Affiliate Programs and Affiliate Reviews
You’re watching Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” when suddenly you see a commercial for the Mustang convertible you’ve been eying — with a special promotion from Ford, which knows you just ended your car lease. A button pops up on the screen. You click it with the remote and are asked whether you want more information about the car. You respond “yes.”
Cable TV operators have treaded gingerly with online video. The companies want to meet consumer demand for watching shows on the Internet, but they don’t want cable TV to lose its place as the home’s main entertainment pipe. These ideas are in the air this week at The Cable Show, the industry’s annual trade convention.
A recent email from Eastman Kodak didn’t lead to a Kodak moment for Vanessa Daniele. It got her angry. On May 16, the company’s Kodak Gallery online photo service will delete her picture albums unless she spends at least $4.99 by then and every year thereafter on prints and other products.
Charter Communications on Friday filed for a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy to get relief from its creditors, as the fourth-largest U.S. cable operator strives to keep its head above water and still compete with phone companies and satellite TV providers. Charter seeks to emerge from bankruptcy as early as the end of summer and doesn’t plan on selling any of its assets to competitors.
Despite the poor economy, Comcast and Sony plan to open a retail store Tuesday. The cable TV operator and the electronics company will use the store to showcase new technologies and products, taking a page from Apple, as Microsoft might also soon try to do. The store will be called “Sony StyleComcast Labs” and ensconced in the Comcast Center.