As mentioned in the Wall Street Journal on the 23rd (subscription required) NBC and News Corp have entered into a joint venture to one-up YouTube, making network television programming and movies available to the public. Using the syndication approach of spreading content across at least four major sites, AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! these companies hope to capture some of the 1 billion streams that YouTube saw in a single month in January of 2007 for example.

New Corp President, Peter Chernin said in a statement

“This is a game changer for Internet Video, We’ll have access to just about the entire U.S. Internet audience at launch”

Certainly, the current trend with media companies is to syndicating media across their sites for example; Viacom plans this approach across 44 of their domestic sites. I guess my question is do people really want to visit ten or more sites to view content, or use fewer ITV sites like YouTube, Joost, or IPTV solutions like Akimbo or Apple TV? However, according to eMarketer, users actually consumed fewer streams in 2006 verses 2005. They suggest this is due to a flattening effect with more competition as people visited more sites.

Of course, on one hand Viacom sued Google last week over illegal content showing up on YouTube while at one point considering collaborating with them, according to what I have read they did not want to grant exclusive rights, this is certainly something as a small producer I would not want to do.

The dance is on and the boys and girls are hooking up, those who are shy and waiting in the wings are going to miss out if they wait too long or may go home alone or with the wrong partner.

Below is an interview with Tuna Amobi, a Standard & Poor’s media analyst.

I spoke with Ashley Heather, CEO of Entertainment Media Works about the on-line "implicit" product placement market, their role in the value chain, tools for large and small content creators, engaging the audience with lean back/lean forward content, hot spotting video and more...

As posted in yesterday’s news cycle, Hearst Publications is moving on-line using the Maven platform to syndicate content across their branded sites. Todd Boes, Vice President of Product Management from Maven Networks replied to the following questions.

IPTVe
One of your competitors, Brightcove has garnered a lot of media attention with large media outlet deals, does the Hearst deal signify a shift in the minds of media outlets and if so what is it?

Todd Boes

Absolutely. We’re witnessing a flurry of major media companies starting to break away from traditional distribution practices and go direct to the consumer via Internet TV channels they own and control. They are starting to realize the economic importance and financial opportunities that come with owning the customer and advertiser relationships, as well as the economic value of their massive content libraries and brand equity in the market. What’s really exciting for a publisher like Hearst Magazines is that Internet TV represents a natural outlet for their magazine’s original and exclusive rich video content, and an entirely new distribution outlet that generates new advertising inventory that didn’t exist before.

IPTVe
Why do controlled syndicated networks run by content owners represent such a big opportunity?

Todd Boes

At the end of the day, it’s still about audience reach. By establishing large scale syndication networks that media companies manage and control themselves, they gain the benefits of mass audience reach with the peace of mind that their content and brand is protected and only appearing on sites and portals that have been approved and where a business relationships exists. Controlled syndication is a win-win for the media company, the affiliate and the consumer. The media company gets mass scale distribution, increased ad revenue and full measurability and control, the affiliate obtains valuable content on their site, increased traffic and allocated portions of ad inventory or revenue, and the consumer gets convenient access to valuable content on sites and portals they are accustomed to visiting.

IPTVe
If self-directed syndication is an opportunity for large media outlets smaller content creators are struggling to make the on-line model profitable and aggregation across many sites is their best opportunity for exposure, that said does your company offer solutions for these Indie creators?

Todd Boes

As a pure technology enabler, Maven Networks does not directly offer smaller content providers or Indie creators a distribution outlet for their content. In other words, Maven itself is not a portal or a consumer destination site that hosts content, and we do not sell advertising against customers’ content. Rather, we provide the technology (Maven Internet TV Platform) that enables content owners to create and manage their own direct-to-consumer Internet TV channel and syndication network. As a result, most of Maven’s customers tend to be larger media companies that have their own ad sales teams and advertiser relationships in place

If Maven is positioning itself to be seen by large media brands as more of a tools company offering flexible platform development then Brightcove might be said to be moving somewhat in the direction of a consumer web portal. With the news they are developing an online edit solution much like Jumpcut which while intriguing is not what I would call an Enterprise solution or even professional editing, think pro-sumer.

With On-line video, ITV or whatever you choose to call it has become viable for larger media outlets to move their brands to their own sites as well as other portals. It remains to be seen however if Indie producers can find a similarly sustainable model given current CPM's and the fight for eyeballs, I think their best bet in the short term is with players such as Akimbo and to try and generate as much buzz as possible.

Yesterday the FCC made it easier for Telecom companies such as Verizon to enter the local markets for video delivery; hopefully this will mean I can get FIOS sooner then later.

In its ruling, the Commission indicated the current franchise process constituted an

“unreasonable barrier to entry that impedes the achievement of the interrelated federal goals of enhanced cable competition and accelerated broadband deployment.”

Among the findings were that local municipalities engaged in:
- Drawn-out local negotiations with no time limits and unreasonable build-out requirements.

An open question is the commission indicated it did not “sufficient information” with decisions made at the state level, with the ruling affecting only those made by county or municipal franchise authorities.

Also, The Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on November 3, 2005 to seek public comment on these issues

In his dissenting statement, Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein indicated the FCC "rushed through the ruling with little consultation with the Congress and that the FCC is a regulatory agency and not a legislative body. “ In my years working on Capital Hill, I learned enough to know that today's Order is legislation disguised as regulation” He also indicated he thought the courts would likely reverse such an action.

As reported in Online Media Daily, Hearst is planning to launch 12 online video sites for its magazine brands in the next three months. Titles mentioned will include Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Good Housekeeping and will include behind-the-scenes footage.

According to Chuck Cordray, vice president and general manager for Hearst Magazines Digital Media, they plan to use Maven as their player platform.

"We chose Maven because we like the flexibility of customizing their player from a look-and-feel perspective," Cordray said. "We may or may not avail ourselves of the syndication portion of the product."