Exclusive: The CW is planning to rebrand its digital studio CWD as “CW Seed,” evolving it into a digital destination for loyal CW fans. The network will announce CW Seed at its upfront presentation in New York today. CW Seed will exist as a sub-site on CWTV.com, and will still produce original programming, but the channel is adding more interactivity to the service, opening up for feedback from viewers and adding more social engagement.

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Turner Broadcasting channels TNT and TBS held its upfront presentations today at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, and while the bulk of the show was about new programming, the impact of social and digital media permeated the presentation. The big news was that TBS and TNT will begin streaming their linear channels online starting this Summer. It is a real network feed, including MLB and NCAA games… and of course including the same ad loads as on TV.

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For a journo who has found success with decidedly old-school methods, Ed Gordon has some advice for aspiring broadcasters: get on YouTube. “In today’s world… it’s about producing and owning your content,” he told Mediabistro in the latest installment of So What Do You Do?. Gordon also advises young people with dreams of being on the small screen to “learn where your craft is headed,” and talks about the importance of perseverance when it comes to career success:

There are a lot of people who’ve given up trying to get on commercial television and have gone to securing their own YouTube channels, and I think, at the end of the day, that’s going to be the future of broadcasting. People are just going to put stuff out there. They’re gonna have their own YouTube channels, and eventually you’ll be able to buy things from those channels. But I think one of the things that people have to understand is it takes perseverance.

Read the full interview in So What Do You Do, Ed Gordon, Host of Conversations with Ed Gordon?

– Mona Zhang

The NBA continues to stand out among sports properties as a forward-thinking social brand, and NBA players are some of the most active and followed athletes. The league recently surpassed 400 million likes and followers combined across all league, team and player pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Sina and Tencent, and was the first sports league to surpass one billion video views on YouTube. Read more

The wildly popular Duck Dynasty, A&E’s reality show about the Robertsons,  ”the family that runs the duck call fabrication business,” is bringing fans into their mix in the biggest way yet. The initiative, ”Camo Cameo” will give viewers the opportunity to submit their Duck Dynasty fan art via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, using #CamoCameo. The fan that gets the most votes on their submission will actually earn a walk-on role in a Duck Dynasty TV commercial with the Robertsons, which will premiere later this year. We interviewed  Lori Peterzell, VP Brand Strategy & Consumer Marketing at A&E about the exciting new initiative. Read more

Upfront week is already proving to be the platform for major social TV announcements. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ESPN and Twitter will expand their partnership that was announced a year ago. Last year’s partnership set an important precedent that allowed advertisers to buy ads across TV and Twitter at the same time. Now video is becoming the focus of the growth of their partnership. Read more

Upfront week is underway and there are already major social TV announcements that have been made. According to the LA Times, “Fox said it would use Twitter to distribute clips of upcoming TV shows, tout highlights of live events or share video after episodes of various shows have aired.” This new partnership is going to allow Fox to tap into Twitter’s ad platform. Here are the exciting details. Read more

The growth of the social TV industry has reached new heights. There’s a book and now graduate student André-Pierre du Plessis has completed an impressive 40-minute documentary on the state of social TV and the industry. He created and produced Tech Report, the first weekly tech-news TV show in South Africa that is broadcast through Africa and the UK and he’s currently completing a master’s degree in business journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. I had the pleasure of participating in this documentary, which you can watch here. Read more

(By Mike Proulx, Co-Author of Social TV, SVP/Director of Digital Strategy at Hill Holliday)

There are conversations happening in the boardrooms of every TV network and MSO about the one thing that could have the most impact on television as we know it today. And it’s something corporate communications professionals across the industry don’t want to be public about – at least not right now.

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Atlanta startup Movl says it’s been acquired by Samsung Electronics for an undisclosed sum. Just two years old, Movl began by creating games that interacted with TV — like “We Draw,” which won Samsung’s top developer award in 2011. Then the startup created a platform for iOS and Android developers to seamlessly integrate their apps with smart TVs, starting with Samsung and Google TV — with more on the way.

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