Gawker: valleywag, cbs interactive

Oh, So, You Twitter? Bully for You!

Owen Thomas — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:25:24 EDT

The future's so bright for Twitterer Matt Cooper, he had to adjust his shades. Things looked darker for bullied gadget reviewer David Pogue, while CBS's Natali Del Conte got unwelcome stares at Starbucks. Today's tweets:

Talking Points Memo blogger Matt Cooper admitted to being in the dark.
Unduly sexy ABC newsman Jake Tapper taunted his bosses.
Huffington Post survivor Rachel Sklar admitted to shopping at Diane Von Furstenberg knockoff vendor Forever 21.
CBS geek explainer Natali Del Conte dealt with a Starbucks stalker.
New York Times gadget dude David Pogue confronted a bully on Facebook, several decades too late.

See something worth noting on Twitter? Please email us your favorite tweets — or send us more Twitter usernames.

CNET's odd math

Owen Thomas — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:20:00 EDT

Kara Swisher's new pet media blogger Peter Kafka praises CBS executive Quincy Smith, shown here, for picking up CNET. Revenues were up 6 percent in the most recent quarter, with a 12 percent increase in display advertising. But wait a second: Aren't display ads most of CNET's revenue? The company also makes money through e-commerce referrals and the sale of marketing data — which suggests something went wrong enough in CNET's other businesses to blunt the welcome rise in advertising.

Gamespot editor's nemesis on way out of CNET

Owen Thomas — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EDT

At CNET, the heads keep rolling, nearly a year after Gamespot editorial director Jeff Gerstmann was sacked. Stephen Colvin, an executive who oversaw Gamespot, is out of the company, a tipster tells us. Gerstmann's firing came after a negative review of an advertiser's game, which made him a cause célèbre among gamers. What Gerstmann's fans will say: That Colvin and other suits are getting what they deserved for ruining the CNET-owned gaming site's editorial credibility. Josh Larson left CNET, now owned by CBS, in April. Colvin, a former magazine executive who was Larson's boss, joined CNET a year ago, shortly before the Gerstmann incident. His exit comes as CBS rejiggers CNET's generous benefits, our tipster says:

Former president of Dennis Publishing (Maxim, Blender, etc) Steven Colvin will soon be leaving his year-old postion as head of CNET / CBS Interactive entertainment and lifestyle division (Gamespot, mp3.com, tv.com, Chow, etc). Within the department, Colvin is widely believed to be the "brains" behind Jeff Gerstman's unceremonious canning last December. Just before the firing, Colvin spent hours in a meeting with Eidos attempting to salvage the relationship after Gerstman's negative review of Kane and Lynch. No word on if this departure is volunary or not, but his role is being taken over by CBSi COO Steve Snyder, which might be indicative of hardly-unexpected "restructuring" occuring sooner rather than later. Control of one of the department's largest assets, tv.com, was recently transfered out of the department.

There was also an annoucement today that CNET's extremely generous vacation hours package will be discontinued after this year, sick time hours will be reduced, health care providers will be changed, and benefits cut for "opposite-sex domestic partners", in order to be "consistent with CBS' company-wide poilcy".

On the plus side, parking fees can now be paid pre-tax.

CBS sues NFL players over fantasy football stats

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:00:00 EDT

The NFL players' union wants to charge CBS Interactive a licensing fee for its use of NFL player stats, going so far as to threaten to "put CBSSports.com out of the fantasy football business" if it didn't comply, according to a suit CBS Interactive filed in Minneapolis as a response. Major League Baseball went through a similar suit, in which a judge ruled that players cannot charge for publicly available numbers. [PaidContent]

CBS overhauls CNET site — again

Paul Boutin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:20:00 EDT

CNET overhauled its site right before agreeing to be acquired by CBS in May. Now, CBS has another redesign ready to launch this week. You can probably guess: More video, more product placements. Here's the deets:

The new face of CNET's flagship site offers a revamped look, more online video, and an easier way for advertisers to customize their messages. The new CNET.com includes a "brand showcase" feature, allowing advertisers to pay for pages where they can promote products with links to CNET reviews, a service for which CBS can charge higher rates, according to Joe Gillespie, who oversees CNET.com.

The new CNET.com highlights another priority for CBS's online strategy: video. A large window that will soon play high-definition video within the homepage promotes the site's video content, including relevant clips from CBS broadcasts. Mr. Gillespie says video ads can sell for double normal ad rates on the site.

Puppet video reveals all you need to know about Silicon Alley

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Gary the Puppet — who in the clip embedded below tours the offices of Tumblr, Next New Networks, Gawker, CollegeHumor, and Wallstrip — might be the perfect metaphor for the New York tech scene. It makes a big show of itself, but it's kind of flimsy and despite how it may look, somebody much larger and more powerful is actually running things. For New York tech, the puppeteer's hand is old media companies. IAC and CBS own College Humor and Wallstrip, respectively. Tumblr has its roots in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. So does Next New Networks, which just agreed to distribute its videos over Hulu, a News Corp. and NBC joint venture. And what's Gawker but a tape worm in Old Media's belly? Still, New York tech has this over the Valley: perhaps because of those old media connections, it knows how to present itself with a hokey smirk instead of new media's typical sassback.

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!

CBS interactive boss opens new VC exit ramp just off 101

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:40:00 EDT

A Microsoft buyout of Yahoo will close yet another exit for venture-backed startups, but another buyer just opened shop in town. CBS Interactive plans to open a new office in Menlo Park. And frenetic dealmaker Quincy Smith is here to buy. CBS CEO Leslie Moonves recently told conference attendees that "online revenues are north of $200 million, growing 30 to 40 percent," but Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said the company needs to make an acquisition soon to keep pace. Smith agrees. Last year, he promised to buy the next YouTube, "only a year earlier, when they were 1/32nd of their size." Tiny companies with zero revenues but excruciatingly high burn rates? Quincy, we'll keep you posted.