American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the television network that The Walt Disney Company owns was responsible for the news about President Barack Obama calling Kanye West a “jackass” spreading. Kanye West stole the microphone from Taylor Swift when she received an MTV VMA award and the news exploded in the media. West personally apologize on his blog about the situation, but it was too late — he already came off as looking as a jerk. Even the President called him a jerk.
Some of ABC’s employees overhead a conversation between President Obama and John Hardwood of CNBC. A conversation between the two that was off the record made its way on Twitter and was never meant to be the official words from the President.
When asked about whether Obama’s daughters were annoyed by what Kanye West did, the President replied “I thought that was really inappropriate.” He added “What are you butting in (for)? … The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What’s he doing up there?” Then he added “He’s a jackass.”
After realizing that he went too far, the President said “Cut the president some slack. I’ve got a lot of other stuff on my plate.”
When ABC employees overheard the conversation, they turned to Twitter. Terry Moran wrote “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential” on Twitter. The tweets have been deleted shortly after they were originally written.
Too late to crowd control ABC, the word is out. The President has expressed his opinion about Kanye West’s behavior.
Just when I thought Netflix would stop giving Blockbuster a beatdown, the DVD mailing company just signed a deal with major TV production company ABC. ABC will be streaming shows such as Lost and Grey’s Anatomy on the Netflix website to subscribers.
ABC will air all five seasons of Lost on Netflix. Netflix will air several seasons of Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, and the Legend of the Seeker. A couple of ABC’s shows started appearing on Netflix on August 1t, but the rest will be fully available in the next few months.
In Late 2008, Disney’s ABC added several children shows such as Hannah Montana, The Suite Life On Deck, JONAS, and Sonny With A Chance.
Netflix isn’t the only online service that ABC programs are streaming on. ABC signed a deal with Hulu in late April that gave the TV company 27% ownership. As part of that agreement, ABC provided some of the latest episodes of their shows on Hulu.
Back in late April, Disney signed a deal with Hulu. As part of the deal Disney would retain 27% ownership in Hulu but would be expected to add some of their owned TV shows on the video website. Through the Disney-owned channel ABC, Grey’s Anatomy has started to appear on Hulu.
It was rumored that Hulu and YouTube were competing to get the Disney deal. Google wanted Disney to be one of their first partners in offering premium content on YouTube, but they opted for ownership in Hulu instead.
Considering that Grey’s Anatomy is starting to appear on Hulu, it will only be a matter of time before we start seeing other shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives.
Disney has decided to jump on board with online video streaming by sending over content over to Hulu. That’s not all. Disney has acquired 27% of the company. Disney joins other Hulu owners NBC Universal, News Corporation, and Providence Equity Partners. Soon Disney will be sending over shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Grey’s Anatomy to start with.
“We are smiling big today because we are honored to be working with a company that quite frankly inspired us from the very start of Hulu. Walt Disney was a founder, an innovator, a person with an atypically high quality bar, and someone who was maniacal in his obsession to delight his customers. Hulu has always taken great inspiration in that example and the culture Walt Disney created (which Bob Iger and his team carry forward and push to new levels),” stated the Hulu blog regarding the partnership.
CBS and the CW are basically the only major TV networks left out of Hulu. CBS is hosting high quality episodes of their own TV shows on CBS.com and TV.com. The CW hosts full TV shows on their website too.
Hulu, the video website run by NBC and FOX has loads of popular shows that they allow people to watch. They have three seasons of Arrested Development, new episodes of Family Guy, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Chuck, Heroes, etc. Now a source at Silicon Alley Insider says that a deal for Disney content to appear on Hulu is basically done.
That means on Hulu we would perhaps see content from ESPN, ABC, and some Disney movies. If the deal works out with Disney and ABC shows starts to appear on Hulu, that only leaves CBS out as the outcast. ABC and CBS both currently steam shows on their website. CBS has very good quality, but ABC not as much.
This year, ads on the Super Bowl costed about $2.6 million for a 30-second spot. Getting an ad on the Oscars costs about $1 million less at between $1.4-$1.7 million. NBC hosted the Superbowl and ABC hosts the Academy Awards. Both media companies had to slash rates quite a bit after finding there was unsold inventory.
Last year, ABC sold commercial time for about $1.8 million. In advertising revenue, about $68 million is expected to be brought in for ABC. That is about a 16% decline from last year. Last year about $81 million in revenue was made.
Peter Sealy, marketing professor at Claremont Graduate University and former movie industry executive believes that the ad revenue slow down for the Oscars is because the show is just too long. He also said that the films this year are not spectacular.
I have to agree with Sealy here. The Oscars this year just doesn’t seem fun as they used to be. I think in terms of movies made this year, Slumdog Millionaire and Tropic Thunder helped save the industry.
Terry Moran, co-anchor of Nightline on ABC interviewed President Obama earlier this week in Ft. Myers, FL. Moran’s reported on Twitter about the music, the breakfast menu, and everyone that was on board.
The breakfast menu included pancakes, bacon, and eggs. The music on the plane included Jason Mraz, Goldfrapp, John Legend, Rihanna, and Jeremy Pelt. About 9 members of Congress were on the plane with him, all being Democrats.
- Air Force One landing. Obama visited press cabin, taking congresspeople on tour, joking, relaxed. 4 minutes ago from mobile web
- Air Force one, taking off. 9 members of Congress aboard, all Democrats. about 2 hours ago from mobile web
- Obama working the rope line, high-fiving little kids, thanking the troops. about 2 hours ago from mobile web
- Music on AF1 includes: Jason Mraz, Goldfrapp, lots of J Legend, Rihanna, + Jeremy Pelt! about 2 hours ago from mobile web
- On board Air Force One. Pancakes, bacon and eggs on the menu. Twix and snickers for snacks. about 3 hours ago from mobile web
- Arrived at Andrews. Security smooth and courteous. Wondering if $1.5 trillion is enough to save the banks. about 4 hours ago from mobile web
- I’m en route to Andrews AFB to ride AF1 to FL. Got a question for Obama? about 5 hours ago from mobile web
