Gawker: valleywag, bambi francisco

Vator.tv looking to sell to CBS?

Jackson West — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT

How did the blogs which reposted Bambi Francisco's Vator.tv interview with CBS Interactive's Mike Marquez all miss the obvious subtext? Francisco spends much of the interview asking about the company's plans for future acquisitions, getting Marquez to share that they are looking to purchase and partner with anything video-related, particularly well-produced, professional content. Kind of like Vator.tv!

Francisco worked for as a reporter for MarketWatch when it was part-owned by CBS, and also worked as a business anchor for San Francisco's KPIX, which is wholly owned by parent network CBS. But that was before an article by CNET News.com reporter Greg Sandoval exposed her ownership stake in the online video startup focused on "innovators" and her financial relationship with Clarium Capital's Peter Thiel, a Vator.tv investor. Sandoval called into question her journalistic independence. Francisco resigned from MarketWatch, now owned by Dow Jones.

In the video clip, Francisco seems to ask a tough question about whether the $5 million acquisition of Wallstrip was "worth it." But when Marquez exclaims that MobLogic.tv — the project from the Wallstrip producers featuring former Wallstrip host Lindsay Campbell — is "doing extremely well," Francisco doesn't challenge it. While we've enjoyed Campbell's hardboiled reporting, we hear the show is struggling to attract viewers. And the show's YouTube channel hasn't cracked five figures in views.

But the most entertaining consequence if CBS were to buy Vator.tv would be the prospect of Francisco and Sandoval meeting at a company picnic. Awkward!

What to do this week

Megan McCarthy — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:28:56 EDT

Tonight: LeWeb3 host and blogueur Loic Le Meur and blogger-cartoonist Hugh MacLoud host a dinner at Foreign Cinema in San Francisco's Mission District. Warning: The event may already be overbooked. [Eventbrite]

Tuesday: Pictured above: Moonalice, the band comprised of Elevation Capital partner Roger McNamee and former Saturday Night Live band leader GE Smith, performs a free lunchtime show in Union Square. [Moonalice]
Friendster and Socializr founder Jonathan Abrams leads the GeekSessions at the City Club of San Francisco. [Upcoming]

Wednesday: Lunch 2.0 hosts a happy hour at Facebook's offices in downtown Palo Alto. [Facebook]
Former MarketWatch columnist Bambi Francisco is among the all-women presenters at this month's San Francisco New Tech Meetup. [Eventbrite]

Loose Wires: MySpace on TV

Nick Douglas — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 21:34:15 EDT

DirecTV announces Project MyWorld, a TV show in which three young girls search for their MySpace friends in the real world. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, start your engines. [Mashable]
Marketwatch's Bambi Francisco interviews Digg co-founder Jay Adelson (you know, the one who's not Kevin Rose) about his and Kevin's new venture, Revision3. Ten points for carefully rehearsed enunciation, Bambi! [WSJ, no sub required]
As blogger Kevin Marks says, nothing must be added to Foxtrot's comic strip about Web 2.0. [Epeus]
Oh yeah, Apple is gonna trademark the word "podcast." What. The. Hell. Steve? [Inquirer and Bit-tech]

CrunchBiz, the newest title from the TechCrunch blog network, went prematurely live today with some blank test posts after the bloggers at Supr.c.ilio.us outed it. Now the site (which is the B2B-centric blog I thought would launch last week) displays a South Park splash image, which is sadly the coolest thing we'll ever see on it. Love the favicon though. [Supr.c.ilio.us and CrunchBiz]
Tony Brummel finally repents of his petulant e-mail to Apple honcho Steve Jobs. [Idolator]
Mom, I got in Slate (and the Journal)! Writer Daniel Gross explains why Yahoo's short-notice forced Christmas vacation (which we revealed here) is an "idiotic" cost-cutting measure in light of the money this company throws around daily. [Slate]
Intel's CEO says YouTube, not satisfied with shelling out about two million dollars a month in bandwidth costs, will eventually go to high-definition. Speaking at the Intel Whatever-the-hell Forum today, Paul Otellini goes on to say that YouTube is inspiring technology to move videos from the computer to TV. When was the last time you and your family curled up in the living room for a good hour of Lonelygirl15? [Bit-Tech]