cingular

In our latest TV Squad Podcast, guest Rich Sommer (Mad Men) told us about a commercial he did several years back, and you might remember it too. It's one of those famous ads that, when you watch it again you'll say, "oh, that was him?!" It was a commercial for Cingular phones.

The only question surrounding Fremantle Media's decision to stream episodes of American Idol on their website is, "Duh... what took you so long?" Given the ridiculous ratings, and the fact that just about every performance was available on YouTube anyway, it's something they should have been doing a long time ago. But better late than never I suppose. Fans will be able to watch entire episodes on the website, after they air, sponsored by McDonalds and MasterCard. Individual performances will also be available on phones to Cingular customers.

Adage.com has an article that gets into some of the crazy numbers surrounding Idol. For example, the show is now valued at $2.5 billion as a franchise. It also brings in $500 million in TV ad dollars. Last season the show received 570 million votes and 65 million text messages. And the site attracted 40 million unique visitors.

This news is also good for Fox, who produces the American Idol website in a revenue sharing agreement. Freemantle had been approached by "a major portal" that wanted to host the site and they considered taking it away from Fox. The show premieres January 16th with a two hour episode.

[ via Lost Remote ]

HBO just inked a deal with Cingular to make episodes of Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm available to for viewing on cell phones. This is the first time cell phone content comes in the form of an entire episode, rather than just video shorts. Although, the deal also includes a series of Entourage original video shorts starring Kevin Dillon.

I'm not so sure that I could handle squinting at my tiny cell phone screen for 30 minutes to watch an entire show. It's hard enough to do on a video iPod. Any takers?

Not long ago, I started blogging for our sister site AdJab, mainly so I can get paid for asking questions like "Who the heck is that big-eyed girl under the umbrella in those Cingular ads?" In fact, I asked that very question in a post last week, and a commenter was kind enough to answer my query, which I wrote about yesterday. The girl in question is Angela Sarafyan, and a quick check of her IMDb profile shows some interesting appearances. It seems, though, that her most significant credit to date is a recurring role on 24 this past season.

Since I don't watch the show, I have no idea who she played, but it looks like her character went by two names: Inessa Kovalevsky and Jenny McGill. Can any 24 fan out there let me know what her role was and how it played in the plot? She looks like she has some potential... but I could just be mesmerized by her eyes.

TV Guide's mobile entertainment division has signed a deal with Cingular Wireless to offer streaming video content on Cingular's mobile devices. The only thing definitely guaranteed is an "on-demand version of TV Guide Channel."

I would imagine if the service does well, it won't take long for episode previews and clips to be offered as well - just like Verizon's V-Cast video service. I find these services odd though. Do people actually pay a couple bucks so they can watch something like next week's Lost preview on their cell phone? I don't think I would pay for it unless it came with a lot of perks.

[via Broadcasting & Cable]

Here's one heck of a way to show fan loyalty to your favorite American Idol contestant. Cingular announced that it's offering ringtones of contestants' performances within 24 hours of the broadcast. Every Wednesday, new ringtones of live performances will be available for $2.49 each on Cingular's website. If the contestant's song doesn't have publisher's clearance during a particular week, Cingular will offer up an older performance instead.

I just checked a few of them out and I realized that I am definitely not in the demographic that this is catering to. For example, all the contestants (including Ace) have voiced a ringtone telling people to vote for them. And yes, it does have Chris Daughtry's rendition of "Walk the Line". Commence freaking out.

Are you kidding me? Cingular is charging customers $1.99 for Big Love wallpaper for cell phones. You know what I'm talking about, right? Teeny, tiny, little cell phone wallpaper pictures. For $1.99. For Big Love? It's a brand new show, on late at night, on premium cable. If HBO wants to promote Big Love, it should be giving away those wallpaper photos for free. Puh-lease.

Cingular also has Muppets wallpaper. Ok, I might consider paying for that one. If I didn't already know how to make my own.