwell, VP of advanced services for Starz. www.homemediamagazine.com iTunes Offers Video To the U.K. By Erik Gruenwedel omputer giant Apple Inc. said its iTunes online music store is now offering downloads of 28 U.S. television programs in the United Kingdom. The downloads, which include episodes from ABC TV’s “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Ugly Betty,” retail for 1.89 British pounds ($3.80) each and can be watched on an iPod, PC, Mac and TV via Apple TV. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Apple also will offer downloads from Disney Channel’s children’s programming, including “American Dragon: Jake Long,” “Kim Possible,” “That’s So Raven,” “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and Playhouse Disney titles “Handy Manny,” “Little Einsteins” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” BRIEFS I NATIONAL LAMPOON JOINS YAHOO VIDEO National Lampoon has launched a channel on Yahoo Video. Located at video.yahoo.com/video/group?gid=114 6026, the channel will initially feature webisodes, National Lampoon’s SpinCycle mashimations and the Fat Guy Nation series. S C In addition, iTunes U.K. is bowing TV downloads from Viacom units MTV (“Pimp My Ride,” “Barrio 19,” “Bam’s Unholy Union,” “Laguna Beach” and “My Super Sweet 16”) and Nickelodeon (“Avatar: The Legend of Aang,” “Drake and Josh,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Genie in the House” and “SpongeBob SquarePants”). Finally, Paramount Studios-based TV comedies “South Park,” “Comedy Blue,” “Jongleurs Unleashed: Part 1,” “That ‘70s Show” and “The World Stands Up” will be available as well. “We’re thrilled to bring TV programming to the iTunes Store in the U.K.,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s VP of iTunes. “We’ve got 28 shows and expect to continue to add more great programming.” “The new National Lampoon channel on Yahoo Video is another step in our progress toward building out the National Lampoon Video Network,” said Daniel Lankin, National Lampoon’s CEO. “Our relationship with Yahoo Video provides another destination for our fans worldwide to view our original content and interact with our programming.” – Billy Gil CartoonNetwork.com Posts Big Numbers By Chris Tribbey olly Chase, executive producer of Cartoon Network New Media, swears she wants children to get outside and enjoy these last days of summer. As long as they keep visiting CartoonNetwork.com when they come back inside. “I’d like to think they do this as a supplement to everything else,” she said. “Kids really see the Internet as a place to be entertained, whereas adults seek out information.” Cartoon Network enjoyed a record high in July for time spent by viewers browsing shows and playing games on CartoonNetwork.com, the company reported, with visitors spending 77 minutes during each session, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. CartoonNetwork.com’s previous high was 71 minutes, set in 2004. The Web site ranked 26th among all U.S. domains during July, and the only TV domains ahead of it belonged to The Weather Channel and CNN, the company reports. It’s not just the videos such as “Ben 10” and “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” on CartoonNetwork.com that have it beating out other online kidvid powerhouses such as Disney and Nickelodeon. “Games are our strong suit,” Chase said. With more than 170 games, and new ones being added every week, I SOUTH PARK CREATORS FORM DIGITAL STUDIO As part of a deal extending “South Park” on Comedy Central to three additional seasons, show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have entered in a joint venture with the channel to form South Park Digital Studios. M Perfect Stranger TOP ONLINE TITLES Week ended August 27, 2007 TITLE STUDIO ELECTRONIC SELLTHROUGH Perfect Stranger RENTAL DOWNLOADS Sony Pictures New Line “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” the site is giving kids reasons to stay on, and come back after dinner. “We offer high-quality gaming. A lot of competitors have … games you may not feel compelled to play again,” Chase said. “We try to supply a lot of variety, always with an eye to high quality.” The latest game is called Master Control, which encourages kids to interact with their favorite shows by joining teams, visiting virtual clubhouses and casting votes on which shows they want on Cartoon Network. “It really has a lot of interaction,” Chase said. In addition to growing CartoonNetwork.com’s audience by 7% in the first half of 2007, the domain’s action/anime partner ToonamiJetstream.com also has seen large amounts of traffic, with 1.4 million unique visitors in July. Together the two sites had 19.5 million episodes of various programming streamed in July, and the two together have grown a combined 213% in the first six months of 2007. The Last Mimzy Week ended August 26, 2007 TITLE STUDIO ELECTRONIC SELLTHROUGH Perfect Stranger RENTAL DOWNLOADS Sony Pictures Warner 300 FOR COMPLETE CHARTS, PLEASE SEE PAGE 42 The digital animation studio, headquartered in Los Angeles, will serve as a base for all digital extensions of “South Park,” for exploration of gaming opportunities and as a generator for new animated projects from the “South Park” team. Additionally, as part of the venture, the official “South Park” fan site, SouthParkStudios.com, will be expanded and relaunched in early 2008. “With the new partnership in South Park Digital Studios and the creations of the digital animation studio, we have a tremendous opportunity to truly maximize the potential of the franchise and the incredible creative talents of Matt and Trey across every imaginable platform,” said Doug Herzog, president of MTV Networks’ Entertainment Group. “South Park” is in its 11th season, averaging more than 3 million viewers per premiere episode, according to Comedy Central. Comedy Central is owned and operated by MTV Networks. – Billy Gil 12 Home Media Magazine September 2–8, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://video.yahoo.com/video/group?gid=1146026 http://video.yahoo.com/video/group?gid=1146026 http://mwave.com http://tigerdirect.com http://newegg.com http://CartoonNetwork.com http://CartoonNetwork.com http://CartoonNetwork.com http://toonamijetstream.com http://CartoonNetwork.com http://toonamijetstream.com
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