CBS and Viacom thinking of buying Joost?
May 23, 2008
This is one crazy rumor (or maybe not that crazy)… so take it for what it is worth, entertainment value:
watchmojo.com is speculating that CBS and Viacom might be interested in buying Joost:
- CBS and Viacom launching a joint venture to counter Hulu.com
- using Joost
- and rebranding it all under the TV.com moniker.
The blog post is a little hard to read but go ahead and be your own judge.
Update:
Reuters are now picking on the story: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketViews/idUSSALPHA7872320080525
Viacom offering Daily Show clips online
October 18, 2007
In the ongoing quest to make Internet popularity pay, Viacom’s Comedy Central channel today will unveil a website for “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” that’s designed to satisfy the most avid fans of the mock-news show with oceans of free video clips.
Rather than providing just a sampling of the program’s fare, as Viacom and other TV networks have done for years, Comedy Central is offering the works: about 13,000 video clips representing every minute of the show since its 1999 inception.
Today’s launch is a competitive response to YouTube. Google Inc.’s hit video-sharing site stirred Viacom’s ire — and a $1-billion copyright-infringement suit — by allegedly allowing users to post clips of “The Daily Show,” “South Park,” “The Colbert Report” and other popular Viacom shows without permission or compensation.
Using new software, YouTube said, it can then automatically remove clips as users post them.
A particular challenge for Comedy Central was designing ads for the site that would satisfy advertisers without turning off viewers, said Erik Flannigan, executive vice president for digital media at MTV Networks, the Viacom unit that includes Comedy Central.
Source: LATimes
Veoh’s way with Moguls
September 13, 2007
Internet TV provider Veoh Networks appears to be the darling of big-name former entertainment company CEOs.
Already backed by ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Veoh yesterday said that former Viacom CEO Tom Freston and Jonathan Dolgen, who once helmed Paramount Pictures, were among the investors involved in a $25 million third round of venture capital financing.
Another marquee name, Goldman Sachs, led the latest round of funding.
Veoh ranked sixth on the list, three slots behind YouTube. The music giant is seeking billions of dollars in damages.
Veoh’s other investors include Time Warner, Spark Capital and Shelter Capital Partners.
The company has content deals with Dolgen’s former studio, Paramount Pictures, as well as Us Magazine, Lionsgate, PBS, NCAA Football, National Lampoon and the Ford Modeling Agency.
[Source: NYPost]
Google to Viacom - The Law is Clear, and On Our Side
March 29, 2007
In a March 24 op-ed, Viacom’s general counsel, Michael Fricklas, defended his company’s lawsuit against YouTube and Google. Resisting the urge to litigate this case in public, we still thought it useful to reply briefly.
Viacom’s lawsuit is an attack on the way people communicate on the Web and on the platforms that allow people to make the Internet their own.
In the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Congress struck a careful balance between the rights of the copyright holder and the need to protect the Internet as an innovative communication frontier, not as another venue for litigation.
Content-hosting sites such as YouTube, Craigslist and MySpace that want to take advantage of the DMCA’s safe harbors must promptly remove infringing content if the copyright owner so requests, giving owners a quick remedy that doesn’t require going to court. Copyright owners, in return, have the responsibility to identify infringing material they want removed. Viacom’s lawyers helped craft this law but apparently don’t like it, after all. They want to shirk the responsibility Congress gave them.
Placing that burden on hosting platforms would turn the DMCA on its head.
Viacom is attempting to rewrite established copyright law through a baseless lawsuit. In February, after negotiations broke down, Viacom requested that YouTube take down more than 100,000 videos. We did so immediately, working through a weekend. Viacom later withdrew some of those requests, apparently realizing that those videos were not infringing, after all. Though Viacom seems unable to determine what constitutes infringing content, its lawyers believe that we should have the responsibility and ability to do it for them. Fortunately, the law is clear, and on our side.
MICHAEL KWUN
Mountain View, Calif.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Viacom blogs still using YouTube
March 29, 2007
Could Sumner Redstone’s Viacom, the media giant that’s suing Google for facilitating piracy of shows such as the Colbert Report, please get its act together? Viacom, despite its overall inability to adapt to the internet, has had a few isolated online successes. Best Week Ever, a cultural roundup which runs on Viacom’s VH1 cable network, was a particular pioneer, launching a funny promotional blog well before the practice became de rigeur among TV shows. When the once-hip media conglomerate unveiled its $1bn lawsuit against Google, execs passed down the word, internally, that bloggers were to stop using the enemy’s video service for clips. Some inhouse blogs, such as Comedy Central Insider, have dutifully switched to Viacom’s own video player.
Of 12 clips on the front page, no fewer than seven were hosted on Youtube. They include an old clip from Saturday Night Live, the NBC show, which was uploaded by Youtube user, extrujado, a play on the Spanish word for outlaw. Somehow, we doubt he’s the lawful owner. The Viacom blog also showcases a pirated clip from the Simpsons, the show owned by News Corporation’s Fox network.
To be fair, it’s hard to remember all the subsidiaries of a convoluted media conglomerate, let alone align them around a single position. Viacom’s bloggers probably kept on using Youtube simply because the interface is simple, the service efficient, and the library of clips the richest. But, before Viacom preaches about the sanctity of copyright, and the devotion of fans to its video stars, its execs should at least come to terms with the shift of younger viewers from clunky cable networks to sites such as Youtube. Sumner Redstone: really want to understand the continuing appeal of Youtube?
News via hyperdistribution and Valleymag
Viacom position on YouTube lawsuite
March 26, 2007
Viacom initiated litigation against YouTube and Google this month for their long-standing infringement of Viacom’s copyrights. YouTube defends itself from copyright infringement based on one narrow slice of the DMCA: protecting service providers who store copyrighted material solely and simply “at the direction of a user.” File storage Web sites allow users to back up their hard drives without needing to patrol every file and without fear of copyright liability.
What the DMCA doesn’t do is protect YouTube.
Does YouTube have “knowledge” of copyrighted material on its site? If the public knows what’s there, then YouTube’s management surely does. YouTube’s own terms of use give it clear rights, notably the right to take anything down. YouTube actively monitors its content. Without knowledge and control, how could YouTube create “channels” and “featured videos” sections on its site? YouTube has even offered to find infringing content for copyright owners — but only if they do a licensing deal first.
Is it fair to burden YouTube with finding content on its site that infringes others’ copyright? Not only does intellectual property drive our exports, it’s a key part of what distinguishes developed economies from developing ones. Protecting intellectual property spurs investment and thereby the creation of new technologies and creative entertainment. This creates jobs and benefits consumers. Google and YouTube wouldn’t be here if not for investment in software and technologies spurred by patent and copyright laws.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301451.html
Viacom did not intended to take down The Colbert Report
March 23, 2007
On behalf of MoveOn.org and Brave New Films, EFF and Stanford’s Fair Use Project today filed a lawsuit against Viacom for improperly issuing a DMCA takedown notice to YouTube over “Stop the Falisiness,” a humorous video built around clips from The Colbert Report.
Viacom promptly responded in a letter, saying that they have no objection to the video and that “any takedown notice most likely did not come from us.” That’s interesting, because (1) the YouTube page specifically says that the video was removed due to a copyright complaint from Viacom; (2) YouTube’s counsel verbally confirmed that the video was removed due to the DMCA takedown from Viacom; and (3) after sending a counter-notice to YouTube, Brave New Films received an email from well-known online copyright enforcer, BayTSP, apologizing for the mistake and asking that any questions be directed to VIACOM@BayTSP.com.
So perhaps Viacom would like to recheck the “careful records” it purports to keep, and give us something more than an assurance that it “most likely” was not their DMCA notice that took the video down.
This underscores the problem: with Viacom sending more than 160,000 DMCA takedown notices, it may not even be aware which videos it told YouTube to remove. If that’s right, then Viacom will inevitably end up censoring some perfectly legitimate videos - surely, the MoveOn/Brave New Films video is not the only example of a fair use that got caught in Viacom’s driftnet. And not everyone has the ability to file lawsuits or publicly call Viacom out on the carpet. As MoveOn’s Eli Pariser said earlier today, ‘With this lawsuit, we are making clear that corporations like Viacom must not be allowed to muzzle independent video creators and censor their free speech.”
Viacom has also said that it “has no problem with” the video being reposted. While that is a welcome acknowledgement of fair use, we would still prefer a world where fair uses are not taken down by improper DMCA takedown notices in the first place. After all, if Fox got The Daily Show pulled off the air for running a clip from Fox News, Viacom wouldn’t be satisfied with an “oops, we didn’t mean it” the next day.
Source: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005177.php
Viacom Sued Over YouTube Parody Removal
March 23, 2007
Summary of Forbes article:
Activist groups sued the parent company of Comedy Central on Thursday, claiming the cable network improperly asked the video-sharing site YouTube to remove a parody of the network’s “The Colbert Report.”
The challenge, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, came about a week after Viacom filed its own, $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube, claiming that the wildly popular Web site is rife with copyrighted video from Viacom shows, including “The Colbert Report.”
Under the DMCA, YouTube and other service providers are generally immune from copyright lawsuits as long as they promptly respond to copyright complaints, known as takedown notices. The lawsuit seeks unspecified legal costs and damages on grounds the plaintiffs’ free-speech rights were harmed.
NBC UNIVERSAL AND NEWS CORP. ANNOUNCE DEAL WITH INTERNET LEADERS AOL, MSN, MYSPACE AND YAHOO!
March 22, 2007
Summary of press release:
New York, March 22, 2007 - News Corporation and NBC Universal will launch the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled with the most sought-after content from television and film, it was announced today by Jeff Zucker, President and Chief Executive Officer, NBC Universal and Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation. AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! will be the new site’s initial distribution partners. This media alliance will offer consumers free long- and short-form video and create a compelling platform for advertisers, targeting the rapidly growing audience of online video consumers. “This venture supercharges our distribution of protected, quality content to fans everywhere. Post-launch, plans will be considered for acquiring additional content as well as producing and licensing original programming for the new site’s audience.
“By delivering the new site’s content to our more than 65 million users, we can build on MySpace’s position as a leading destination for online video, and enable content creators to tap into the power of social networking,” said Peter Levinsohn, President of Fox Interactive Media. Each distribution partner will feature the site’s content in an embedded player customized with a look and feel consistent with each site, making the offering organic to each destination. Post-launch, sites affiliated with founding companies, including iVillage and IGN, will also have the opportunity to become distribution partners.
News Corporation and NBC Universal are creating this strategic alliance at a time when Internet users and advertisers are embracing online video as never before. In January, there were 123 million unique video streamers and downloaders (comScore Video Metrix).
Some videos on iFilm could spell trouble for Viacom
March 20, 2007
Even as Viacom sues YouTube for what it describes as “brazen” copyright infringement, some of Viacom’s own dirty copyright laundry is being aired. Ars searched one Viacom property—iFilm, which was acquired by Viacom in 2005—and found several instances of infringing video hosted by iFilm—content for which Viacom does not own the copyright.
In its complaint against YouTube, Viacom bemoans the fact that it is required to file DMCA takedown notices for each copyrighted clip it spots on YouTube. With over 150,000 infringing clips of Viacom properties identified so far, the company believes that YouTube should be working harder to proactively identify and remove infringing videos.
Does Viacom hold its own properties to the same standard? We contacted both Viacom corporate and iFilm to ask them if they took steps to proactively identify and remove infringing videos or if they relied on copyright holders to notify them of infringing content. Viacom is really asking the judge to do something extraordinary here.”
Source: http://arstechnica.com
