News Bytes: May 21

Users of NEWS CORP and NBC’s HULU watched 63.2 million videos in April and helped the site gain seven new distribution partners. Amongst Hulu’s new distribution sites is TV.com, part of CNET which will soon be part of CBS. A backdoor deal with CBS could bring three major networks together on Hulu, which is ad-supported and cracked the Nielsen Top 10 this month.

NBCU and the DISH NETWORK have signed an interactive ad deal that will allow users to respond to ads. The move, which NBCU has experimented with on TiVO, will utilize icons that allow users to find out more about a product. The interactive system is seen as a way of combating DVR-aided ad-skipping by effectively reaching interested parties.

TIME WARNER will announce today how it plans to restructure after spinning off its TIME WARNER CABLE division. CEO JEFF BEWKES is expected to speak at a press conference later today that will detail how Time Warner plans to transform into a more focused media conglomerate through movies, television programming and magazines. Time Warner Cable’s board cleared terms of the separation Tuesday and TW plans to approve the deal Thursday.

T. BOONE PICKENS purchased 10 million shares of YAHOO in an attempt to push CARL ICAHN’s move to unseat Yahoo’s board of directors. The Texas billionaire investor will support Icahn’s proposed board at Yahoo’s shareholders meeting in July. While MICROSOFT is still interested in Yahoo in some form, some shareholders are worried about what could happen if Icahn gains control of the board and Microsoft walks away.

HBO’s Cheaper Shows Are Hits on iTunes
Looks like iTunes users have a hankering for HBO shows…as long as they’re under $2 a pop, that is.

After debuting last week, HBO programs fill eight of the top 15 slots on iTunes’ Top TV Seasons sales chart. While The Wire’s season one is the highest-ranking show at No. 2, Sex and the City is represented five times. Sex and the City, The Wire and Flight of the Conchords (which also made the top 10) are all for sale at the standard iTunes price of $1.99. ($22-$25 for the whole season).
Much was made about HBO’s ability to wrangle a $2.99 price point for its content out of Apple.

Whole seasons of Rome, The Sopranos and Deadwood go for roughly $35, and of those higher-priced shows, only Rome cracked the Top Seasons list. Other $2.99 programs include The Sopranos season six, part 2, which comes in at No. 17; Deadwood season one at No. 22; The Sopranos season one at No. 27; and The Sopranos season six, part 1, at No. 63.

Moblyng Brings Flash to Phones
If you’re sick of staring at error messages when checking out a MySpace video slide show via a mobile, then Moblyng may be for you. The company translates Flash content into stills and video that can be viewed on a mobile phone. Right now it’s focused only on scraping Flash content from social networks, but may broaden its reach if users demand it. The company was formerly known as Fliptrack, and just raised $5.7 million. For more, check out the details over at GigaOM.

MySpace Brings Banzai Back Online; webisodes of the faux Japanese game show will have a 30-day exclusive window on the social network. (TVWeek)

Howcast Expands Distribution Platform; how-to video site signs pacts with AOL, Metacafe, Bebo and blip.tv. (release)

Seventy-Five Million Viewers Downloaded BBC iPlayer; and that’s just since Christmas, average weekly users hit 1.4 million during April. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Rentrak Signs Cox; company now provides VOD measurement data for the top 10 cable operators. (Multichannel News)

CBS Adds More Classic Shows (Sha-la-la-la)
Did you know that both Tom Hanks and Crispin Glover made appearances on the sitcom Family Ties? Enjoy those before-they-were-stars moments courtesy of CBS, which added Ties and a slew of classic TV shows to its online lineup. The network is new streaming episodes of The Love Boat, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-O, Beverly Hills 90210 and others for free.

The shows will be distributed through the CBS Audience Network, which includes CBS.com, AOL, Bebo, CNET and a bunch of other sites. CBS isn’t offering every episode from every show yet, but it gives the network a bunch of new ad inventory without having to lift a finger. It’s just too bad CBS doesn’t allow embeds; what better way to start your day than with a little Alex P. Keaton thrown your way?

Eisner Talks Story, Predicts Video Future
Michael Eisner spoke at the Microsoft advance08 conference Tuesday, delivering what the Seattle PI called his “Internet Content Manifesto.” The former head of Disney (and the guy who begat Prom Queen) talked about YouTube’s place in the digital landscape, the length of web programming and how storytelling is the next killer app.

On YouTube:
“YouTube is celebrated as a completely revolutionary concept — and it is. The ability for anyone, anywhere to create and distribute short-form entertainment that can be seen by anyone else, anywhere else is an extraordinary development. But in many ways, YouTube is very old news. It is to the Internet what the nickelodeon was to the movies — a very preliminary installment of what is to come.”

CBS Adds Free Shows on Web
CBS Corp.'s CBS substantially increased the number of archived television shows streamed free on the Web, the latest salvo in the battle among traditional broadcasters to capture viewers online.

CBS will add episodes of "The Love Boat" and "Twin Peaks," among other shows, to its new and vintage Web offerings. The programs are broadcast on the CBS Audience Network, a collection of online distribution partners, including CBS.com, Last.fm, Bebo and CNET Networks, which CBS Corp. last week said it plans to acquire.

Recently, television companies have turned to old episodes of popular shows as an easy way of eking out a few more Web advertising dollars. In April, Time Warner Inc. started TheWB.com and KidsWB.com, online hubs for programs from the Warner Bros. library, including "Friends" and "Gilmore Girls." News Corp., owner of the Fox network and 20th Century Fox, and NBC Universal contribute classic shows to their Hulu.com joint venture, which was introduced last fall.

News Corp. also owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Any advertising money reaped from reruns of these shows is pure profit for the network or studio that owns them. But in deciding to put more vintage content online, television companies must weigh the possible impact on sales of DVDs and reruns of old shows.

William Morris to Open Digital 'Agency 3.0' Wireless industry exec Peter Adderton is joining with William Morris Agency to create a hybrid firm, dubbed Agency 3.0, to help content providers and advertisers navigate the digital landscape and develop new products. William Morris is taking an undisclosed stake in Agency 3.0.