Viacom to Post Entire "South Park” Series for Free Online
November 30, 2007
New York - Viacom’s (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks has announced plans to make every episode of its Comedy Central network’s “South Park” animated series available online for free streaming, Reuters reports.
Comedy Central recently also put the majority of the segments from its “Daily Show” series online, and the company said that, if anything, it has seen an increase in broadcast viewership as opposed to any drop-off.
“One does not diminish the other by any stretch of the imagination,” said MTV Networks chairman and CEO Judy McGrath.
“The Daily Show was the first out of the gate and it’s been a big success and it’s a nice little model for us to follow,” said Mika Salmi, MTV Networks president of global digital media. “There’s no limit to which shows we can use at this stage.”
Salmi added that MTV is considering an expansion of its Japanese myMTV mobile video social network into other territories, potentially including the U.S.
Via dmwmedia
Tags: IPTV, Online, Video, Streaming, Viacom
Vimeo’s Lodwick Leaves In a Puff of Smoke
November 30, 2007
I have been writing about Vimeo on this blog during the past month. Mashable is publishing he following news about the departure of Jakob Lodwich:
Founder of and public face on Vimeo Jakob Lodwick has announced on his blog that he’s leaving IAC/Connected Ventures/College Humor. The announcement, which was accompanied by what can only be described as what looks like a heroic hit from a bong, was:
“As of an hour ago, I am no longer affiliated with IAC/InterActiveCorp/Connected Ventures/Vimeo. No hard feelings! Goodbye to everyone at CV; you are wonderful and I will miss you.”
This comes after recent news that Vimeo co-founder Zach Klein has also left the company. Klein recently made headlines as he was being publicly courted by MySpace to give the place a good sprucing up. Lodwick’s leaving of the company is abrupt and unexpected given his very public love adulation of the company at his personal tumblog.
Vimeo is an embedded video website, much like YouTube, with a much nicer look and feel and support for HD video. Vimeo and the related ventures also have close ties to the organization built up around Tumblr.
Valley Wag is propagating a rumor that Lodwick might have been fired, although there are no public confirmations from either Vimeo nor Lodwick to affirm or discredit this. As of present, Lodwick could not be reached for comment, as he’s “turned off [his] cell phone for the evening and catch up with everyone later!”
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46% Say Social Media Now More Important Than Mass Media
November 29, 2007
While some of the hoopla surrounding Molson’s Facebook debacle was warranted - it also seemed to showcase that companies are looking at new and inventive ways of using social media for marketing as opposed to the traditional mass media approach. To this end Veritas Communications has just published a survey of Canadian citizens and business leaders (yes, before the comments start I know Molson is now American) with some results that certainly seem to back this idea up.
The full results can be found here [PDF], but for a quick overview it appears that one in two Canadian business leaders say social media is becoming more important that mass media. It doesn’t get more straightforward than that. 46% say social media tools like Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are becoming even more important that television, radio, newspapers and magazines.
Veritas also highlights the interesting fact that while 66% of the 444 businesses polled don’t think employees should be allowed to use any of these social tools at work, 34% thought it was very important for their employees to participate in and understand the medium. I would expect these numbers to level out and perhaps even swing in the opposite direction as business networks like LinkedIn continue to grow.
As I said at the end of my Molson/Facebook piece and these results seem to back up, we should expect to see a lot more social advertising going forward.
British TV Rivals Team Up For Joint Online TV On-Demand Service
November 27, 2007
British TV networks the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will launch a new joint online TV on-demand service that will provide a one-stop shop of content from all channels.
Shows available will include locally produced content and possibly US and other non-British content as well. Like existing online offerings from the networks it is presumed that the service will be available to residents of the United Kingdom and Northern Island only.
The BBC has had ongoing problems with its iPlayer service which faced delays and budgets blowouts, then came under attack for being available to Windows users only.
Joost CEO joins C21’s FutureMedia 2007 line-up
November 26, 2007
Joost CEO Mike Volpi has added his name to C21’s FutureMedia 2007 keynote speaker line-up, joining the BBC, Bebo and MySpace at what promises to be a definitive digital media event on December 13 at BAFTA.
One of the most prolific drivers of digital media, Volpi (left) confirmed his participation at the London event as C21 unveiled the agenda for the day.
C21 editor-in-chief and managing director David Jenkinson said: “The fact so many industry leaders are landing at FutureMedia goes to prove the conference has become a must-attend for those aiming to understand the future of digital media and entertainment. We’re delighted to add Joost to the list of companies delivering a vision of how things are set to change.”
C21’s FutureMedia 2007 agenda went live today, with a raft of sessions set to present case studies from the digital frontier. Jenkinson added: “There are now tangible creative and commercial models for digital media. This conference aims to look under the hood of how to create compelling content at a time when the whole business is starting to work in new ways, with new partners.”
Apple patenting updated multi-touch screens
November 22, 2007
Engadget just reported that Apple applied for a patent on improved multi-touch display. The new technology being patented will, among other things, allow for simultaneous tracking of “multiple finger and palm contacts” which, according to the patent, should allow for “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting.”
Read the original post for more details
Gizmodo review Hulu, Joost and Miro
November 20, 2007
No matter what service you pick, you won’t find everything you want, thanks in part to corporate hang-ups and in part to the primitiveness of these early stages. They’re maddeningly incomplete, like a crappy library in a rural town. Joost is probably your best bet in terms of quantity and quality, with Miro working better if you want a ton of new programming but don’t care about corporate quality. And if you want Battlestar, well, the choice will be made for you.
Read the rest of the review on Gizmodo
For those interested in trends here is last month trends for all three of them:
Backchannel TV-to-Internet Ads Gets $10 Million
November 19, 2007
Backchannelmedia’s patent pending technologies link the TV and Internet platforms leveraging existing technologies already deployed in a significant portion of American homes. The Backchannelmedia solution employs the TV remote control, which enables a consumer to opt-in and ‘click through’ from TV and access deeper content and advertiser information from the consumer’s favorite Internet web sites. This convenient and intuitive consumer touch point bridges the gap between the TV and Internet worlds through the “tagging” or “bookmarking” of TV content. “Backchannelmedia’s unique technology will shape the future of TV advertising,” said Erwin Ephron, media guru, and author. Backchannelmedia and the digital transition will redefine the TV advertising platform.”
Backchannelmedia’s technology will integrate the direct marketing, Internet advertising and television advertising industries into one platform. By enabling the tracking of actual TV advertisement responses and TV initiated content downloads from the Internet, Backchannelmedia allows for a quantum jump in marketing accountability. The technology will link sales data and responses directly back to the TV platform.
Products can be ordered securely through existing consumer friendly Internet web sites with the simple click of the TV remote. It will be a win-win for the TV, Internet, ad agencies, advertisers, and especially consumers.”
About Backchannelmedia Inc. Boston based Backchannelmedia Inc., was founded in 2000 with the belief that television advertising should become accountable. Backchannelmedia is currently designing a complete “continuous loop” system that merges direct marketing, Internet advertising, and television advertising industry into one platform driven by automated, optimized targeting and actual television consumer response results.
Via Pehub
The Coca-Cola Company Releases First Commercial Joost Widget
November 15, 2007
The Coca-Cola Company’s European team announced that it has released the first commercial widget for Joost™ , the world’s first broadcast-quality Internet television service.
The widget, called Coke Bubbles, allows people to personalize and share specific moments from Joost with their friends. When the Coke Bubbles widget is installed in Joost, people can comment about specific scenes in a show by sending a Coke Bubble to anyone in their email address book. Coke Bubble recipients receive an email alerting them to the scene, and when they visit Joost to watch the scene, their friend’s comment will appear in a transparent bubble on the screen.
“In creating Coke Bubbles, we wanted to give people a widget that would recreate the experience of chatting together with friends while watching TV– free from the constraints of time and space,” said Stafford Green, head of interactive marketing for the Coca-Cola European Union Group. “We are always striving to become enthusiastic investors in interactive community innovations, and creating the first commercial widget has been a fun, collaborative project for both The Coca-Cola Company and our friends at Joost.”
In addition to the launch of Coke Bubbles, the Coca-Cola European Union Group and Joost have announced a partnership to help widget developers create and launch more widgets and interactive innovations. Details of the initiative, including contest rules, guidelines and prizes will be disclosed at the first Joost Developer Days, which take place in London on Nov. 16, Amsterdam on Dec. 1 and New York on Dec. 7.
Thomas Barker, co-developer of the Coke Bubbles widget, said, “We’re delighted to be able to work with The Coca-Cola Company to bring something so simple yet useful to the Joost community. The technical depth of the Joost platform has given us real scope to create a rich user experience.”
Mike Volpi, chief executive officer of Joost, said, “Introducing our first commercial widget marks an important milestone for Joost. We already have hours of great programming on Joost, and now, with Coke Bubbles, people are able to ‘curate’ and share their viewing experience. We look forward to working with The Coca-Cola Company, the developer community and all of our partners to make Joost even more customizable.”
Coke Bubbles beta version is publicly available for download now at http://www.cokebubbles.com. Developers interested in attending one of the Joost Developer Days should email dev-workshop@joost.com.
DivX getting a little h.264 boost via MainConcept acquisition
November 15, 2007
DivX has acquired MainConcept AG, a leading provider of H.264 and other high-quality video technologies for the broadcast, film, consumer electronics and computer software markets.
The acquisition is a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $22 million with additional payments of up to approximately $6 million upon the achievement by MainConcept of certain product development goals and certain financial milestones during 2008.
MainConcept designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of high-quality video and audio technology based on industry standards. Its key partners include leading software, entertainment and consumer electronics companies. MainConcept’s portfolio of video technologies, including its industry leading H.264 video codec, is expected to extend the DivX common media language to additional platforms and formats. The combination of DivX and MainConcept is intended to create a company with substantial scale and resources to deliver products and services that offer the consumer a powerful, yet seamless high-quality media experience.
“We are extremely pleased to add MainConcept to the DivX family,” said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX. “Company founder Markus Moenig, our new Senior Vice President, has worked with a talented team of engineers to build a successful company with award winning next-generation codec technology that is highly complementary to the core DivX licensing business. MainConcept’s H.264 technology is expected to increase our market opportunity and speed our penetration of key emerging product categories, including mobile, HDTV, set-top boxes and digital still cameras. With this combination, we are executing on our strategy to deliver a seamless and simple digital media experience where any piece of content plays back on any kind of device, and formats and codecs are completely transparent to the end-user.”
“This is a great partnership that we believe will prove beneficial to both MainConcept and DivX,” said Markus Moenig, CEO and Founder of MainConcept AG. “Our product suites and business models are highly complementary, and our combined companies offer a rich solution for the creation, distribution and playback of high-quality video across virtually any platform or device. We look forward to bringing these two great teams together.”
“MainConcept is a solid strategic complement to our high gross margin licensing business,” stated Dan Halvorson, DivX Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “The increased costs related to operations and the integration of MainConcept could impact our fourth quarter by approximately $0.02 to $0.03 per diluted share. We expect this acquisition to be accretive to our quarterly earnings in the second half of 2008.”
Source broadcastbuyer
