The Morning Fix: Bing vs. Google, FCC starts to shape up, Conan opens solid
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After the coffee. Before heading to E3.
Bing sings. The Wall Street Journal’s Katherine Boehret gives a thumbs up to Microsoft’s new search engine Bing. She writes that the search engine not only is on-target in its retrievals, but that ‘it does so in a user-friendly manner that looks and feels more inviting than Google.’
Conan O’Brien gets off to a good start Monday, beating David Letterman in the big cities, but falling short of Jay Leno’s final telecast last Friday. TV Week
The White House will be renominating Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell for a five-year term. The other Republican seat on the commission will likely be filled by former NITA acting chief Meredith Attwell Baker, says Broadcasting & Cable. Once that happens hearings will be scheduled for Democrat chairman-designate Julius Genachowski.
Guess they won’t be TiVoing that. Satellite broadcaster EchoStar was found in contempt of a permanent injunction prohibiting them from using TiVo technology and was ordered to pay $103.1 million. The verdict, says The Hollywood Reporter, may lead to Dish Network having to turnoff its customers DVRs or cut a deal with TiVo.
Will this mean less product placement? General Motors is selling its Hummer brand to China’s
Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. The Hummer had a quick rise and fall as the iconic SUV of Hollywood both in reality and on the set. The Wall Street Journal
In today’s Los Angeles Times: What does a producer really do? John Horn previews the upcoming ‘Produced by Conference’ held by the Producers Guild of America. Microsoft’s new version of the game ‘1 vs. 100’ has a feel of a TV game show and is even being scheduled like one. James Rainey examines the fallout from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s latest embrace with local news.
-- Joe Flint
