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News from Microsoft was expected Sunday night.  It was the moment  of Bill Gates  eleventh, and final,  keynote address to open the Consumer Electronics Show. The stage was set.  It was the Super Bowl of Entertainment and Technology convergence.  A time for news.  A time for Bill.

CES has been for Bill Gates  what Macworld has been for Steve Jobs.  In past efforts – the CES keynote has been a night for him to climb on stage and issue a “State of the Union,” a chance to sing Microsoft’s praises, to plug their products,  a chance to predict the future.  It’s always a night of a little humor, of celebrity appearances and geek idols – a moment in the spotlight with all the glitz, multimedia  and professional production a corporate event can withstand.   Sunday, all expected points were covered.

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In October’s 3rd quarter earnings conference call, Netflix’ CEO Reed Hastings spent a few minutes talking to analysts about the slowly converging worlds of video distribution.  In those comments he expressed three long term goals: “one, to expand the content [they] offer online; two, to make it inexpensive and easy for consumers to view that content on the television; and three, to understand what the financial model for the hybrid service will be in the long term.”  Today, Netflix took a step toward realizing goal number two.

Late Wednesday the DVD-by-mail rental service announced a partnership to bring movies straight to the TV over the Internet.  The new service, which will not be available before June, expands on Netflix’ year old “Watch Instantly” functionality by removing the requirement to watch streams through a computer.

The service will rely initially on hardware manufactured and sold by South Korean electronics giant, LG.   Using a dedicated set top box, or equivalent functionality bundled into a DVD player or other hardware Click to Read More

Concert promoter Live Nation cut off contract renewal talks with Ticketmaster in August.  They’ve now found their replacement.  Beginning January 1, 2009, following the expiration of their current Ticketmaster deal, Live Nation will launch their own competing ticketing service.

The infrastructure for the new ticketing venture will be licensed from CTS Eventim, the world’s second largest ticket agency.   Live Nation will operate the platform in North America.  CTS Eventim will handle ticketing services via partnership in the UK and Europe.

Full details won’t be provided until a conference call in January.  Among the items likely to be discussed will be a secondary market (resale) ticket platform that Live Nation hopes to implement as well.

Since being spun off from Clear Channel in 2005, Live Nation has been in the process of transforming itself from a narrowly focused concert promotion business to a comprehensive music services company.  In their marketing materials, the company bills itself as “the future of the music business.”  It’s a vision defined by Click to Read More

Score one for Ticketmaster.  In the ongoing battle to gain footing in secondary ticket markets, Ticketmaster has inked a high profile deal with the NFL to handle league sponsored resales.

The new service, named the NFL Ticket Exchange, will be hosted by Ticketmaster (Interactive Corp) and accessible from NFL licensed websites including NFL.com.  The site will go live in time for the 2008 season.  Both the NFL and Ticketmaster will jointly promote and market the offering.

Ticketmaster already hosted ticket exchange services for 18 of the 32 teams in the NFL.  The newly signed deal will expand the reach to the entire league.

Ticketmaster’s strategy of securing tickets by partnership follows a similar effort employed by more established secondary sellers Stubhub Click to Read More

There are always some who’ll hang on by a thread and look for a battle no matter the circumstance or how long the odds.  ReplayTV, once proud and promising rival of TiVo, fits that billing.   The company was first to market with a Digital Video Recorder.   They helped pioneer the DVR market in the late 90s and then found themselves virtually sued out of existence. Now they’re changing owners, again.  Satellite TV leader DirecTV will buy ReplayTV from D&M Holdings for undisclosed terms.

Founded in 1997, Replay was once a high flying star in the DVR market.  Sonic Blue bought the company in 2001 for $125m.  It then found itself in court, battling Hollywood over ad skipping functionality.  The protracted battle sent Sonic Blue in to bankruptcy.

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Global venture capital investments are at a six year high and technology continues to encroach on the domain of entertainment and media.  We have net radio, TV and print news increasingly available online.   Even actors and movie industry veterans have moved to create both their own online distribution outlets, and their own brands of online content.  Think Will Ferrel’s Funny or Die, the Coen brothers with 60 Frames Entertainment, or Jerry Zucker (of Airplane fame) with National Banana.   It makes sense, given all this to see Hollywood jumping deeper into venture capital, private equity and early stage investment.

Earlier this week, PaidContent discovered the latest entry will come from Hollywood’s elite talent agencies.  Creative Artists (CAA), the biggest of the bunch, is reportedly raising $150m to $200m for venture investment in digital entertainment. They are seeking funds from traditional limited partners like pension funds and being advised by experienced Silicon Valley VC’s.

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Blockbuster hasn’t been able to derail Netflix but could the U.S. Post Office? That was a question that popped up earlier today after results of a November audit by the Postal Inspector General began to circulate in the wider press, and more narrowly from a blog posting on Wired that sounded an alarm but left out important details.  The details tell a different story. Fear not.

The audit report in question was from early November (See PDF link Below).  It was focused on First Class Permit Reply Mail, the category of mail used by popular movie rental services as well as Game Fly and some audiobook services.   

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