After much lambasting and ballyhooing, FOX agreed to keep arguing with TWC over what it charges for the cable company to carry its programming — without pulling the shows as it had threatened to do. Cablevision customers, however, are going to go without Food Network and HGTV. [More]
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Fox And Time Warner Cable Threaten Football, Annoy John Kerry
By 12.31.09
Say what you will about John Kerry, but the man does not like the thought of missing football games. If that’s what you are looking for in a Senator — he’s your guy. For a while now, TWC and FOX have been embroiled in a dispute over what the TV network can change for its programming. Now FOX is threatening to pull its channels, including NFL games from TWC if it doesn’t get more money. [More]
Coming Soon: Family Guy Windows 7 Infomercial (Sort Of)
By 10.18.09
Is it s sponsored special? A glorified infomercial? We’re not sure, but on November 8, the Griffins of “Family Guy” will be hosting their own Windows 7 launch party of sorts, in the form of a half-hour special sponsored by Microsoft.
Data Recovery Corp Invents Terms To Convince You Your Hard Drive Is Broken
By 9.4.09
Fox 11 News in LA went undercover with an intentionally damaged hard drive to find out whether online complaints about Data Recovery Corp, Inc. were true. Can you guess what the result was?
Studio Turns High School Graduation Into Marketing Stunt, Nobody Cares
By 7.29.09
The Wall Street Journal looks at how an unfortunately named marketing agency called the Intelligence Group tried to promote recent bomb “I Love You, Beth Cooper” with a viral video on YouTube. (Can we just once and for all ban anyone who works in advertising from accessing YouTube?) They paid the valedictorian of a Los Angeles high school $1,800 to “spontaneously” blurt out a secret crush during her speech, and they hired someone to film the speech in a faux-homemade style to post online.
Time Warner Cable: You're Not Getting HD Because FOX Stopped Broadcasting It
By 5.12.09
Reader Dave has graciously shared with us a tragic series of emails he sent to Time Warner Cable, the highlight of which comes when he tells them about the time that he called in because the New York City FOX affiliate wasn’t working (he wanted to watch the NY Football Giants) and was told that FOX 5 had decided to stop broadcasting in HD.
These Martha Stewart/Kmart Lounge Chairs Keep Cutting Off Fingertips
By 4.2.09
Holy $#!@, this lounge chair will eat your fingers! Fox5 New York has a video report on dangerously unsafe lounge chairs sold at Kmart under the Martha Stewart brand. Naturally (we’re not making this up), the chairs are designed to complement the Martha Stewart Spontaneously Shattering Glass Patio Tables also sold at Kmart.
Ben Popken On TV Talking 'Bout Shrinking Packages
By 6.20.08
Here’s the clip of yours truly, Ben Popken, on FOX 13 Tampa yesterday talking about the Grocery Shrink Ray that all the writers on the site have been doing a great job of covering. The interview was done over Skype webcam and I think it came out pretty well. “Shrinkage” and “downsizing” may be nothing new, but I think we’re going to see more goods shrinking and by greater degrees in the coming months. It’s practically a secret inflation. At the end of the story they say that some manufacturers are considering doing away with gallons of milk and instead selling 3/4 of a gallon, for the same price. If that happens, I think a lot more messages like the recording of the good ol’ boy upset over the downsized Jimmy Dean’s sausage are going to be left on customer complaint lines across America. As the guy in the New York Daily News shrinking package article (which I was also quoted in, whoo), said, “Soon people will be buying empty bags and empty boxes.”
By 6.19.08
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Consumerist Editor Ben Popken (hey, that’s me!) talks about the grocery shrink ray today at 5:30 PM Eastern on WTVT-TV FOX 13 in Florida.
By 6.17.08
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Attention Floridian Consumerists! Provided everything goes according to schedule, I will be on Fox Tampa Thursday during the 10pm newscast, talking about the mysterious Grocery Shrink Ray sweeping across America.
New Die Hard DVD's Digital Extras: Too Little Too Late?
By 11.19.07
Well, the details of 20th Century Fox’s new digital experiment are now public: the DVD of “Live Free Or Die Harder,” which goes on sale tomorrow, will allow purchasers to transfer a digital copy of the movie twice, once to their PC’s hard drive and once onto a PlaysForSure portable device. If you’ve got an iPod device or even a Zune, you won’t be able to do anything with it.
Die Hard DVD Will Ship With Ripped Movie File Included
By 10.18.07
20th Century Fox has announced that the special-edition DVD for “Live Free or Die Hard” will include a “DRM-free” computer file of the movie, playable through Windows’ PlaysForSure software. We suppose you can call this DRM-free, but it obviously doesn’t mean it’s not restricted. To access the file, you will have to insert the disc into your computer, then enter an authorization code that’s included in the DVD case. Once it’s copied over, you can play it on your PC or portable media players that use the PlaysForSure software.
By 10.16.07
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A group of Congressmen used Simpsons characters without permission in a weird press release that involves Mr. Burns, Mayor Joe Quimby, some anti-MoveOn swipes and a little incest humor. Fox has said they did not authorize the usage and that the characters “may not be used in this manner,” but TechDirt wonders whether the network will sue? (We’re thinking no.) [TechDirt]
BREAKING: NBC and FOX Announce "You Tube Killer" Featuring Full Episodes of Popular Shows
By 3.22.07
The companies said Thursday that distribution partners for the online content would include Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.’s MSN network and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL unit. The site, which will be free, is expected to launch this summer and will carry full episodes and clips from hit shows such as “Heroes,” “The Simpsons,” “24” and “My Name Is Earl.” It will also feature movies, including “Borat.”
Consumers Have Spoken: OJ Book/TV Special Canceled
By 11.20.06
“I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project,” said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. “We are sorry for any pain that his has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.”
Myspace the Secret Garden of Conmen and Spammers?
By 5.1.06
According to these reports summed up over at Valleywag, Myspace isn’t a megatacular grassroots operation run out of a garage by “Tom” and his buddy Chris, but a multi-million operation created by the cons and insider traders of Intermix Media. Among their other business ventures were installing spyware on millions of computers. Chris and Tom were just the “cabin boys” or “poster boys,” the Valleywag source alleges.
