Medialife Web Shorts February 28, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , trackbackStudy: Just 3.4 percent of radio listening is satellite
There’s two ways of looking at the latest numbers from Arbitron regarding satellite radio. You could say it’s a solid base from which the relatively new medium can grow, or you could say it’s an indication that not many people are willing to pay to listen to the radio. The radio ratings company said yesterday that among its 468,786 diary keepers last fall, 3.4 percent of radio listening was devoted to satellite channels. That survey represented the first in which Arbitron directed listeners to list satellite radio in addition to terrestrial radio. The highest rating share that a single satellite channel received for a quarter hour was 0.2 percent. Among the 297 satellite channels listed, the average share for a quarter hour was 0.009 percent. About 5.6 percent of respondents listed at least one satellite radio channel in their diary. One thing seems for sure: satellite listeners are devoted to radio. They spent an average of 33 hours a week listening, compared with 19 hours for the average listener.
Louisiana athletic group bars papers’ e-photo sales
Newspapers are trying innovative ways to make money on their internet sites, but it’s not always easy. The Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) forbid photographers from several papers, including The New Orleans Times-Picayune, from taking pictures at the state’s girls high school basketball playoffs Monday night after they declined to sign an agreement limiting their right to resell their photos. The document would only have allowed the papers to sell the pictures that appeared in newsprint, and the reason is that the LHSAA is trying to maximize its own income. It sold exclusive rights to sell pictures from the tournament on the internet to Musemeche Photography. Newspapers see the issue as not just economic but ethical. “We look at this as a freedom of the press issue,” said Pam Mitchell-Wagner, executive director of the Louisiana Press Association, told the Times-Picayune. “We can’t allow anyone to dictate how we cover an event.”
Book publishers making excerpts available online
Several years ago, book publishers raised a major stink over Google’s plan to begin posting the contents of books online. Now two of the biggest are doing it themselves. Random House and HarperCollins are making excerpts from thousands of books available online as they attempt to find ways to leverage the internet into book sales. Random House’s search and browser Insight launched yesterday and includes a library of selections from more than 5,000 books, while HarperCollins Publishers says it is introducing a feature that allows users to insert book excerpts into social networking sites like MySpace. News Corp. owns both the popular MySpace and HarperCollins. Amazon.com first gave its customers a chance to browse passages in 2003, and Google has done the same since 2005.
MSNBC tests citizen journalism through FirstPerson
The citizen journalism bug making its way around newspapers now has bitten MSNBC. The network is asking viewers and web site users to help the cable news channel round out its own at the new web site FirstPerson, where they can post stories, photos and news-related stories. Editors screen and publish the submissions, and users can vote for their favorites. Since launching earlier this month, MSNBC.com says the special feature contributed more than 6,000 user-generated entries to NBC Nightly News’ online “Trading Places” spot, which focused on adult parents who are now taking care of their elderly parents. Other projects currently on the site, www.firstperson.msnbc.com, include Oscars look-alikes, global travel, Unsung Americana and super sports fans, among others.
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