MICHAEL JACKSON - UNTOLD MILLIONS WATCH JACKSON MEMORIAL

UNTOLD MILLIONS WATCH JACKSON MEMORIAL

The huge crowds that were expected to descend on the Staples Arena during the Michael Jackson memorial on Tuesday failed to materialize, but millions flocked to television sets and computers to view the ceremonies. NewTeeVee.com reported that Akamai, the leading video streaming service (or "Content Delivery Network") delivered more than 2,185,000 live streams during the memorial, making it the second-biggest web telecast behind President Obama's inauguration, when 7 million simultaneous streams were delivered. MSNBC said that it provided 3 million live streams of the service, while CNN provided 781,000 live streams. The major television networks carried the event without commercial interruptions. "Michael Jackson's memorial service on Tuesday was solemnly presented on television as a state funeral," wrote New York Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley. "This was a star-studded live concert infused with all the pageantry, sorrow and ghoulish curiosity that attends the untimely demise of a beloved, troubled superstar." But many writers questioned what they called "overkill" coverage of the star. Daily Variety 's Brian Lowry advised the mainstream media "Whenever E! crews are sitting beside you, and you're getting most of your news tips from TMZ, you are perhaps directing your shrinking resources in a dubious direction." Viewers also began registering their complaints Tuesday. On ABC's Good Morning America one viewer summed up the complaints of others tersely "What a waste of time!" But Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd concluded "Practically speaking, there was no call for that much coverage -- one network's was very much like another's, and once the memorial itself began, the feed was identical. But there is a power to pop culture that a broadcaster ignores at its own peril, and once one network had signed on for the full run, it was inevitable that others would. In the end, everyone came."

08/07/2009