The Morning Fix: Fans passionate for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert; Paramount hot for Redbox; shake-up continues at OWN
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After the coffee. Before checking out Kindle and Reader Daily Edition.
Are Stewart and Colbert fans more passionate? Comedy Central commissioned research to determine whether viewers of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were more engaged with those shows than other late-night watchers. Since they released the findings to the New York Times, the answer must be yes.
Paramount says yes to Redbox. Viacom’s Paramount Pictures became the latest studio to cut a deal with video-kiosk operator Redbox. The Los Angeles Times notes that the deal, valued at $575 million, comes at a time when the studio is a little strapped for cash. Last week, it pushed the release of Martin Scorsese’s ‘Shutter Island’ because it didn’t have enough dough for a big marketing push. Separately, Variety reports that a new survey shows that Redbox and its rivals could end up controlling 30% of the rental market by the end of next year.
Studios feeling fresh. Paramount, Warners, Lions Gate and Sony have struck a deal with Film Fresh, an online movie site that allows content to be legally burned to disc for use on any device. Variety says newer films will cost from $10 to $13, and Film Fresh’s ability to use standard disc burners could give it a leg up against the competition.
More executive shuffling at OWN. Two top executives at Oprah Winfrey Network, the joint venture between the TV talk show host and Discovery Communications, have left, reports Broadcasting & Cable. Maria Grasso and Nina Wass, veteran programmers, departed in the wake of a new executive team being installed at the channel, which is supposed to launch in the first half of next year.
Inside the Los Angeles Times, The Motion Picture Television Fund confirmed it was closing its ‘motion pictures home’ nursing facility by the end of the year. The dirt on the complex pay-TV deal between Showtime and the Weinstein Co. James Rainey on the disintegrating level of discourse on cable TV.
-- Joe Flint
