Today Akimbo™ Systems today announced that its Internet video-on-demand service will be available next week in beta release for Windows XP and Vista-based PCs. Consumers will be able to download at Akimbo to access thousands of videos for viewing on their PCs.

See our conversation with Jim Funk, Co-Founder & Vice President of Marketing taped last week in our Industry Announcements section

I spoke with Sibley Verbeck, CEO of The Electric Sheep Company at the Virtual Worlds 2007 Conference last week in New York City, Sibley spoke to the following topics:

I spoke with Jerry Paffendorf, Resident Futurist of The Electric Sheep Company at the Virtual Worlds 2007 Conference last week in New York City, Jerry spoke to the following topics:

Defining his role as a Futurist and the work at Electric Sheep

Machinima as a democratizing movement and what are the challenges content creators face

Digital Rights and content creation

User Creation using Machinima is set to grow as better tools emerge

the 3-D web as a UI for navigating.

Upcoming software tools coming from Electric Sheep and Life Blogging project ~ Virtual worlds are the perfect platform for life blogging, which will allow people to share content about themselves and sites with other users.

Interview with John C. Martin ll - Director of Product Marketing at Reallusion

I spoke with John C. Martin ll of Reallusion at the Virtual Worlds 2007 Conference last week in New York City about their product iClone, a tool for creating Machinima films and virtual avatars – an upcoming demo video will follow.

To watch the interview with John, please go to ourInterview Section.

For more information about Machinima, visit:
Machinima.com
Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences

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”

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.

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."

Today I attended the Pacific Crest Digital Media & Entertainment Forum at the Palace Hotel in New York City.

Representatives from Akamai, Macrovision, Sonic Solutions, Sprint Nextel, Revision3, Qualcomm and others spoke to the overall business issues and trends in on-line and mobile entertainment space for both music and video.

There were several sessions that addressed DRM. The consensus was the music and film industries must have some form of right management in place if consumers are going to have choices in how they obtain media; this is light of Steve Jobs recent comments.

On the video side, the domestic and International Broadband landscape was addresses from a technology and legislation perspective in addition to sales, for example; Electronic sell-through is going to blossom in the next two too three years.

Stay tuned for an interview I had with Jay Adelson, CEO of Revision3, which should be online in the coming one too two weeks after my holiday.

Back in the mid Nineties, at one of the largest financial firms on the street our team was charged with rolling out Streaming Media worldwide to the firm. It was the Go, Go Nineties and among other Internet deals, the company did the Broadcast.com IPO, whose founder Mark Cuban netted about 1.5Bil when Yahoo! later bought the company, so don’t complain about the YouTube deal Mark! Of course the roof fell in which must have come as quite a shock to the Queen of the Internet (not Pamela Anderson, if you did a Google search) as well as the rest of us, it was a wild time with equally wild stories.

It brings to mind the expression about history repeating itself which I was reminded of when I read Tony Perkins recent article where he warned of the potential crash for companies, like Brightcove.

Mirco Pasqualini has created an interesting UI for his Flash based player, which he calls personalized WebTV. Called a Streamcast Player it allows site developers to integrate various feeds using an RSS play list of streamed and live video content, managing adverts, parental controls and other options. According to him, it will work over fixed as well as mobile device platforms. Currently, the player is free for site use, I have used the on-line demo however, have not downloaded to test it further.

Below are some supplied screens of the player. You can navigate through the deck by clicking on the right side of each image, or left side to go back.

While the StreamCast Player is a fine example of what the technology can accomplish, what is less clear is the business model for this or any other customizes player. The company, Personal Screen Media comes to mind. They have an interesting player with implicate product placement of items within the frame, where to purchase products in addition to actor back-stories, etc.. However, have they licensed it to any companies, is it in use? If not then it is simply fine technology in search of a home...and we all know the housing market is flat.

I am sorry to hear that Randall Bennett and the staff at DV Guru have decided to close shop, no specific reason was given for going dark. The site lists its contributor’s future plans. The site has added a positive voice to the community, with knowledge and intelligently written articles covering a broad range of production issues.

As Pvt. Vasquez said in the movie Aliens “Vaya Con Dios”

According to a GoFish press release, User generated sharing site GoFish will acquire Bolt Media as part of a stock swap.

GoFish Corporation (OTCBB: GOFH), the leading publicly-traded online video company where millions of people come to watch, upload and share videos, today announced it has agreed to acquire Bolt, Inc. (aka Bolt Media) in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at up to $30 million. The combined company will develop an online video network for the creation, distribution and monetization of made-for-Internet programming that is ideally suited for advertisers targeting the 18-34 year-old demographic.

However, the New York Times cited in their article that the sale has as much to do with the need to raise case since Bolts settlement with Universal Music Group for allowing some of its users to upload videos, which contain Universals' music.

To pay for the settlement, which will combine cash, stock and advertising credits, Bolt has agreed to sell itself to GoFish, a smaller rival, for as much as $30 million in GoFish stock.

Not withstanding the legal motivation for the deal, I think there will be more of these acquisitions as second tier type YouTube sites seek differentiation and profitability. To use the phrase, Don't try to boil the ocean, I think these on-line sites would do well to partner with companies like Akimbo, TiVo and others to broaden their reach into the living rooms of America, Perhaps there they will find the road to profitability.

As reported in the New York Times today, Amazon and TiVo have partnered to make Amazon content available over TiVo devices. The venture aims to improve on the Unbox, which Amazon rolled out last year to less then stellar reviews. The services will not work over satellite or cable TV systems, which use set-top boxes running TiVo software.

According to the article, "Videos rented from the site must be watched within 30 days, and once a video starts playing it must be watched within 24 hours".

On another note, 2007 is going to be the year companies like Akimbo, Apple, NeuLion, Sling, TiVo and others who currentltly offer IP too TV solutions, or soon in the case of Apple, who will flight for market share. The goal as I see it will be to sign up as much diverse content from small to larger producers as possible while collaborating with delivery players and peripheral companies. In my recent interview with Jim Funk, Co-founder and VP of Marketing for Akimbo, Jim indicated their plan to offer DVD burning via a partnership with Roxio and a deal with SanDisk. “Device Manufacturers and Service operators are going to be announcing their Internet video initiatives and will stake out their position this year” according to Jim.

I think the time is at hand for small content producers to be making the rounds with companies like Akimbo who are active in courting Indie producers. The living room is the battleground for conversion towards changing peoples viewing habits from the current bland fare offered by the entrenched media conglomerates too rich content from the likes The Burg and Alive in Baghdad, I'd like to order my media content the way I order my food, À la carte and don't forget the fortune cookie!

Remember the artist formally known as Prince? Well as of January 16th The Venice Project became Joost. If you recall, TVP (The Venice Project) promises a new UI and more intuitive mediphore to watch TV content over ITV.
Using screen icons to drive other on-screen guides, the user can enter a “channel chat section” presumably to talk with other like-minded Jossties.

Currently, the application (beta) by invitation works under pc and Mac, this via Bootcamp, but not under Parallels. The site also indicates a Linux version is in the works.

To view screen shots of the UI click on the image below, you can more forward or backwards in the slide deck.

As reported by Chris Tew at WebTVWire, the BBC has thrown open its library doors to the public. Namely, programming that goes back as far as 1937 can be searched for and hopefully at some point viewed.

Using their newly named iPlayer users will be able to view programs from the previous seven days and store them on a PC for 30 days. What BBC has done is ratchet up the stakes and put the ball squarely in the court of U.S. networks. Since the BBC does not have to be concerned about advertiser based funding it gives them a significant competitive advantage over the "free networks" here in the States.

According to Ashley Highfield, their forward thinking Director of New Media & Technology,

“At any time, you'll be able to download any programme from the eight BBC channels and then watch it on your PC and, we hope, move it across to your TV set or down to your mobile phone, to watch it when you want”. He went on to say that the BBC was "Unlocking our archive is one of the biggest challenges we face and, potentially, one of the richest gifts we can give to the nation”.

Beyond iPlayer, BBC2.0 seeks to make the entire web video experience more meaningful for viewers as well as production personnel. According to BBC's Chief Technology Officer John Varney, says:

"Over the next few years the BBC will revolutionize the way production teams view, share and prepare content. Our vision is to have a fully open, accessible and interoperable network to enable production teams to gain access and share assets across the whole of the Corporation."

I believe these efforts along with IP too TV technologies such as Akimbo and others will have a disruptive effect on what personal media will come to mean to the public and what users will demand from media outlets.

Levi Shapiro was at the NATPE conference in Las Vegas recently and spoke with leaders in the IPTV field. The enclosed article will appear in an upcoming edition ofVideo Age International and IPTV Evangelist has the preview release.

Marcel Fenez is a twenty-year resident of Hong Kong and a devoted fan of IPTV. “PCCW captured 700,000 subscribers in three years because they offer more choice, on-demand movies and are the only source for English Premier League. Even Ipod didn’t capture that much market share in its first year”. Along with panelists from Telefonica, Microsoft, Thomson and Belgacom, Fenez discussed successful IPTV models from around the world. Whether in Hong Kong, France or Belgium, these learning are can be instructive for the future of IPTV in the US.

According to Bart Becks, who was responsible for an IPTV rollout in Belgium, there are three basic ingredients for IPTV to compete with cable. First, the technology has to be invisible to the customer. “It needs a very easy interface, with only one button to push, said Becks”. Panelist Benoit Joly of Thomson agreed, saying it must be “granny proof”. Second, IPTV needs to offer everything that cable offers, otherwise people will be reluctant to make the switch. “At a certain period, one of the Big 4 broadcast networks was not available, which hurt our take-up. To convince people to cancel their cable subscription, you have to offer same thing available everywhere else.” Finally, there needs to be some form of exclusive content. “In Belgium”, said Becks, “we bought exclusive rights to live football. This helped to increase churn from our competitors.”

IPTV involves television services over closed, managed network, usually owned by the service provider, which is typically the telephone company. IPTV is inherently hi-speed, and two-way. This creates the opportunity for personalized, dynamic ad insertion. In addition, viewers can see miniaturized screens while watching other programming. Now you literally see “what’s on” TV while without missing your show.

Culturally, IPTV has had an impact on the way Spanish viewers watch sports. Antonio Otero, VP Innovation at Telefonica VP Networks, talks about soccer viewing habits. “Twenty percent of Telefonica subscribers buy soccer match each month. Previously, people went to the local bar but now they are watching soccer matches at home.”

From the point of view of local stations, the greater bandwidth allows broader distribution for their content to a wider geographical audience. Becks cites a local television station in Belgium with a library of short-form travel related clips. These evergreen episodes reside in VOD and are being viewed by a broader potential audience.

Particularly, when there are fewer eyeballs, personalized advertising increases the value to brand owners. The capability, while not yet deployed, is to measure audience at the level of the zip code. What the panel did not explore was what type of advertising format, placement, and experience would be appropriate in a personalized advertising environment. Becks acknowledges, “We will need to use different metrics, rather than GRPs. IPTV can bring below the line advertising to mainstream media.” In short, this may make IPTV’s smaller long-tail audiences more appealing to advertisers as a micro-segment with the right ad for the right viewer at right time.

The key learning for IPTV in the US may be access to exclusive sports programming. Becks believes that “successful roll-outs have to have something exclusive, like only having the NBA available on AT&T. Costs a hell of a lot of money but its what they need to do to be in the game.”

Cable companies have learned that their customers want bundles. This year we will see AT&T and Verizon bundling video and television services in order to compete with the bundles offered by the cable companies. The true winner of this battle will be the consumer, who will have more choice and a richer viewing experience.

Today is the second day for the Future TV show here in New York City. Among the many speakers is Frank Chindamo of Fun Little Movies, who we interviewed last summer.

Some of news from Frank and FLM includes

-He has started teaching a new class at USC, “Mobile and Internet Viral Screenwriting and Production.”

-This month Fun Little Movies has also signed its 30th distribution deal. They are now all over the world: US, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Israel, South Africa, India, Australia, NZ, and the Far East, including several deals in China. We’re also all over the Internet, soon to be seen on Revver, RooTV, and Veoh Networks, to name a few.

-They have also signed a distribution deal with ComedyNet.com, for great stand up comedy from NY, and that brings our library to over 1,000 films.

Today's Business Week has an article, which suggests that, YouTube is moving in the direction of revenue sharing model that “could” offer content creators the ability to generate cash. How that will look is still up for grabs and the article quoted Chad Hurley that such a program would go into effect.

“A YouTube spokesperson confirmed the plans Jan. 29, saying, "We are actively exploring a variety of ways to help the community to monetize content.” An announcement could come in a matter of months”.

Of course, unless you have created a Mentos ad or similar fare serious content creators are going to be hard pressed to generate sustained revenue from my perspective, this due to several factors.

-Difficulty in generating sufficient buzz against the hundreds of thousands of other content

-The life cycle for content is getting shorter by the day; this requires content creators to be churning out new content on a weekly basis, this may be fine for stupid videos however, serious content creators have a longer cycle time, which also requires more capital outlay.

While sites like Metacafe claim some producers have earned ten thousand dollars in a few months, this is likely the exception and could be hard to maintain over the long term, also are these serious projects?

The notion that Google is going to place ad content against “thousands of independently produced videos uploaded to its site” is no different then what Revver, Brightcove and other sites are already doing and will require people and not automated systems to check for proper copyright ownership.

Sure YouTube is the 800-pound gorilla and its viewership has captivated advertisers however, will that alone be sufficient to induce what companies are willing to pay in CPM rates?

At the end of the day, if ITV is about offering viewers compelling and diverse content as alternative to the processed food the media establishment has been churning out for years, Indie producers will need an established revenue stream where their content has maximum reach. Right now, I would place my money on companies like Akimbo and NeuLion for the short term.

Time will tell.

photo: Fastweb NOC

As reported in an article in GigaOM, Entitled: Fastweb, IPTV Lessons Learned, Paolo Agostinelli, Chief Marketing Officer for the company had some real world data on how approximately 350,000 customers view IPTV content, Among the companies findings:

-Kid vid is tops, accounting for more almost 50 percent of their VOD consumption

-Triple Play3 ain’t all that — what customers are really looking for is a focused video offering

-Offering 3-day replays of regular TV broadcasts is immensely popular

-The long tail of content (niche programming or Internet video) is still short and stubby when it comes to user acceptance

Fastweb site

As reported in OMMA (subscription required) and the Brightcove's site, the company has secured $59.5M from a number of sources in addition to the New York Times, which is a user of their platform.

While the company has been successful in bringing large companies such as Discovery Channel, Dow Jones, Warner Music, Sony BMG, Reuters, The New York Times and others onboard, it is less clear if small content (meaning: Independent producers) are realizing significant revenues, either via the Brightcove site or across other sites using their platform.

I have contacted the company to speak with individuals for accurate feedback. I know some of the folks at BC and believe they have done a lot to grow the business of ITV and certainly want them to succeed. One of the central questions facing small producers is can they make a living with any ITV platform? Also, will solutions such as those from Akimbo or NeuLion that bridge the gap between ITV and home TV's make it possible for Indie producers to make a living in their craft?

What is critically important if compelling programming like Alive In Baghdad, American Microphone, Daniel Liss, Have Money Will Vlog, The Burg and other's are to succeed will be if can they monetize their content so we are not left once again with only that which mainstream media outlets decide to put online.

If you are an Indie producer and making money using the BC platform, or any other portal, please drop us an email so we can highlight your success.

We have added a new section to the site, which will cover the Mobile space. Specifically, we will endeavor to highlight data and trending information specific to the multimedia aspect (TV/Video, etc...) within the space, this as mobile is poised for explosive growth in 2007.

BusinessWeek has a special section devoted to how business has embraced the use of online video to leverage their brands, reduce production costs, create buzz and energize community

With the announcement of Apple TV

Steve Jobs is in a position to help bridge the gap from ITV reception to TV delivery. While companies such as NeuLion and Akimbo have been in the IPTV & ITV space for some time, Apple's influence could help mainstream this area, which will benefit all players.

From a content perspective, Apple and NeuLion (Akimbo has some initiatives in this area) should collaborate with professional content creators to help foster Indie channels, this in my opinion will go farther in helping producers generate sustainable revenue streams over existing portals and provide consistent and quality content for broadcast.

Looking back at the last quarter of 2006, it is interesting to see where the traffic flowed for content viewed. With the Young turning to sites Without Rules, will YouTube and other similar sites for the masses see their influence diminished, or will they morph into a new business model?

The Future of Web Video, by Scott Kirsner is a comprehensive study about the global shift evolving with on-line video as a new form of conversation between content creator and audience. Check out the ToolKit section of the site for more information. In addition, Scott and I will be taping an interview in the coming weeks.

The Future of Web Video by Scott Kirsner will become an important source of imformation to a new generation of content creators, much like Film Lighting, by Kris Malkiewicz was to past imagemakers.

To purchase the book, The Future of Web Video

Scott’s blog

Nokia along with MSN will webcast a five city live concert on New Year's Eve in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Berlin, Rio, and New York. The event will be produced by Control Room, a company formed by the producers of AOL's Live 8 concert and will stream the acts on MSN Video.

Featured artists include:

New York performers include Rihanna, Ludacris, and KT Tunstall. In Hong Kong, Atomic Kitten and Hacken Lee will play. Mumbai will have Nelly Furtado; Berlin will have The Scissor Sisters; and Rio will have the Black Eyed Peas, Sergio Mendes and John Legend.

If I were at Nokia, I would equip dozens of viewer in each of the the five cities with their N93 video camera phone to record the event from "the ground" and upload video live to a site. The video mashups would be available alongside the professional webcast and create a "Night in the Life" of New Year's with a global community feel.

In a 3-to-2 vote, a divided FCC approved a plan to make it easier for local Telecom companies to enter the delivery of video to the home market and make it more difficult for local municipalities to delay the approval of franchise agreements.

“This means an end to the automatic skyrocketing in cable prices and means greater choice in service and programming,” said David Fish, a Verizon spokesman.

The two dissenting Commissioners, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein both indicated there was a lack of direct evidence that localities were impeding telephone companies' rolling out new TV services.

Chris Anderson is the editor of Wired Magazine and author of the business best-seller, "The Long Tail". In the book, he argues that cumulatively, all of the non-hits and specialized offerings in "the Long Tail" represent a large market that can be easily aggregated on the Internet. Plotted on a graph along with best sellers, these specialized products trail off like a long tail that never reaches zero.

Levi Shapiro of IPTV Evangelist spoke with Chris prior to his Keynote address at NATPE, the article will appear in Video Age magazine

VA: In 1953, the biggest hit on TV was "I Love Lucy", with 70% of TV household. Today, the number one show on Monday nights during November sweeps was "Deal or No Deal", with six million viewers. Is the hit dead?

CA: I don't think the hit will ever die. What has changed is the extent of choice. For fifty years, distribution scarcity drove behavior rather than genuine consumer preferences. Now that viewers have a real choice, they clearly don't necessarily want their programming in 30 minute content blocks. So the hit will survive, but the long-tail can also thrive.

VA: Who will be the winners in a world where the long tail is a viable economic model?

CA: The internet diminishes the scarcity of access to distribution. Once upon a time, the only programming I could watch were the shows using the spectrum on the three national networks. In the present environment, I think small and medium sized content owners have a great chance of reaching niche audiences. We coined the term "Slivercasting" to describe the opportunity for monetizing niche micro audiences.

VA: What is Slivercasting?

CA: Sliver-casting is leveraging lower distribution costs to reach a specific niche and audience. Even these niches can have millions of people, like immigrant or expatriate communities. There are thousands of producers whose programming would never make it into prime time but who have highly dedicated small audiences. It is a phenomenon that could be called slivercasting. One example is the clip "Evolution of Dance", which was viewed over 35 million times on YouTube. By any measure, that is an enormous audience. The Long Tail starts with a million niches, but it isn't meaningful until those niches are populated with people who want them.

VA: Is there a long-tail opportunity for the big guys, too?

CA: After a hit show airs, it immediately moves further down the long tail. I think we are already seeing hits like LOST being viewed by smaller audiences on platforms other than television, such as video iPods, ABC.com and VCast.

VA: Is this just about the internet?

CA: The internet is important because if has reduced the scarcity of distribution to a point where viewers now have inventory on demand. However, this is really about pent-up consumer demand that was too costly to meet. The real opportunity of television programming is to unleash the power of serving people's special interests. That wasn't possible in the previous distribution model.

Besides the video-sharing sites like Grouper, Guba, iFilm, Metacafe, Revver, Veoh, etc, there are now profitable, specialized video services serving specialties like poker, bicycling, lacrosse, photography, vegetarian cooking, fine wine, horror films, obscure sitcoms and Japanese anime.

VA: Is the Long-Tail bringing people together?

CA: Instead of the office watercooler, which crosses cultural boundaries, we're increasingly forming our own tribes, groups bound together by affinity and shared interests. These days the watercoolers are virtual and the people who gather around them are self-selected.

VA: What does the long tail mean for incumbent content creators?

CA: Infinite choice and convenience means we will inevitably watch more television, just as the average amount of time spent watching TV increased with the transition from broadcast to cable to digital. Hit shows will endure but will be smaller in an environment of unlimited choice. We have already seen branded content redistributed to other formats and platforms, such as the SNL "Lazy Sunday" sketch, which was seen by exponentially more viewers on YouTube than NBC. Niche, user generated content will have an audience because, in some form or another, everybody's taste diverges from the mainstream.

VA: Who will be the winners and losers in a world of unlimited choice?

CA: The real winner is the consumer, who finally has a market structure that reflects an abundance of choice, rather than a scarcity of distribution. The value of aggregation, whether through YouTube or Yahoo or someone else, will increase as consumers seek assistance to connect with content that appeals to their specific interests. The smaller content producers will also benefit as they finally have access to distribution.

Quoting their news release "Yahoo! Re-Aligns Organization to More Effectively Focus On Key Customer Segments and Capture Future Growth Opportunities".

In a not so surprising move, Lloyd Braun, head of media operations is leaving however, he is not mentioned in the release. What is surprising, is that Dan Rosensweig, Chief operating officer who is highly regarded within the firm has decided to leave Yahoo!, at the end of March.

You can read the full release Yahoo! News Release

Wall Street Journal (subscription required) by SVP, Brad Garlinghouse entitled The Peanut Butter Manifesto suggested some of these changes.

As for the release, the main thread seems to read as a tighter reporting structure along with a new focus on specific market segments, namely

Expand customer-centric culture and capabilities:
They are indicating a change in focus to reflect audience segments as opposed to product segments in addition to leveraging community and search. In addition, they talk of tagging, sharing and consuming media..

There will be three Operating Groups under the new structure each lead by a senior executive reporting directly to Terry Semel, these include:

Audience Group
The Group will be charged with building on network and off network audiences and relationships. Of note:

"Open more opportunities for users to take advantage of Yahoo! tools and services off network and through mobile and digital devices".

Perhaps this will mean Yahoo! Groups might see products geared specifically for group circles and social networking? Certainly, tools like JumpCut come to mind. In addition, the idea of media meshing has been talked about for both mobile and fixed platforms, perhaps they have some thoughts in this direction.

Advertiser & Publisher Group
Lead by current CFO, Sue Decker

"This group will lead the transformation of how advertisers connect with their target customers across the Internet, with the goal of driving more value for more advertisers and publishers than any other company".

"We will concentrate key engineering talent and shift investment towards the development of high-impact, scalable, global platforms and infrastructures".

The Yahoo! and Reuters Citizen Journalist initiative Basically, Yahoo! and Reuters are banking on an army of citizen journalists who will submit photos and video taken from camera phones and submit the bulk of them for free with a small percentage generating a yet disclosed "relatively small" amount of money.

The Citizen Journalist movement is a very compelling trend that I hope expands to decentralize and diversify coverage from the insulated media machine. While this movement is not specifically within the scope of IPTV and this site, I was intrigued by a quote by Lloyd Braun, who runs the Yahoo! Media Group. Mr. Braun said,

"People don't say, 'I want to see user-generated content', " said Lloyd Braun, who runs Yahoo's media group. "They want to see Michael Richards in the club.

Granted and there a many YouTube pages dedicated to Mr. Richards and people are fascinated with celebrity however, this does not account for the 80-100Mil downloads per day much of which are of average events by regular people. Mr. Braun as you may recall was brought into Yahoo! to build their original content creation division for IPTV, a bold idea that the company soon abandoned,

The photo to the left was of the moving of the Intrepid

this morning, taken during my morning ferry commute into New York City. There were a dozen people snapping photos and perhaps video with their cell phones but I doubt the networks with circling helicopters and trucks on the shoreline are going to be interested in paying for these. What will likely happen is that people will upload them to MySpace, YouTube (in the case of video) and share them with other people.

If the networks, Yahoo! and Reuters want your photos, or video of news events then make them pay for them, after all their production crews are not working free, unless you want to?

If you are looking for a more equitable arrangement, look at Scoopt, which indicates a 50/50% rev share model.

Unlike give away most of your rights with Yahoo!, Scoopt has a more straightforward arrangement.

'We don't 'sell' photos at all. Instead, we re-license them for publication in a number of different ways. This is an important distinction because it means the photo remains your property at all times. In legalese, you retain the copyright".

Is the company spread to thin? According to an internal memo published in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) by SVP, Brad Garlinghouse, the answer would be yes. Garlinghouse believes the company has lost leadership and focus and needs to cut duplicate positions from its workforce.

The article also mentioned the possible retirement of Chairman and CEO, Terry Semel. From my perspective, he has not delivered in substantively moving the company into a leadership position within IPTV and Social Networking.

If you can get your hands on the article, do so. It is an honest and clear message to management that not all is well and has not been for some time. Yahoo! has all the elements to be in leadership positions within several sectors. It is my hope there will be fundamental change throughout the company but that this memo will not result in mass firing of the rank and file who by and large are the core asset of the company. It is management that has created this peanut butter mess and they should be the ones held accountable.

Mr. Garlinghouse, your goals are laudable, the question is does Yahoo! know what it wants to be when it grows up and is the company willing to be bold and take risk?

Article in Yahoo! News

With the news Amanda Congdon has signed a deal with HBO to develop comedy programming, my main interest is, what does "multiplatform" mean specific to Internet Television verses HBO as a traditional cable channel?

• Will it be an on-line content of teasers to drive traffic to HBO?
• Will it be something like the Yahoo! Vision platform of 2000, which, had live feeds into an on-line platform? This could be an interested multiplatform use of select HBO content feed live, or On-demand. Perhaps different content segments could appear on-line as part of a story arc, while other parts of the same story might appear on cable? Since on-line is also about creating community, you could drive traffic bi-directionally as well as provide user-generated content for her show.

I am most interested to learn their meaning of what Amanda will look like multiplatform...

Amanda on HBO

IPTV Evangelists' Adrian Smith along with DP, Brian Relph were out amongst a sea of MiniDV cameras capturing the event. The electronic news media was supposed to be there but save for a local crew, it was left up the community to cover the event. After all, it is not going to be CBS or NBC with nano-second attention spans and shallow coverage that champions the growth of Internet TV, it will people like the winners.

2006 Vloggie Awards

Saturday night in San Francisco at the Swedish American Hall theater was host to the first ever Vloggie awards, recognizing the accomplishments of video bloggers. Brian Conley and Alive In Baghdad was the big winner.

Brian Conley, Winner of Best Vlog - Alive In Baghdad

Andrew Baron - Rocketboom

Douglas Sarine, Kent Nichols - Ask A Ninja

Winners Circle

Mr. or Ms. Vloggie to you!

Brian Conley with a $2,000 check from Intel

Well deserved Daniel...

Adrian Smith has joined IPTV Evangelist as a contributing video producer, he is based in San Francisco.

Mr. Smith began his career in London working in the theater as an actor, writer and director. Following on from his theater work, Adrian developed projects for the BBC and became more involved with documentary filmmaking (including segments for the BBCs acclaimed Panorama series).

In 2000 Mr. Smith joined Yahoo! Inc. to champion the use of video in distance-learning modules and to create unique training and learning products. Mr. Smith continued his career at Yahoo! by becoming Senior Producer of Media Production for the Yahoo! marketing department where he produces work for Yahoo! advertising and marketing campaigns. Projects also include a series of Yahoo! funded documentaries on the consumer and social impact of the internet and related technologies.

You can read more about Mr. Smith's background in the About Us section

Brightcove has launched their portal site in addition to announcing their economic revenue share model for content creators, affiliates, advertisers and partners.

Content creators have two options, a free model where they determine what ad pre-roll into your content, or a paid model at $49/month with no adverts. Those who have been using their commercial preview will have until the end of 2006 to determine which model works best for them.

As a content creator, I have one main concern about the free service, namely what type of content might pre-roll or otherwise be "embedded" the term they use with my content? While this may be extreme, if for example I am a content creator of an organic food show, how do I know that Frito-Lay or other highly processed food manufactures ads might appear in context to my content? Are they going to match content with "appropriate" ad specific spots?

In their FAQ, they indicate they sell to a variety of national and niche advertisers. To their credit, they exclude pornography, alcohol, tobacco and online gambling advertising. What about political or religious ads?

In addition and I gather to appeal to non-technical types, Brightcove has created a tool called Publishpod, which they promote as a way to "customize, build, publish and syndicate and Internet TV channel in just a few minutes"

The all-important Rev share model is straightforward; Brightcove will give rights holders 50% of the revenue from ad sales. In addition, if your content is carried by an affiliate, Brightcove pays the affiliate 20%; Brightcove then splits the remaining 80% in half, or 40% going to you the rights holder.

Content holders are paid monthly, what they indicated is "approximately one month after the minimum payment threshold of $20 has been achieved".

For content holders who wish to offer paid downloads of their content the model is as follows. Brightcove shares 70% of the purchase revenue. They indicate they will cover delivery, support (undefined) and credit card transactions (this is an important point for small content creators who do not want the expense and hassle of setting up a merchant account) The rights holder set the price from $0.99 and up.

For rentals, content holders can set 1, 3, 7, or 30 day terms with a $0.99 minimum rate.

If your content is carried by an affiliate, Brightcove will first pay the affiliate 20% of the ad revenue and then share 50% of the remaining revenue with you. Of course, one could strike a deal with Revver directly, either in addition to or in lieu of Brightcove.

Certainly, Brightcove is among a short list of players who have created a robust publishing platform for more professional content creation and have worked hard to address all parts of the puzzle. Time will tell how successful their reach is in attracting content holders, making it profitable for them against their paid model and if advertisers will see positive ROI in the experience.

At the end of the day, they are a channel (with a nice production front-end) and as a content holder, I will certainly consider them as one of several outlets across both fixed and mobile platforms. Content creators should focus on a variety of platforms to address their content distribution needs. I can envision the need for a sort of CTO position, call that person a CIPTVO or Chief IPTV Technology Officer, a person who is charged with developing a comprehensive and holistic strategy that best suits their company's needs specific to IPTV distribution. Of course, I am available :-)

Levi Shapiro has extensive experience in the mobile video and entertainment space and has joined IPTV Evangelist as a contributing producer/writer and recently interviewed Robert Petty, CEO of ROO as part of the our Interview Series.

Mr. Shapiro currently oversees Los Angeles operations for Telephia, the dominant player in mobile-related market research. In this role, he has created partnerships and products for leading movie studios, television networks, game publishers and record labels. He has also helped develop innovative new products including the industry's first-ever Mobile Television Diary.

You can read more about Mr. Shapiro background in the About Us section.

I met some friends at the Web 2.0 gathering at the Time Warner Center last night. We were expecting to see some interesting companies in the space however, most of the event revolved around mobile phones and in-home entertainment gear, such as TV's and a digital fridge, and seemed more like the Home Entertainment show. Worse, with all the TV sets there, none of them had the Mets game playing... I mean this is New York, what where they thinking?

There was one company that seemed strangely out of place for the Web 2.0 show :-), a media solutions software company
Live Technology was featuring their new platform, Live AdMaker.

After speaking with the CEO, it became clear this product is interestingly positioning for ad insertion specific to individual markets and across different media delivery platforms. Since pre-rolls are going to be the Holy Grail for IPTV across fixed and mobile platforms and content creators are concerned about what Ad's are going to roll into their content, I am interested to know more about the capabilities of this platform. I may be taping an interview and demo with them in the coming weeks...stay tuned.

As reported in the BBC Business section today, YouTube has removed close to 30,000 clips from its site that Japanese media companies said were infringing on its content creators rights.

Certainly, YouTube has learned the lesson from Napster 1.0's failure, which it is better to go along to get along...

The deal will certainly create a monster outlet for Google and perhaps copyright issues can be technically addressed at the gateway.

A side story however, interests me more, which was in the piece that appeared in of all places Yahoo! News.

"Google's YouTube coup may intensify the pressure on Yahoo to make its own splash by buying Facebook.com, the Internet's second most popular social-networking site. Yahoo has reportedly offered as much as $1 billion for Palo Alto-based Facebook during months of sporadic talks."

"Yahoo really needs to step up and do something," said Roger Aguinaldo, an investment banker who also publishes a dealmaking newsletter called the M&A Advisor. "They are becoming less relevant and looking less innovative with each passing day."

To that I say, Yahoo! does not need Facebook, it needs a coherent IPTV strategy. Not much has been heard from Lloyd Braun of late and one wonders if Yahoo! has the determination to be a key player in the space? In addition, why is CEO Terry Semel, the former head of Warner Brothers Pictures not pressing the flesh with Studio executives to create on-line synergies?

A. Perhaps he thinks studios will see Yahoo! as competition
B. He does not see IPTV revenues as sufficient over the long term to offset Capex
B. He no longer has the clout to pull off big deals
C. That is what Lloyd Braun is suppose to do
D. All of the above

The New York Times article speaks to many of these and other points.

"Two years ago, Yahoo made an expansion in Hollywood in an attempt to produce new video-focused Web sites, but it later backed off from the plan amid internal bickering."

It is time for bold moves by bold executives, if they still exist.

The news that is sweeping the net and Wall Street Journal today is that Google "may" be looking to acquire YouTube. If the sale goes through will YouTube become to Google what Broadcast.com was to Yahoo, an expensive acquisition with questionable returns? Of course, 1.6 Billion would be a bargain for Google compared to the 5 Billion that Yahoo! squandered on Bcast.

The WSJ article had an interesting quote by Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff who said "But Google also could present a solution", indicating that Google might be able to develop automated systems to block unauthorized use of copyrighted materials.

As a smaller content creator, I have concerns about my media used without permission and agree that Google might be opening itself for potential liabilities. Large media outlets such as Fox and NBC have reversed course as of late with respect to their content being used on-line, witness all those eyeballs and the good will it creates for those brands. I think if Google can create the technology to safeguard my media I would certainly consider that platform for distribution though to be direct, most of the content is rather low quality as say compared to a higher percentage of content you will find on CurrentTV.

Interestingly the man who benefited so nicely from the Yahoo! deal, Mark Cuban had stark words for YouTube, saying among other things "Take away all the copyrighted material and you take away most of Youtube's traffic. Youtube turns into a hosting company with a limited video portal".

Of course, Cuban was clear to indicate that he made a prediction, "but that doesn't mean I don't like 'em".

With the news that Yahoo! has purchased on-line editing and mash-up site, Jumpcut, this should move them into the direction of leveraging their core assets, namely Yahoo! groups.

© 2006 JumpCut

"It is a way for people who don't think of themselves as artists and videographers to be one," said Jason Zajac, vice president of Yahoo's social media division. "It seemed like a powerful concept to free the creativity of people and help them engage."

Mr.Zajac's statement leads me to conclude Yahoo! will seek to create easy to use tools to foster story telling and communication for those community groups who are not technically proficient at editing. The Co-Founder and CEO of Jumpcut Mike Folgner went on to say, "We like how there are different places in Yahoo to plug in our technology."

In my article, Yahoo! IPTV 2000/2006, I wrote about the need for Yahoo! to move into this area and leverage these groups of users who are already in place and are low hanging fruit for the company.

Since Yahoo! has launched their Yahoo|Current platform, I think it time to revisit my article about Yahoo! FinanceVision and an image of their UI, which I recently came across.

Back in 2000, Yahoo! created the first and most innovative IPTV platform of the day. It featured two reporters in New York City, Bertha Coombs at the NASDAQ and Mary Snow at the NYSE, in addition to a studio in California where content was fed in real-time and then back out to the Internet. I had the pleasure of working with them on many projects during my tenure at the company.

Yahoo! FinanceVision, circa 2000

- Content channels (upper left, shows were also available for on-demand viewing)
- Player window (streamed as MW or Real)
- URL pushed links window (upper right that were specific to the topic or guest)
- User customized pane (lower left, stocks, weather, etc....)
- Search Window (lower right, for content viewing on any site)
- In addition, the player window was adjustable to view only the video stream, or some or all of the other panes.

What made the platform unique were features like polling, the ability to receive questions from the audience during a live interview, as well as pre-roll spots. A person called a Data Wrangler pushed out URL's during an interview. The 30-person group did not survive nor did the platform, which is a shame. The Vision platform was ahead of its time, and of course, there was a general lack of broadband deployment at the consumer level, which was an impediment to adoption.

So, flash forward to 2006 and the Yahoo|Current platform.

Yahoo|Current, circa 2006

What strikes me and other people who worked with it, is how little has progressed since 2000 specific to user interactivity. So, what is going to separate the Y|C platform from other YouTube/me too sites? The answer, I think, is in creating a platform where there is relevance for communities. I was talking with a friend recently who put it simply. "Yahoo! groups are a core asset of the company" yet he did not understand why they do not leverage that community to build content channels! Examples abound, a special interest group for instance can share content and mash it up. And that would make it a better targeted group for adverts....

As Frank Chindamo, of Fun Little Movies said in a recent interview I had with him, how many times do you want to see a cat falling off a chair, and what is the revenue model?

In 2000, Yahoo! created what many consider the most innovative IPTV platform of its day, even when compared to what is available today. The Vision platform had more interactivity, more user customization then many existing platforms, and was ahead of its time.

Flash forward to September 20, 2006 with the announcement that Yahoo! has partnered with Current TV, Al Gore's Internet creation to form Yahoo|Current. The deal will leverage Currenttv's community of user-generated content, both consumer and professional.

Yahoo! will bring their global brand and reach along with four channels they will add to the mix, namely

They will add to the mix:

- Current Action: Action sports and news, such as Surf, Skate, Snow, BMX and FMX
- Current Buzz: Content from their Buzz network, which consists of what's on the minds of people and what's hot in popular culture.
- Current Driver: All about automotive, Drivers, Mods, Rides, Stunts & Crashes
- Current Traveler: Globe-trekking BBS of video postcards

The four channels will also be seen on Current's TV network, Al Gore said. Current is only available now in 30 million of the nation's 110 million homes with televisions acording to a Yahoo! article.

"The distribution reach and community of online viewers that Yahoo serves gives an unparalleled opportunity to connect the online video experience, including video-related content, with a mass audience," Gore said.

You will also see celebrity submissions; the current one is of U2. Their music has always been an important part of my collection and I still get a charge when I watch 'Where The Streets Have No Name', the 1987 masterpiece shot on a LA. rooftop. It saddens me however, to watch this ill-conceived and poor quality content, if a celebrity is going to shoot it, it should at least look good.

On the other hand, in looking back at the U2 video of 1987, I found this frame of a person in the crowd taking video of the impromptu concert. If this were shot today how cool would it be to blend that user-generated footage in with the footage the band shot? Well, it certainly would boost community to provide clips of the professional footage, which users could cut with their own content, or the content of other users, and create many different versions.

What is different between the two pieces of user/celebrity-generated content? The former has little content structure, is of poor quality and gets tiring in a hurry. The latter would add more cut-away footage to the event and draw in the user community in a fashion I think more compelling.

I am glad Yahoo! has taken another step forward in the space since they had pulled back earlier this year; I have high expectations for this space and know what is possible if companies had more vision and were willing to take more risk.

As reported in the September 18th issue of Online Media Daily (Subscription required) LonelyGirl Dumps YouTube for a new date, namely Revver.

The reason for her moving to a new network, a better revenue share model as the producers stand to gain a 50-50 cut of ad revenue from the segments, the switch should be complete by Friday.

Guess no love lost with YouTube..No Bucks, no Buck Rogers!

In the September 19th issue of Business Week, MSN's on-line answer to YouTube was announced.

Of note were comments by Rob Bennett, general manager of MSN's entertainment and video services unit, specifically "Microsoft believes there is `still plenty of room to innovate,' and go beyond what I would say most services provide ... just sort of the basics, a very kind of primitive experience that is not that engaging," Bennett said. "It's not that fun to use. It just gets the job done."

The article mentioned MSN would use a larger window size and use time-line jump capabilities. In addition, they will facilitate network circles of friends and family for sharing of content, which is the only intriguing feature in the article that I want to, hear more about.

So how is Microsoft going to make the experience engaging? Not with window size and jump capabilities alone, this is so 2005 thinking. What is going to stick against the wall, to use their spaghetti reference, is enhanced features like, interactivity, social networking with other users, on/off-site editing, platform extensibility, i.e., to mobile as well as fixed devices among others ideas.

In the end, it is not going to be spaghetti that makes people hungry for this service, it will be more like a Chinese menu of features, which the viewer can use at will and anywhere they happen to be. With that said, I will get off my soapbox for now and wait to see what comes to the front door. Don't forget the brown rice....

"Hey there lonely girl, lonely girl/ Let me make your broken heart like new" As sung by Eddie Holman.

The filmmakers and the star of Lonelygirl15 are singing though are anything but lonely these days. The outing of Lonelygirl15 in itself is not what interests me. What interests me is that convention has been turned on its head, and that a hundred- fifty- dollar Webcam can replace a $6k HD camera in the minds of the audience and also that every demographic has a story to tell, be it on YouTube or through mainstream outlets. As the saying goes it's a whole new ballgame, or is it?

What these Indie filmmakers have done, perhaps inadvertently, is to challenge the Hollywood and Advertising establishments as to what constitutes a viable product for consumption by a mass audience. With over 2-mil views, Lonelygirl15 certainly has to have agencies and advertisers salivating -- witness their signing with Creative Artists Agency. There are however, a number of open questions I have before seeing this as a trend.

- Was this a fluke, a viral one-hit wonder? Will her brand be diluted and will her core audience be alienated since her coming out?

- Can a series of 2-minute segments on YouTube or other user-generated sites translate into a feature on the big screen?

- Will other stories follow the same format, and can this form of production by Webcam take root?

Speaking to the potential impact of such a viral hit, one of the original team members was quoted as saying, "...(they) help us usher in an era of interactive storytelling where the line between "fan" and "star" has been removed."

Time will show the path for lonely girl. I am excited by other potential story arcs using pedestrian technologies like the Webcam and other interactive technologies, for example.

- Sites like the urbanbaby message board allow women to vent, rant and share; I could see a group of urban wives making interactive serials -- one big story arc with mashed-up content. I would think Gerber and Pampers might be interested in reaching these folks and even using some of their user-generated content for edgier advertising.

- The HBO Entourage mash-up serials as seen on YouTube portend how community has become part of the story, if only from the outside in.

If I was a Hollywood Producer, I would encourage a series of user-generated stories (like what Lonelygirl15 established) that would be folded into the storyline of the original program, played out OTA/Cable as well as on-line sites like YouTube. Think of it as the first steps in a self-sustaining eco-system, where ideas and content traverse back and forth. While insiders are not going to relinquish control, perhaps they could enlist users and take the best of user-generated content?

From my perspective, Lonelygirl15 is yet another form of innovation and creative storytelling using the technology of the day, and not social manipulation. In 1999, The Blair Witch Project (shot on Hi-8 and 16mm) for a cost of approximately $22k was promoted by the producers as real footage and some people believed it. My recollection of audience response was mostly positive even after the truth came out. I have never viewed YouTube or MySpace content solely as documentary content, but more like a docu-life drama. Perhaps if I were in her age range I would feel a bit put off as a boy, as it would be nice to think of this attractive young woman as a geek like me. I guess I find very few stories on these site sufficient to suspend my disbelief.

Thanks to Guy Battaglia for the inspiration for the title.

I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where, a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and perhaps what keeps the folks at Amazon and Apple up at night? As reported on TechCrunch and other sites, Amazon has beaten Apple out of the gate with their Unbox film download service. I am a long time Amazon user, and as a shareholder I am glad to see they are moving in this direction. I did subscribe to and download their player, which also serves as the media download app. At first, this part was a little confusing as I expected to see a download button on the site for the media. Aside from this, the site is relatively easy to navigate.

The player UI lists titles in your library, synopsis of each title, file size and size for your mobile device, airdate, etc.... There is also a link to IMDB, which is a nice touch.

I downloaded two titles to test, the "Twilight Zone" episode, "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" and the "Star Trek" episode, "The Paradise Syndrome".

You can also view your library on-line. Your media library also has sections for books (duh), your music collection, and of course, videos. You can also add your rating/review to the site via this page.

At $2.00 for each of the two titles I purchased, I do not care much that they will disappear after 30 days however, that is not the case with a title for $15.00. At that point, I would rather purchase the DVD and own it. There is another feature, which may irk some, namely you can download to only two pc's. Now, that does not affect me however, what about the family with two or three children and five pc's around the house? Between laptops, portable devices, and home entertainment units this is rather restrictive. This is where Apple has a better plan.

Viewing "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" full screen revealed clean quality for a .wmv file. The file for portable devices is an unknown format they have labeled, .amzn. In addition, files cannot be opened in an NLE due to DRM encryption. According to engadget, the application FairUse4WM can strip out the DRM protection from WM9 files, which is unfortunate. As a content creator as well as someone who likes to view portable media, I would like the model to allow for ownership as opposed to leasing content however, this is the current system. If you do not like it then let them know. I would not want to be the Indie producer whose content is being ripped off because someone wants to get around license fees; the fact that large studios can afford it is hardly the point.

I would also strongly recommend Amazon add chapter indexing so you can jump from one scene to another. Currently, if you want to move from one part of the movie to another you will have to scrub the timeline and guess. Yikes....

Net, net the Amazon system worked well and the quality on my laptop was excellent. I did not move to a portable device. It fell to earth, I know not where--we shall see where Amazon's arrow winds up.

Two quotes about IPTV content delivery and marketing from the past week caught my attention and I need to determine if a reality check is in order.

The first was the New York Times article, "Google Joins Viacom in Web Test of Video Ads" (purchase required). In addressing their plans for distributing limited programming content on third-party sites, such as "SpongeBob" and MTV's "Laguna Beach", "Viacom indicated they will have to approve each site that uses its content, and it wants only sites with at least 100,000 viewers a month".

The second quote was in the August issue of OMMA, entitled "TV and Web Merger in Texas" (registration required). In the article about Verizon's FIOS offering, programming director Walter Delph said, "We see being able to market down to the smallest possible niche, to groups as small as 100 customers".

I understand the former statement was discussing a rev share model with third-party sites and the promise of enabling profitably for all players. The latter statement about Verizon's delivery to small groups of viewers was exclusive of Internet sites, granted. However, what bothered me is this: why does Verizon see the value in micro-group content delivery and marketing and Viacom and Google do not? Has the floor been set at 100,000 users because it is simply not profitable to cater to less? I have not seen any studies to quantify that number, so what about Indie producers who want to boot strap themselves, will they be able to do it based on the Google/Viacom model?

Rocketboom is back on the air with replacement host Joanne Colan.

As reported on their site and elsewhere in the blogsphere, Rocketboom has lost 50% of its capital assets, namely Amanda Congdon. It appears it was time for her to fish in larger waters. While I personally did not find Ms. Congdon's trademark paper tossing and button pushing inspiring, I have read others who think she is an original talent - net, net she should find receptive outlets.

Rocketboom was able to generate a lot of media buzz as a daily IPTV show with short content people could digest; it was the first of its kind. What is striking is there was no Congdon II waiting in the wings, as people leave shows all the time. I still am not sure what Andrew's business model is, as a one-eBay ad sale does not a show make. There was something I read attributed to him about users paying for content however, I have not read anymore about it.

Going forward: On the technology side, I would suggest he trade in QuickTime and move to Flash, offer better indexing of content, and build a slicker UI. On the Ad side, I have to believe there are companies that would advertise pre-rolls; perhaps he could do an episode shot in a car where the car is the subtle product placement.

Regardless of the loss of Ms. Congdon, it should be remembered it was Andrew who gave birth to the site and the idea and is due plenty of credit. I would like to see him succeed.

With an opening salvo about AOL's IPTV offering in2TV, writer, Gina Bellafante wrote in The New York Times on March 24th that, "LAST week, America Online introduced the first broadband television network on the World Wide Web, fueling the question, Has the Internet truly been a net positive for civilization?"

My question then is, did the advent of moveable type in 1440 by Gutenberg cause the deterioration of civilization at that time or since?

"The fashion world has already demonstrated, that "vintage" in modern parlance has simply come to mean old."

Since this is not the fashion world, I would reserve to an individual's particular tastes as to what they considered old verses, vintage or even classic. John Coltrane is old material, but some might consider his material vintage, La Femme Nikita, though not vintage, could be considered by some, classic. It is all subjective.

The rest of the article delves into questions that seem far removed from the relevancy of what IPTV can offer, namely allowing people to view content--any content--when they want and on any platform, be it wired or wireless and in a time and place of their choosing.

AOL has made a bold move here, having jumped into the not-yet-so-warm- waters of IPTV content delivery, which I applaud. Clearly, some people seem to be watching these programs and this is an evolutionary process. Using existing content before ramping up production or co-producing with established directors is an incremental step from a Cap-Ex perspective and that it does not appeal to Ms. Bellafante personal tastes, is not really the point.

As I am a bit verklempt by this article I am going to chill out in front of the tube (unfortunately not yet on-line) and see if I can find a syndicated episode of "Northern Exposure" or "The X-Files", definitely classics, and beside that, I like them!

There is an interesting research article by JupiterResearch, "IPTV: Simple Benefits, Not New Technology, Most Effectively Compete Against Cable" that cites consumer interest is mainly focused first, on price and next, on their ability to cherry pick channels as the most important factors in the adoption of IPTV. As regards choice, it is not too surprising that a la carte programming is an important consideration since cable has forced consumers to take bloated packages in order to get a few specific channels.

"While Internet Protocol TV proponents get caught up in the futuristic possibilities of the technology, consumers remain much more levelheaded about what they look for in a TV service," said Joseph Laszlo, Research Director at JupiterResearch and author of the report. "Competitors looking to deploy IPTV should avoid overwhelming the consumer with Jetsons-like 'TV of the future' and focus, instead, on delivering real value in terms of TV of the present," added Laszlo.

I would add value with accessibility and extensibility. IPTV providers, I think, need to leverage the three W's; what, when and where.

- Specifically, what content the users want.
- Content when they want, either live or on-demand, i.e. DVR, SlingBox, Podcast, etc.
- Viewing content where the consumer wants, at home or mobile, and this in addition to being platform agnostic. This may seem as given, but there are plenty of examples of technology being out in front of user needs and preferences.

"Although a la carte channel selection is highly feasible over an IPTV infrastructure, the business case remains uncertain, and media companies are likely to resist such service plans," said David Schatsky, Senior VP of Research at JupiterResearch. "To address a la carte's popularity, IPTV services should focus on giving consumers greater choice and control over their television experience, if not true a la carte," added Schatsky.

As regards cable operators, I do not see them moving into the IPTV in the short term. From a Cap-Ex perspective, they are out of capacity since they are serving three different video standards on one network, namely:
- Analog video subs
- Digital video subs
- HD video subs
It may be several years, perhaps 2008 until they have reclaimed the analog space with a set-top in every home.
-More to come...

Two interesting stories emerged yesterday about DVR's, the Internet and how Neilson plans to track viewing habits especially in light of DVR's, SlingBox, PSP, Video ipod, WinCE, Cell phone and other wired and wireless devices.

In a Reuters article almost 80% of national advertisers found television placements less effective. In addition, as DVR's reach the tipping point in US homes, they will reduce their placements by as much as 25%.

Last month at the TV Week Media Planning Conference there was a panel focused on DVR's and their impact on Ad rates, participants suggested from a planning perspective it would become more difficult to measure usage patterns and how that would effect Ad rates.

It was suggested that the challenge for Neilson would be in collecting meaningful data across the country. While the current sample size for DVR's is very small about 7% nationally. (VCR's are still in 90% of US homes). The impact today is not that significant however; in the next few years, it is going to be very significant. Therefore, when talking about point of engagement, tracking the viewer across these platforms is going to be the challenge for the Ad planning community with all of these new technologies. Based on the Neilson article they seem to believe they have the tools to effectively measure usage.

Perhaps in response to concerns over DVR and mobile device usage, Nelson announced they would focus their data collection efforts over the next several years on the relationship between television and the Internet. There was some mention out-of-home viewing which could mean any mobile device, it will be interesting to see how they will effectively measure users of video ipods.

©Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Dead body: I'm not dead.
Body collector: What?
Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your nine pence.
Dead body: I'm not dead.
Body collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
Dead body: I'm not.
Body collector: He isn't.
Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
Dead body: I'm getting better.
Man with Dead Body: No, you're not; you'll be stone dead in a moment.
Body collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
Dead body: I don't want to go on the cart.
Man with Dead Body: Oh, don't be such a baby.

LOL. Is the talk about the impending demise of television close at hand, or are people trying to club it to death?

Following up on my post about Brandies University and their IPTV trials, I spoke with Tim O'Neil, manager of media and technology for the project. Tim shared the following information about their system. In addition, I spoke with Richard Abott who wrote the original article. He indicated he was not aware of many people currently using the system, though he did not elaborate as to reasons cited.

Tim, how is the IPTV network configured at Brandies? "At this time, IPTV multicast is only available on our wired, campus network. This limited pilot is testing to see if there is positive acceptance of network-based delivery of cable, local and university related programming. Unicast (on demand) servers are available both on and off campus (wired network access only), as long as you have received the link through one of our web-based course programs. These servers exist purely for the dispensation of required, course related video files at the instructor's request.

"Particularly with this pilot, our program consists of its own fully, self-contained servers and applications from VideoFurnace. All necessary agreements with
content providers are in place. As for other infrastructure, we just needed to insure
ample bandwidth and proper switch compatibility on the campus network."

I asked him why they were using a less common delivery platform than WM, Real or Flash? "This IPTV solution is one of a few being offered, most notable of which may be the VBrick solution, the native and self-contained video player allows the app
to better maintain security over its offered programs, but more importantly, it eliminates the need for the end user to install another player on his or her system for watching VF related material. WM or REAL or QT, etc. need to be installed on the end user's system."

Of course, an applet is still downloaded on an end user's machine and all pc's come with WM player as do Mac's with QuickTime, so there really isn't much of a difference. Of course, a Helix server is very expensive to implement, so perhaps the cost to deploy the VBrick is more cost effective than other platforms.

Their site has more information about the project and lists benefits such as not needing a TV set in the users dorm room, though I would suspect the trend amongst that age group of having several media sources running simultaneously, would be more prevalent than a single source.

http://lts.brandeis.edu/techresources/telecom/tv/iptv.html

According to the Brandeis Hoot, the campus is launching their second effort in broadcasting IPTV content campus-wide, this as a side-by-side test with cable. According to the article, they will offer content channels in four genres: sports, news, local programming, and entertainment in addition to a classroom and BTV channel.

Apparently the roll-out of their system saw quality and service interruption issues last year. It goes on to note that no matter how good the transmission system gets it is still limited by the quality of the user's system, specifically their video card and bus speed.

I would like to see the implementation of a wireless network, be it Wi-Fi or perhaps a high-speed trial with a provider, such as Verizon, using their Broadband network.

In addition, if you were to couple an IPTV and social networking UI layer together, such as with Jambo, you could have collaboration and networking between individuals while viewing media content! Aside from commenting on the latest episode of Greg The Bunny™, students could view content related to classroom assignments at their own pace while discussing it with each other. If only I had these toys--I mean tools--when I was in school. Look for my article on Social Networking and Jambo in a future post.

It appears Rocketboom has found that the seven-day ebay sell cycle is more to their liking than the traditional Media Buyer route. With the final bid at $40,000, Rocketboom claims the winning bidder will reach one million viewers.

Rocketboom indicated they would have complete control over the commercials they create, "This auction is a bid for advertisement space on Rocketboom, in addition to payment for our creative services" but they will "work closely with the winner to make sure that their message will resonate with our viewers in a beneficial way for the winner".

A couple of thoughts about their complete control statement from a production perspective:

- As a Director/DP, I have just given up 100% creative control of my client's message to someone else that may or may not understand and be able to translate into a final spot.
- In addition, as a DP, Rocketboom's creative and technical services do not meet high enough standards from my perspective. I calculate their production expertise may be worth about $2,000 or what you might find in a 125-sized market, which means the rest of the winning bid, or $38,000, is for ad placement.

This approach takes a page from a politician's playbook; go around the mainstream media and get your message out to the public. While Rocketboom has earned some money and used a novel approach, I wonder if this is a long-term strategy or a one-time play. Too be more specific, will advertisers want to bid the second, third or tenth time around, and will it work? In addition, will Rocketboom's metrics be meaningful for the winning bidder?

The bidding has closed for now, stay tuned.