* Channel 4's Big Brother (made by Bazal Productions which is part-owned by the Guardian Media Group) has already become a victim of its own success. The website (www.channel4.com/bigbrother), launched last month, has been dogged by technical problems.
First there were rumours of a hacker at large - Intel suspected a massive "denial of service" operation at large - but with 2m page impressions and 1m video streams a day, the likely scenario is that Channel 4's system just can't cope with demand (as of this week they are having to double their bandwidth). One other theory for the chatroom is that Sada, who was evicted last week, has molecularised herself and is causing havoc inside the machine. Either that or something is watching Big Brother.
*Trinity Mirror New Media took advantage of the flat-rate net access dispute last week to launch its ic24's After Eight service, offering free surfing for its users between 8pm and midnight. Marketing director Jill Playle heroically called on the industry to stop confusing customers with offers that "are not what they seem", calling it free access while charging a set-up or monthly fee. All well and good, but four hours of free surfing hardly equals a free internet.
*Last week's movers and shakers in the new media world include Ashley Highfield, Telewest's interactive chief, who has been hired to head up the BBC's new media department. Highfield will report directly to director-general Greg Dyke and become a member of his executive committee and global strategy group. Hollinger Telegraph New Media has also appointed Matthew Duffy as business development director to take charge of the new channels in September.
*Emap Elan's efforts to thwart the BBC's Eve magazine - which launched last week alongside www.allabouteve.co.uk, the community-based sister site - have extended on to the web. On top of the £1m TV advertising campaign to boost Red's sales this month, they are planning to launch a beefed-up website for the title some time in September.
*Random House is to start publishing e-books specially designed for the internet. The new imprint AtRandom, launching in January, will cover literary fiction, biography, popular psychology, technology and business. Elizabeth Wurtzel and Donald Katz are amongst the commissioned list.
*Inside.com, the glitzy US website for media luvvies which launched in a blaze of hype in the spring, is going to start charging for its features and analysis. Evidently their revenue from advertising and database subscriptions for business use just wasn't covering their substantial editorial costs.
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