‘Lil’ Bush’ Makes the Transition From Telephones to Televisions

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In a first, Comedy Central has picked up new show initially created for broadcast on mobile telephones.


The cable channel has greenlit the animated series “Lil’ Bush: Resident of the United States” for a launch in 2007. Writer Donick Cary, Comedy Central, and Los Angeles-based Amp’d Mobile Inc. will produce the show.


The deal “marks the first time that original content created for the mobile space has crossed over to a linear channel,” according to Comedy Central. Starting next year “Lil’ Bush” episodes will air first on Comedy Central and then re-run on Comedy’s mobile channel.


Seth Cummings, senior vice-president of content development for Amp’d, describes his company as “a mobile entertainment development studio and the leading broadband wireless provider for 18 to 35 customers.” That demographic specifically 18- to 35-year-old and male overlaps heavily with Comedy Central’s core audience.


Since its debut on Sept. 1, “Lil’ Bush” has gained fans in the mobile and online space. The show features Lil’ George and his top advisers including Lil’ Condi, Lil’ Rummy and the wisecracker, Lil’ Cheney.


Phone Funds for City


The new state law that allows telephone companies to send video signals down the wire into homes may shake up the satellite and cable TV market but won’t have much financial effect on the City of Los Angeles, according to a report from the City Attorney’s Office.


Currently the city has 14 local television franchise agreements that generate $24 million per year for public coffers, thanks to a 5 percent fee on cable revenues.


All 14 contracts are expired, as both the city and the city’s two cable companies Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications awaited the fate of the new law. However, regular service will continue to cable subscribers at least for now, the report states, based on the same logic that as long as tenants pay rent they continue to live under their expired rental agreement.


Under the new law, companies that distribute video via telephone would get a license from the state, not municipalities. Each phone company can designate its service area without regard to city or county boundaries. But the law stipulates that the companies must pay a 5 percent fee of the revenues earned from video distribution to the local city where subscribers live. With bundled services (regular telephone, Internet and video), the TV fee only applies to the video portion.


In addition, the city can impose a 1 percent fee on telephone video to support public, educational and governmental channels, or PEGs. Under current franchise agreements, cable companies distribute four PEG channels in Los Angeles. The companies also manage 13 studios that produce public access programming and supply cable TV for free to government buildings, schools and libraries.


State license holders wouldn’t have to provide these services under the new law; hence the 1 percent fee evens the playing field between old and new competitors and ensures continued services.


Because the new law gives the city the ability to unilaterally extend existing franchises until Jan. 2, 2008, it “provides an initial safeguard that no areas of the city will be without cable service,” the report states. Beyond next year, however, the shape of the TV market gets fuzzy. The new landscape “will present the city with a number of challenges as it manages the transition from city video franchise authority to state franchise authority,” the report concludes.


The law, called the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act, goes into effect on Jan. 1.


Mall Pig Pen


New England-style barns don’t usually qualify as an advertising medium, but spiders aren’t usually movie heroes, either. Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, through its upcoming “Charlotte’s Web” film, wants to overturn both stereotypes.


Paramount has signed a deal with mall operator Westfield Group to erect “Zuckerman’s Barn: ‘Charlotte’s Web’ Interactive Experience” at eight shopping centers across the country. The locations include Westfield Century City in Los Angeles and Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park.


The toy barns have peepholes in the walls that allow a view of characters and scenes from the movie, which tells the story of how a spider writes words in her web to save a pig from the slaughterhouse. Kids can view plasma screens, framed as barn windows, that will display trivia games and images of Charlotte weaving their name. Other parts of the barnyard feature the “Charlotte’s Web” game on Nintendo DS and a theater (with bales-of-hay seating, of course) showing how the movie was made.


The campaign tries to reach families inside the mall during the biggest shopping season of the year. For movie studios, the on-location strategy “turns two-dimensional promotions into a fun three-dimensional interactive experience,” said Todd Putman, Westfield’s executive vice-president of marketing. He added that Westfield plans to work with Paramount on future campaigns.


“Charlotte’s Web” opened in theaters on Dec. 15.


Strike Up the Broadband


Variety is shaking up its editorial management ranks, in part to become more wired.


Editor-in-Chief Peter Bart and Editor Tim Gray remain in their current slots, but Michael Speier has been named executive editor of news for Variety and Daily Variety. Steven Gaydos has been named executive editor for features, Kathy Lyford and Ted Johnson have become co-managing editors. Elizabeth Guider is now the editor-at-large, and will travel extensively, filing reports on the international entertainment sector and coordinating coverage of key markets and festivals. Dana Harris is the new film editor.


Improving the magazine’s Internet content is the goal. The move makes sense, given that online ad revenue at Variety has risen more than 70 percent for three consecutive years.



Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at

[email protected]

, or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.

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