May 21, 2008

BET

BET Networks and Paramount Join Forces for THE ADVENTURES OF 106 & INDIANA JONES

On Tuesday 106 & PARK will host an exclusive red carpet special with Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf and Karen Allen. Live from the streets of Harlem, THE ADVENTURES OF 106 & INDIANA JONES will also feature special performances by Ashanti, Jim Jones and new R&B sensation, Estelle.

CBS

CBS Adds Free Vintage Shows on Internet

CBS is substantially increasing the number of archived television shows streamed free on the Web, the latest salvo in the battle among traditional broadcasters to capture viewers online. CBS will add episodes of "The Love Boat" and "Twin Peaks," among others, to its Web offerings

CBS fights for ultimate age group

With his 85th birthday set for next week, Sumner Redstone hasn't been in the demographic TV advertisers care about since around the time "Bonanza" left the air. So when the chairman of Viacom and CBS recently said he doesn't think it is "socially responsible" to air the usually bloody sport of mixed martial arts fighting as part of a CBS Saturday night experiment to draw the 18-to-49-year-old crowd beginning May 31, you could sense a certain ambivalence from the folks at the network.

CBS Scores With Sports Ad Network

The move by CBS underscores a growing trend in the online ad industry of old media firms such as Forbes, Black Entertainment Television, and Martha Stewart Living mobilizing their own resources to connect advertisers to publishers.

CW NETWORK

CW Gets Good Gossip, Bad News

Next season, the CW will go with its most narrowly focused, cable-esque lineup yet, zeroing in on young females, aged 18-34, with its Beverly Hills 90210 update, and returning shows such as Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and America's Next Top Model. Overall, it'll program five nights a week, having originally spurned Saturdays, and having recently turned Sundays over to an outside company.

FOX

'American Idol' Loses Word-Of-Mouth Zing

Daily conversations about Fox's "American Idol" have sunk sharply since last year, according to a survey of Americans 13 years and older conducted by the Keller Fay Group, word-of-mouth consultants. The drop in people talking about the program--from 9.9 million to 5.9 million per day--seems to bolster a general feeling the nation's most- watched TV show has lost some steam. (Ratings have also dipped a bit since last season.)

MTV

MTV to Debut Unprecedented Movie Experience on Video On Demand

This year, for the first time ever, MTV will create a special "2008 MTV

Movie Awards" destination in its free VOD area that will help drive Movies On Demand orders for affiliate partners including Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable.

Overly-Trendy Travel: MTV Teams up with Vueling

Spanish LCC Vueling has co-branded two of its A320s with MTV, covering the exteriors with street-inspired art. Inside, the in-flight entertainment systems have been stocked with MTV shows--including "True Life" and "Super Sweet 16"--and some new audio playlists.

UNIVISION

Univision Outdelivers ABC, NBC, CBS, or FOX Nearly Every Night During May Sweep

With one day to go during the May sweep period, Univision continued its competitive momentum by outdelivering at least one or more of the English-language broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, or FOX, on 26 out of 27 nights, or nearly every single night, among all Adults 18-34.

VIACOM

Viacom President and Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman to Speak

Viacom Inc. today announced that Philippe Dauman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom, will speak at the Sanford Bernstein 24th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference on Wednesday, May 28, 2008

AFRICA

Bie: Kuito Holds HIV/AIDS Workshop

The three-day seminar will discuss among various topics, the ongoing epidemiological situation in Angola, counselling and testing of HIV/AIDS, its transmission and prevention, the health condition, thinking about culture and HIV/AIDS, infidelity, youths and HIV/AIDS, advises before marriage.

Kenya: Model of Hope for Orphans And Elderly Victims of Aids

A new unique way of tackling the impact of the HIV and Aids scourge in Kenya is shaping up in a remote village in Kitui District. Elderly mothers and orphans are being nurtured to restore the continuity of the broken families in a programme run by the Nyumbani Village

ASIA

Sex Re-Education: Economist Scraps Theory on China's 'Missing Women'

For her economics Ph.D. at Harvard University, Emily Oster found that the ratio of men to women was unusually high in China not only because of a pronounced parental preference for sons, but also because of the effects of the hepatitis B virus.

Yao Ming Supports Quake Victims

Houston Rockets star Yao Ming might be in the U.S. recovering from a foot injury, but his heart is in China with the victims of the earthquake. He has also supported many charities, including the Chi Heng Foundation, Project Hope, the Red Cross, and China Youth Development Foundation, and has been a vocal advocate of HIV/AIDs awareness.

CARIBBEAN & LATIN AMERICA

Butch' Stewart hails departing Horace Peterkin

Peterkin, a former president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), has resigned his Sandals job, effective the end of July 2008, to partner with his wife, the former Dominique Silvera, in starting Peterkin Hospitality Services. Peterkin Hospitality Services will offer training, operational evaluation and restructuring, marketing and promotion, disaster preparedness, HIV/AIDS workplace programme implementation and consultancy/advisory services to newcomers to the hospitality industry.

Dr Leslie Rammsammy Assumes Presidency of 61st World Health Assembly

The 61st World Health Assembly opened today (19 May 2008) at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland with the Hon. Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Minister of Health of Guyana assuming the Presidency of the premier international Health organization. The Guyana Minister of Health is the second Caribbean Community (CARICOM) appointee to this position in 30 years.

Guyana Wants Urgent Action to Stem Migration of Health Workers

"Guyana has moved to earlier treatment of HIV, providing true universal access - an evidence-informed decision. Clearly the benefits of earlier treatment overwhelm the risk of toxicity from treatment. Guyana is also convinced that we need to promote more provider-initiated testing and that abstinence-only prevention programmes do not work," he added.

HER HEALTH: Pregnant & positive - You can still have a healthy baby

A FEW weeks ago, I was enjoying an episode of my current favourite 'medical-like' show on television, 'Grey's Anatomy'. In this particular episode, a female surgeon in training (a resident) informed a patient and her partner that she was pregnant. The patient requested an abortion because she was HIV positive.

HIV/AIDS-affected children given Child Month treat

TWENTY-nine children living with HIV/AIDS at the Martha's House of Safety for Children were on Friday given a play area and toys from the National Child Month Committee (NCMC) as part of celebrations for this year's child month.

ILO says Caribbean rising to the challenge of HIV/AIDS

New programmes designed to step up action against HIV/AIDS in the workplace are becoming increasingly common in the Caribbean, according to a new report to be issued by the International Labour Office (ILO).

Lucian Reggae Artist Taj Weeks Going Big

Reggae recording artist Taj Weekes is set to shake up the musical landscape once again with his much anticipated sophomore album, DEIDEM. Weekes’ commitment to humanitarian issues is further demonstrated by his work as Goodwill Ambassador to the Caribbean and as founder of his charity, They Often Cry Outreach (TOCO), which is dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged, at-risk and orphaned children around the world. All of the proceeds from the song “Orphans Cry” will be donated to TOCO to bring awareness to the issues that affect the Caribbean such as HIV/AIDS, global warming and poverty

Miss Universe to educate world

REIGNING Miss World Queen Zi Lin Zhang of China made a stop at the National AIDS Coordinating Committee’s (NACC) 25th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Symposium on Sunday. “I am very happy to be here. Here is like family,” she told the expectant crowd. “I hope I can do my best to give more education to all of the world to know what is HIV. To get more information about HIV. I will try my best every day.”

EUROPE

The New Face Of an Epidemic

When Moscow photographer Serge Golovach decided to present portraits of beautiful women for an HIV/AIDS awareness project, he was revealing a startling truth about AIDS in Russia today -- it is quickly becoming a problem with a woman's face.

ADVERTISING NEWS

Ads blow for social networking sites

The failure of websites such as Facebook and MySpace to translate their global popularity into ad revenue has led one research company to downgrade ad-spend forecasts for the social-networking sector by around £250m by 2011. US-based research firm eMarketer said that "in spite of the media hype" around social networking worldwide-advertising spending has "not met expectations".

Dish and NBCU To Offer Interactive Ads

Dish Network's satellite TV service will now provide interactive advertising capabilities to NBC television networks and NBC owned-and-operated stations. Dish subscribers can use their remote controls to access more information, coupons and discounts from NBC advertisers, which will be offered ways to use the new medium. The hope is that advertisers will pay a premium for the certainty that their ad was watched clicked on.

Rolling Stone Makes Print Ads Interactive

Wenner Media's Rolling Stone magazine is banding together with SnapTell, a mobile marketing solutions provider, to convert the publication's print ads into mobile interactive ads. Readers can snap pictures of ads with their camera phones to receive offers from advertisers.

HIV/AIDS AND SEXUAL HEALTH NEWS

Quarter of teen girls have sex-related disease

More than one in four U.S. teen girls is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, and the rate is highest among blacks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

MOBILE NEWS

Social Networking, E-Commerce Driving Smartphone Users To The Web

U.S. smartphone users spend an average of four hours and 38 minutes per month browsing the Web, driven primarily by social networking and Internet commerce, a market research firm said Wednesday.

MULTI CULTURAL NEWS

Art and AIDS

Gloria Reuben, who played HIV-positive nurse Jeanie Boulet on the NBC show E.R., gave the closing address at the AIDS/SIDA: Global Updates, Art, and Performance symposium. AIDS/SIDA symposium mixes one part science and one part art to raise awareness about HIV prevention and the treatment of the disease.

Eleven new African-American research studies to be unveiled at MAAX Summit

New data and trends covering the $744 billion black consumer market will be presented by eleven of the nation's leading research companies at the Ninth Annual Marketing to African Americans with Excellence (MAAX) Summit in Chicago, June 30th - July 1st.

PHILANTHROPY

Rock + Philanthropy = Awesome

Look, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Rock + Philanthropy = Awesome. Seriously, what’s better than a night of live music and helping your fellow man? Nothing, says The Playlist, and it’s in that spirit that we inform you of not one but two charity shows this week at the New Brookland Tavern.

SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS

Forbes to Launch Social Network for Women

Forbes.com is announcing its second business-oriented social network, as the business-leader aimed site says it plans to launch what it is calling the Executive Women's Network. The new social network will be geared for high-ranking female business execs and will offer original Forbes content.

The Latest Corporate Social Responsibility News

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell points out the pivotal role of "connectors" in spreading ideas through social networking. Thankfully, the ideas of green and sustainability are catching like wildfire, in no small part due to social networking.

Social Networking As Rocket Science

The average age of NASA employees is 46.2 years and rising, and the space agency forecasts that more than 4,000 of its full-time workers will retire over the next six years. The numbers tell the story behind NASA's experiment with social networking as a way to capture and share knowledge before those employees wave goodbye.

OTHER NEWS

Broadcast TV Sees Record Drop In Ratings

The writers strike and the rise of DVRs and multi-platform programming helped to make this season the lowest-rated on record for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW. "We should be shocked into being more aggressive about our thinking," says Fox Entertainment head Peter Liguori.

Google Earth Offers Local News Worldwide

Google is adding its constantly updated Google News aggregator of stories from 4,500 news sources to its Google Earth offering, allowing users to retrieve local headlines from around the world. Google Earth now displays a "world of human activity as chronicled by reporters worldwide."

Hulu Tops TV Network Sites

Hulu.com, the Web video venture from News Corp. and NBC Universal, is reporting surprisingly good usage numbers. On Tuesday, CEO Jason Kilar announced that its service would be distributed on seven new sites, in addition to reporting that usage of Hulu.com surpassed that of other television network Web sites, including those owned by News Corp. and NBC, its founders. Its new distribution partners are TV.com, TVGuide.com, BuddTV.com, Flixster.com, MyYearbook.com, Break.com and Zap2it.com.

Microsoft Bribing Search Users Again

Bolstered by the prospect of adding Yahoo Search to its arsenal, Microsoft is revisiting an old experiment: bribing people to use its search service in order to steal market share away from Google. Under the new plan, Microsoft will give consumers cash back on certain purchases made from advertisers in 18 vertical search categories. Microsoft is touting the cash-back service as a way to use search to get deals on products, but the truth is, many of the so-called "deals" they find will actually be artificial promotions for Live Search.

New Media Campaigns Launches Website for Citizen Initiative

New Media Campaigns, a full service North Carolina web design and marketing company, is pleased to announce the launch of a new website for a citizen-backed initiative in Florida named Save Our Little Village at www.saveourlittlevillage.org.

YouTube Opens Citizen Journalism Channel

Thanks in part to the proliferation of video-enabled smartphones and other mobile video devices, just about anyone can (and does) report breaking news these days. And what better place to broadcast you-news than YouTube?