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The Morning Fix: Google sees all. Time Warner wants to watch you.

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After the coffee. Before wondering if I should go to rehab for ‘exhaustion.’

The Skinny: Spending a day in court (covering the Golden Globes TV rights trial) is like being back in high school. There are lots of rules, smelly bathrooms and bad wifi. Wednesday’s headlines include Google’s new strategy to track everything you do, Time Warner’s plans to capitalize on everything you do and more thoughts on Tuesday’s Oscar nominations.

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The Daily Dose: Lifetime’s movie ‘Drew Peterson: Untouchable,’ starring a heavily made-up Rob Lowe as the suspected wife killer, drew almost 6 million viewers Sunday. Lifetime brass was quick to grab glory for the performance. ‘This is an amazing way to start the year and is a direct result of our aggressive strategy to green-light quality programming,’ said Lifetime President Nancy Dubuc. While she did green-light it, the movie was put into development by her predecessors at the channel. What will be interesting to see is whether its success will lead Lifetime, which has struggled to create new shows in the last few years, to return to its women-in-jeopardy roots and move away from trying so many reality programs.


We’re watching. This is a little out of our entertainment wheelhouse, but given its aspirations in media it is worth noting Google’s latest moves in tracking consumer habits, which could raise privacy issues. Google, of course, not only is the largest search engine, it also owns YouTube, has its own email platform and a TV application. More on what the ‘don’t be evil’ folks are planning from the Los Angeles Times and Wired.

I could have rented them my place for less money. Time Warner has created a lab in its corporate headquarters to observe how people consume media. The media giant will see how people interact with television, magazines and video games, and react to advertising. Sounds like one of these deals where a company spends tons of money to learn the obvious. On the other hand, next time I’m in New York and need to get out of the rain and use a bathroom, I’ll know where to go. More from the New York Times.

Hot market. Just days after News Corp.’s Fox announced it was launching a Spanish-language broadcast network in the United States, Mexican programming giant Televisa said it has struck a deal with production company Lions Gate to produce programming to sell in the U.S. Details from the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.

Boys’ club. The British government is probing the lack of women both on and off the air at the BBC. ‘It is an issue that we must keep pressing at,’ Broadcasting Minister Ed Vaizey was quoted saying in the Guardian. ‘Some people might regard it as frivolous or something that makes good copy for a parliamentary sketch, but … we want to hear a balance of voices on the radio and to see a balance of presenters on the television.’

Taking on Netflix? Amazon is considering offering its own standalone streaming service that would compete against Netflix, says the New York Post.

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Inside the Los Angeles Times: Still debating the Oscar nominations? So are we. Here’s a story about how comedy fared and one about whether ‘The Artist’ will get a box office boost from all its nominations.

-- Joe Flint

Follow me on Twitter. It’s like sitting in the peanut gallery all day. Twitter.com/JBFlint

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