Saturday, April 19, 2008

New meaning for commercial programming

By Libby

Brand placement in commercial programming isn't exactly a new concept but somehow I have a really bad feeling about this project.
NBC Universal Thursday took the wraps off its new digital studio, appropriately named Digital Studio, which will involve advertisers in the content-creation process for Web series. [...]

NBCU described it as a "a first-of-its-kind relationship to give brands a seat at the table during the development phase of original digital entertainment." [...]

The first of those first-of-a-kind Web shows will be Gemini Division, set "five minutes in the future" and following a New York City homicide detective. Intel, Microsoft, UPS and Acura will be worked into the story line about an "underworld of genetically fabricated life forms."
It occurs to me that if we don't fight for internet neutrality now, eventually this is the kind of big media 'programming' that will be awarded the fast lanes on the intertubes while those of us who are trying to inject reality based elements into the ethernets will be consigned to the secondary routes. A theory I'd say is bolstered by the latest round of newsroom layoffs in the major media.

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree, Libby that we should be very afraid. But I don't think there is ultimately any chance of avoiding internet manipulation by big business and government. Like you said in the next post, it has become such a powerful tool and so effective in so many ways, it is amazing that simple, normal people like us are even allowed to use it for free. Especially when we and many like us use it largely to condemn and discredit the government and the powerful industires. I think our days are numbered.

6:55:00 PM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

I see the signs of our impending doom as well Brian. People think it's too big to control, but all I can think of is how easy it is to block access to unfavored sites or just to shut the servers. Hell Time Warner does that to me all the time now.

7:01:00 PM  
Blogger Capt. Fogg said...

Look at what happened to Radio a hundred years ago. In the beginning all you had to do was make some equipment and you could go on the air and say anything to anyone. After one Amateur experimented with a turntable and a transmitter, it occurred to someone else that you could sell advertising and almost immediately it all became commercial and if I want to use my radio, I have to be careful about who I talk to, about what, at what frequency and if there's even a hint of music in the background I face huge fines.

Conservatives love to talk about the Liberal sense of entitlement, but an absolute entitlement seems to belong to business. Profit takes precedence when claiming rights to public property.

We don't have a chance.

9:20:00 AM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

I was thinking the same thing about cable TV Fogg. I remember when it first started there was were all these independent stations and then once they proved the model made money, the corps took it over.

8:23:00 PM  

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