*AllThings.tv*

In this thread, I will share the most recent press releases. To see the latest, go to the last page and work your way back. This is good information for those interested in the latest developments.

Bella Corporation, a leading producer of innovative and award-winning video products, today announced the immediate availability of their latest product, the DV Keyboard 3.0. Bella is the trusted brand of video editors worldwide. With the rise of home video editing and the popularity of web video, such as YouTube, Bella's DV Keyboard is the perfect tool for the home video enthusiast. In its third generation, Bella raises the bar even higher with ground-breaking features that are unique to the Bella brand, once again proving its commitment as an industry leader.
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Designed for the home video enthusiast, the DV Keyboard offers Bella's unique built-in jog/shuttle controller - the world's first and only keyboard to offer this feature. The jog/shuttle controller allows users to edit faster and more efficiently, offering precise control over their audio and video clips.

The DV Keyboard offers two USB 2.0 ports for direct, high-speed connectivity - another "world's first" for Bella. The ports allow iPods, Zunes, and other high-speed USB devices to be plugged directly into the keyboard, eliminating the need to crawl under the desk in search of a free USB 2.0 port.

Additionally, the DV Keyboard includes three power ports for Bella's optional NeoLite. The NeoLite is a dual-LED task light with a 12" gooseneck that plugs into the keyboard and can be used to illuminate the keyboard or the work area around it. To help users learn the commands of their editing programs more quickly, the DV Keyboard includes high-quality sticker sets for most popular applications from Adobe, Apple, Avid, Pinnacle, Systems, and Sony. These sticker sets help users to both learn and edit faster, while still allowing the keyboard to be used with standard applications such as Microsoft® Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer.

The DV Keyboard also includes programmable web, e-mail, and multimedia keys, giving editors easy access to commonly used commands. And, thanks to Bella's unique Hybrid Technology, the DV Keyboard is compatible with both Mac and PC platforms. Last but not least, Bella has added International Symbols on the keycaps, allowing access to most European letters and symbols.

Priced at $129.95, the DV Keyboard offers unique and comprehensive features that are unparalleled for the home video enthusiast.

www.Bella-USA.com

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Consumer Interest in Online Video Services Is Monitored Inside the 2006 Report ‘Internet Video: Direct To Consumer Services’ DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c45545) has announced the addition of Internet Video: Direct to Consumer Services to their offering.

This report examines the growing market for online video, defined as video delivered over the Internet. The information and analysis address the evolving industry value chain, different business models, the challenges and opportunities for traditional and emerging players, new online video technology solutions, consumer perspectives regarding online video, and the future of the market.

“Whether the business model is free streaming backed by advertisements or the sale of online video, social network Websites are well positioned to become strong contenders in the Internet video business,” said Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, director of broadband and gaming. “Online video Websites, if they are to be competitive, need to beef up their social networking features to attract and retain users.”

Content Outline:

1.0 Notes on Methodology
1.1 Consumer Data
1.2 Definitions

2.0 Current Status of the Online Video Market
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2.1 Consumers Moving Expenditures to Online Content
2.2 The Emergence of Online Video
2.2.1 The Video Industry as We Know It
2.2.2 Defining the Online Video Value Chain
2.2.3 Industry Drivers
2.3 Identifying the Offerings
2.3.1 Movie Services
2.3.2 Broadcast Network Initiatives
2.3.3 Web and Entertainment Portals
2.3.4 Aggregators
2.4 Long Tail Video
2.4.1 User-generated Video
2.4.2 Niche Commercial Content

3.0 Industry Issues
3.1 DRM
3.2 Licensing
3.3 Net Neutrality
3.4 Video Delivery Models
3.5 Video Delivery Format
3.6 Online Video Advertising
3.7 Video and Social Networking
3.8 Consumer Video Platforms: PC-TV Linkage
3.9 Search and User Interface

4.0 Implications for Industry Players
4.1 Content Creators / Owners
4.2 Content Distributors
4.3 Advertisers
4.4 Broadband Service Providers
4.5 Web/Entertainment Portals
4.6 Technology Enablers

5.0 Market Forecast
Resource Book

Section I: Today’s Consumer Video Habits

Subscription to Video/TV Services

TV Viewing Habits

DVR Usage

Movie Watching Habits

Online Video Habits

Paying for Online Video

Popular Internet Video Content

Online Video and Advertising

PC as a Video Platform

Section II: Consumer Interest in Online Video Services

Section III: Company Profiles

Companies Mentioned:

CinemaNow, Inc.
ClickStar, Inc.
Movielink, LLC.
VongoSM (Starz Entertainment Group-SEG)
Guba
Content Creators/Owners
Time Warner
Disney
CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System)
News Corp Fox
NBC/Universal
Online Video Portals/Search Engine
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Apple iTunes
Google Video
Blinkx
Content Aggregators: Consumer
Akimbo
DAVE.TV
Aeon Digital
Distribution Platform/Solution Providers
RealNetworks
Macrovision
Cachelogic
Kontiki/VeriSign
Limelight
Akamai
ThePlatform
ROO
Wurld Media
Vidavee
Gotuit
Bit Torrent
User-generated Video Portal
YouTube
Revver
MySpace
Zattoo
Metacafe
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c45545

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Online video firm lands $7 million

Hunt Ventures, Vesbridge Partners and El Dorado Ventures co-led the round with participation from ATA Ventures.


RipCode will use the funding to develop new technologies for processing Internet video content. The company is focused on developing products that accelerate the transformation of video and audio content for mobile TV, social networking video and studio-based productions.

Serving as the company's CEO is former General Bandwidth, now known as Genband, CEO Brendon Mills. Genband has since moved its headquarters from Austin to Dallas.
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"The explosive growth of Internet video is overwhelming the current technologies that handle video processing transactions," says Mills. "RipCode is bringing to market innovative technologies that will create new viewing choices for consumers while redefining the operational costs and processes for content owners."

Jeff Hinck, senior managing director of Vesbridge Partners, and Jeff Williams, managing director of Hunt Ventures, joined RipCode's board of directors, along with Scott Irwin, general partner at El Dorado Ventures.

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Al Jazeera’s New “Net”-work?

Jilted by U.S. broadcasters, Arab news channel looks to Internet TV.
November 20, 2006

It has been shunned by virtually all U.S. cable and satellite operators, but that hasn’t stopped Al Jazeera English, the international edition of the Qatar-based Arab news network, from taking aim at Internet TV.



Al Jazeera, which claims it reaches 80 million households around the world, launched its English language network in the U.S. last week, but French-owned satellite service GlobeCast has been the only broadcaster to distribute it so far. Other cable operators have declined to carry the network, claiming it would have little interest to subscribers. The U.S. government has vociferously criticized the Arab language network for being a mouthpiece for Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden.



In response, Al Jazeera English has signed agreements that will enable it to stream broadcasts over the Internet in hopes the network can steal a chunk of the so-called ethic Internet TV market. Al Jazeera said it has agreements with Fision, an IPTV service that will soon be available in Houston, Texas, as well as VDC, which offers Internet TV to 10,000 subscribers in the United States. Al-Jazeera also signed a contract with Jump TV, provider of ethnic TV content over the Web.
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Danny O’Brien, activist coordinator at the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, said Al Jazeera’s U.S. Internet strategy could help them target niche audiences as well as advertisers. “The question is, does it benefit them to package [information] out to certain demographics?” he asked.



Dave Gardy, chief executive of TV Worldwide, a corporate web TV specialist (see U.S. Immigrants Fuel Web TV), thinks the strategy could work. “The expatriate community is one of the hottest sectors in streaming media,” he said.



So-called ethnic Internet TV—referring to content from around the world viewed by expatriates living in the U.S.—is expected to reach 1.2 million native Africans this year. Some 10,000 Chinese viewers in the U.S. already subscribe to KyLin TV for about $25 a month.



“Advertising has not yet started in earnest [but after 10,000 subscribers] the advertising and sponsorship revenues will kick in,” said Chris Wagner, executive vice president of marketplace strategy for NeuLion, which owns KyLin. “You have very specific demographics…and that becomes pretty interesting for targeted advertising.”



However, online marketing is still a pittance compared to advertising overall. It will grow to $26 billion by 2010 from $15.7 billion in 2006, according to Forrester Research—but that will represent just 8 percent of all ad spend.



Mr. O’Brien pointed warned against expecting too much from Al Jazeera too soon. He predicted the Arab network and others would likely start out streaming clips rather than continuous broadcasts over the Internet in the early going.

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China.com Opens Internet Video to the Masses

BEIJING, Nov. 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- China.com, a leading Internet services provider in China and a Hong Kong listed subsidiary of CDC Corporation (NASDAQ:China) , today announced it has launched a new service, v.china.com, that allows people to watch video clips from that site.


The v.china.com site differs itself from the other video sharing websites on its content, which comes from self-developed or co-developed video films or authorized pieces provided by contracted partners. This approach addresses the copyright issues which has long plagued the video sharing industry.


In filming the programs for v.china.com, China.com used a series of films to explain current news with humorous language. One program, for example, is called the "Straight Show" which is similar to the "Daily Show" starring Jon Stewart. One program's DJ is the popular "Sister Lotus," who became famous in China via her S-shape self-shot pictures. "Crazy White Collar" is another show about the lives of Chinese professionals. It is directed by Mr. Li Feng, an editor of numerous films by Zhang Yimou.


"We are leveraging TV programs from our content provider partners to provide our users with rich choices of videos," said Xiaowei Chen, Ph.D., executive director and chief financial officer of China.com. "We also partnered with original and exclusive grass root video producers. In addition, we are discussing with our partners on the commercial potential of this content and opportunities like advertising-sharing and mobile value-added services. With 3G's arrival, exclusive and user-generated content, especially videos, will play important roles on not only web portals, but mobile platforms as well."


About CDC Corporation


The CDC family of companies includes CDC Software focused on enterprise software applications and services, CDC Mobile focused on mobile applications, CDC Games focused on online games, and China.com focused on portals for the greater China markets. For more information about CDC Corporation (NASDAQ: CHINA) , please visit www.cdccorporation.net .


About China.com Inc


China.com Inc. (stock code: 8006; website: www.inc.china.com), a leading Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS), and Internet services company operating principally in China was listed on the GEM of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on March 9, 2000. In December 2000, China.com Inc. was admitted as a constituent stock of the Hang Seng IT and IT Portfolio Indices.


About CDC Software


CDC Software, The Customer-Driven Company(TM), is a provider of comprehensive enterprise software applications and services designed to help businesses thrive and become customer-driven market leaders. The company's industry-specific solutions are used by more than 5,000 customers worldwide within the manufacturing, financial services, health care, home building, real estate, and wholesale and retail distribution industries. CDC Software's product suite includes Pivotal CRM (customer relationship management), c360 CRM add-on products, industry solutions and development tools for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, Ross ERP (enterprise resource planning) and SCM (supply chain management), MVI real-time performance management, IMI warehouse management and order management, Platinum China HR (human resource) and business analytics solutions. CDC Software is ranked number 18 on the Manufacturing Business Technology 2006 Global 100 List of Enterprise and Supply Chain Management Application vendors. For more information, please visit www.cdcsoftware.com .


About CDC Games


CDC Games Limited is focused on building a diversified mix of online game assets and strategic alliances and is a business unit of CDC Corporation. CDC Games is one of the market leaders of online games in China with over 37 million registered users.


About CDC Mobile


CDC Mobile is focused on providing MVAS products to subscribers in China and is a business unit of CDC Corporation.


Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements


This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the v.china.com service, content for the v.china.com service, the commercial potential of this content and opportunities for sharing revenues with content partners. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties and changes in circumstances. There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements, including the following: the ability of content providers to create compelling content for the China market, the popularity of the content on the v.china.com service, the ability to make changes in business strategy, development plans and product offerings; the development of the 3G market in China and regulatory developments in China. Further information on risks or other factors that could cause results to differ is detailed in filings or submissions with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission made by CDC Corporation in its Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2005 on Form 20-F filed on June 21, 2006. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based upon information available to management as of the date of the press release, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward looking statements which speak only as of the date of this press release. The company assumes no obligation to update or alter the forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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Investor Relations Media Relations
Monish Bahl Jenny Hui
CDC Corporation China.com Inc
Tel: +1-678-259-8510 Tel: +86-10-8518-4499 ext. 662
Email: monishbahl@cdcsoftware.com Email: huying@np.china.com


Source: CDC Corporation

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bbalegere

Wow.
This is some news.
I wonder when it will make its debut in the Internet TV market.

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*AllThings.tv*

New internet TV channel launched

The channel has received funding from the media industry
A new TV channel showing films made by young people has been launched at Cornwall's Film Festival.
Chew TV is an internet-based TV channel which aims to showcase a wide range of films to help young people get into the media industry.

"Chew TV is the first broadband TV channel in the UK which is run by young people for young people," said controller Greg Davies.

The channel is funded by grants from the government and media industry.

In the future, advertising is likely to pay for the online TV channel.

Bursaries offered

Commissioning editor Luke Martin said: "Chew TV is a real TV channel- you go on there and there will be films running. You can press full screen as well - it will be like watching a TV screen."
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Films being shown on the site include Far From Home, which is set in Cornwall during World War II and the animated fairy-tale Little Dog Turple.

The channel is looking to commission 10 new films over the up-coming months, offering bursaries to the most "original and inspiring" ideas which would appeal to 14-25-year-olds.

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ESPRE Solutions (EPRT), Through a Partnership with MDS, LLC, has Launched a Video Virtual Tour for MDS' Internet Listing Service Partner, ForRent.com

PLANO, Texas, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ESPRE Solutions, Inc. , a Dallas-based media solutions and technology company with a revolutionary and patented video compression technology, today announced that its partner, MDS, a Dallas area video distribution company, has launched a Video Virtual Tour solution this week for For Rent Media Solutions. ESPRE, which signed a license agreement with MDS on April 18, 2006, is providing the video technology now available through MDS on ForRent.com.


"We are extremely excited to be a part of this launch with our partner MDS. ForRent.com is one of the premier Internet Listing Services (ILS) for apartment communities and we are delighted to provide the core technology behind MDS' unique, turnkey video virtual tour solution. This demonstrates the value of ESPRE's licensing agreement with MDS whereby ESPRE maintains a significant equity position in MDS and receives a monthly royalty from sales made by MDS using the ESPRE technology," states Pete Ianace, ESPRE's President and CEO.
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For Rent Media Solutions, which is known for introducing first-to-market applications for the multi-family housing industry, has over 50,000 apartment community listings on their ForRent.com website. And, its newest innovation, known as Community Theater(TM), offers these customers a powerful streaming video package including: streaming custom video for each apartment community with professional voice-over and premium production values, streaming videos on both ForRent.com and the management company's site, a unique video email brochure solution that allows agents to send video brochures to prospects, and delivery through ESPRE's playerless player which requires no video downloads.


"Our customers understand the power of video to help introduce potential residents to the amenities of their apartment communities," says Brock MacLean, Vice President of National Sales and Business Development for For Rent Media Solutions, "but until now, none of the video technologies we reviewed could give us acceptable quality at low enough bandwidth to reach all of our customers. The solution provided by MDS and ESPRE has the perfect balance of superior quality at low bandwidths and works on Macs and PCs."


MDS provides a complete turnkey service to ForRent.com including application development, video production, editing, compression and hosting. ESPRE has been contracted by MDS to deliver customer-facing solutions for providers such as For Rent Media Solutions. In addition to the license fees MDS pays ESPRE for the exclusive rights to ESPRE's technology for customer- facing applications in the online classifieds, entertainment and blogging markets, ESPRE receives royalties on deployments of its technology.


To see samples of ForRent.com's Community Theater, visit or click on any of the direct links below and then click the "Video Tour" button:



http://www.forrent.com/search/detail...ite=1000004881

http://www.forrent.com/search/detail.asp?site=1008184

http://www.forrent.com/search/detail.asp?site=1019127


About ESPRE Solutions, Inc.

Plano, Texas-based ESPRE Solutions is a public company and groundbreaking media collaboration solutions provider that fulfills the promise of TV-quality streaming video over the Internet-even at dial-up speeds as low as 28Kbps. ESPRE Solutions intends to be the video applications provider of choice for Internet Service Providers, Fortune 1000 corporations, and institutions worldwide, adding both narrowband and broadband video to traditional voice and data applications. ESPRE Solutions' eView product suite provides an integrated solution for business and personal communications. To learn more about ESPRE Solutions, or to experience the company's pioneering eView technology, visit http://www.espresolutions.com/ .


About MDS


MDS's primary focus is to provide the first practical approach to allow any web application to take full advantage of video -- both live and on- demand. Using our one-click video publishing technologies, any website can provide their users the power of live and streaming video for applications like classified advertising, online yellowpages, online dating services, on- demand feature length movies, video blogging, corporate sales and training. The MDS solution lets any website provide their end-users with simple methods to produce digital video presentations to show and sell products. MDS uses a wavelet-based compression system that is compatible with PC's, Macs and Linux computers, requires no software installation, and provides superior quality and bandwidth management. The MDS system has integrated Digital Rights Management to ensure that content can't be copied or distributed without the owner's permission. And MDS videos are significantly smaller then Quicktime, WMV, MPEG or Flash at the same quality levels. For more information visit http://www.bettervideo.com/ .


About For Rent Media Solutions(TM)


Headquartered in Norfolk, VA, For Rent Media Solutions(TM) is a division of Dominion Enterprises. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners, For Rent Media Solutions provides superior products, outstanding customer service, and tangible results. For Rent Media Solutions is a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent, townhouse, condo, duplex, efficiency, studio or loft and provides a free customizable search from over 50,000 apartment listings nationwide. For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine(R), as well as ForRent.com(TM)-The Magazine, and publishes 85 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, as well as Senior Outlook(R), Apartamentos Para Rentar(R), Florida Condominium Sales and Rental Guide and Atlanta Town home and Condominium Sales and Rental Guide. For Rent Media Solutions operates five additional websites ForRent.com(R), SeniorOutlook.com(TM), CorporateHousing.com(TM), ParaRentar.com(TM) and FLCondoGuide.com. For Rent Media Solutions is a company dedicated to the needs of the apartment industry, bringing prospective residents and apartment communities together.
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SAFE HARBOR


Forward-looking statements made in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provision of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. Forward- looking statements made by ESPRE Solutions, Inc. are not a guarantee of future performance.


Source: ESPRE Solutions

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Through advancements in web video streaming, Web TV is making it possible for individuals, companies and organizations to broadcast through the internet at a fraction of the cost of regular TV. All industries from the business sector to education, music and film will be able to benefit from Web TV.
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Springfield, MO (PRWEB) November 21, 2006 -- A new web TV network is revolutionizing the market, making it easier for businesses to communicate their message. R Myers E-Marketing aka The WNB Network, now based in Willard Missouri, launched their business in 2004 from Sunny Arizona.

In December 2006 they are launching http://www.MissouriWebTV.com. Following soon in early 2007 with Kansas Web TV, OK Web TV, Indiana Web TV, Ohio Web TV, Tennessee Web TV and so on. Arizona Web TV is already functioning.
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Through advancements in web video streaming, Web TV is making it possible for individuals, companies and organizations to broadcast through the internet at a fraction of the cost of regular TV. The result is a high quality, television style, show that downloads rapidly. The viewer's only requirement is high-speed or broadband Internet access and the free windows media player for PC or MAC.

All industries from the business sector to education, music and film will be able to benefit from Web TV. It has been used for items such as Weekly, TV style, talk shows business infomercials, health & fitness shows, music videos, tutorials, and documentaries and is accessible 24/7 anywhere in the world. Even some Nationally Syndicated TV Shows have chosen the WNB Network to broadcast their shows world wide, online. Web TV is revolutionizing our world. Any profession can utilize it and it is
affordable for businesses of all sizes.

World Net Broadcasting is owned by, Randy Myers E-Marketing, an online advertising company bringing many years of broadcast TV experience to the internet. TV style productions start as low as $250.00 for a 30 minute infomercial. That was not a typo just $250.00 for the shooting, editing, compressing and uploading to the web.

"Businesses don't have to produce brochures or videos, or incur the additional expense of postage. Instead, they have the ability at their fingertips to broadcast their message worldwide," said Randy Myers, owner of World Net Broadcasting. Mr. Myers is no stranger to TV or radio, in front of and behind, the mic, or the camera, Randy Myers sets you at ease and makes it affordable.

To learn more about the WNB Network, visit www.MissouriWebTV.com.

HBO considers launching internet TV channel
By Joshua Chaffin and Aline van Duyn in New York

Published: November 21 2006 22:02 | Last updated: November 21 2006 22:02

HBO, the US cable network owned by Time Warner, is mulling a new broadband internet channel that would be available to customers who also subscribe to its cable television service.

Chris Albrecht, HBO’s chief executive, told the Financial Times that the company was talking to cable operators about an “HBO-like service” in which broadband customers could click on a branded menu and download the network’s programming.


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However, Mr Albrecht stressed that any internet offerings would be launched in partnership with cable operators, which it relies on for subscriber fees, the main source of income for the advertising-free network famous for hits such as The Sopranos.

“What we’re hoping to do is to use the brand and to use new products similar to HBO On Demand to help [cable operators] drive their broadband penetration,” Mr Albrecht said.

Over the last year, several US television networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, have begun to offer their programmes for download over the internet – either through their own websites, or those of partners, such as Google and MySpace. They have also sold programmes for download through Apple’s iTunes store.

A broadband offering would allow HBO to reach out to a younger audience - particularly university students - who are increasingly watching video online.

The network recently announced a joint-venture comedy site with its sister company, AOL, to be known as This Just In. The site, which will feature short videos produced by HBO and a blog, is expected to launch next year, and will be supported by advertising.

However, HBO executives have to balance internet distribution with its relationship with long-time cable partners, who pay the network hundreds of millions of dollars each year in carriage fees.

“They’ve been pretty adamant about how they’re not going to distribute on the internet in the near term,” said Deana Myers, an analyst at Kagan Research. “They’re not going to make their distributors mad.”

In the meantime, HBO is pressing ahead with another form of digital distribution – Video on Demand - which allows digital cable subscribers to watch programmes when they please.

VOD now accounts for about 10 per cent of the viewing for most HBO programmes, and the network believes that will increase as the service become available in more homes.

Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s president, has touted VOD as a way for the company’s cable division to compete with Apple’s iTunes and other emerging forms of digital distribution.

One of its chief benefits, he said, is that the video is distributed directly to the television, rather than the computer. “Video-on-demand is by far the most powerful product in the television world,” Mr Bewkes said.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/99c96b84-798...0779e2340.html

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After much speculation on how the search giant's deal with YouTube could possibly escape litigation, Google will reportedly offer nine-figure licesnsing fees to major media companies.

BusinessWeek columnist Jon Fine has the inside scoop:


Google calls these monies licensing fees, according to executives who've been involved in the discussions. But some of them characterize the subtext like this: Don't sue us over copyrights. Take this (substantial) payment, and trust us to figure out how we'll all make serious money once we get advertising and revenue sharing worked out.
There's no official confirmation on this report from the Google camp yet, but assuming these offers are actually made in the coming weeks/months, the mediascape's reaction is not so easy to predict. On the one hand, $100-million-plus up front is nothing to balk at, and could be a legitimate, short-term solution to the egregious copyright issues that plague YouTube. On the other hand, the NBCus and Viacoms and Time Warners of the world can't possibly be satisfied by mere placation. As Fine aptly points out:
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...taking the dough fortifies an already threatening rival. One executive privy to the discussions says: "The reality is, if they are able to lock in major media [companies] for three years, then by default YouTube is the place to go" for Web video. Such fears may be what's spurred several major media players to mull assembling a cross-company Web video destination--a YouTube killer of their very own.

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As online viewing booms, the amateurs give way to big media
By Scott Kirsner
Whenever a new technology makes personal expression easier -- from desktop publishing in the 1980s to video sharing in 2006 -- denizens of Silicon Valley leap to the same conclusion: Finally, amateurs will triumph over those self-satisfied professionals, kicking aside the titans of the publishing industry/music industry/movie industry/TV industry.

The latest wave of innovation involves Web sites that simplify the process of editing and uploading video, making it globally accessible. Suddenly, anyone can become a broadcaster for free -- and no FCC license is required. YouTube, which now shows 100 million videos a day, has been at the forefront of this wave and was recently acquired by Google for $1.65 billion. But there are dozens of others, most of them headquartered in the Bay Area, and most of them less than two years old. (YouTube didn't launch until May 2005.)

Since the video publishing revolution began last year, much of the content that has been published and viewed on the Internet has been produced by amateurs: Chinese teens lip-syncing to the Backstreet Boys, motivational speaker Judson Laipply dancing to a medley of pop songs, an angry senior citizen scolding a fellow passenger on a Hong Kong bus, skateboard tricks gone awry, and kitties doing adorable things -- like prancing across a piano keyboard.

But as movie studios, advertisers and television networks make more of their content available online, viewers' habits may be starting to shift. If Web video was dominated by citizens with camcorders in 2005 and 2006, the pendulum in the coming year will likely swing toward professional content producers and big media companies.

Already, we're seeing some signs that viewers' video predilections are changing. CBS announced last month that short clips the network had posted on YouTube from shows like ``The Late Show With David Letterman'' had become some of YouTube's most popular content, generating nearly 900,000 views a day. (CBS accomplished that feat thanks to a promotional push from YouTube on its front page.)

Web measurement services have only recently begun issuing statistics about Internet video viewership, so it's hard to point to year-to-year trend data to illustrate this ``pendulum effect.'' But recent statistics and developments are revealing.

As of September, 2006, Apple's iTunes store was selling a million TV episodes a week. And just two months after making full-length movies available on iTunes, Disney CEO Robert Iger announced in November that his company had sold almost 500,000 of them, priced at $9.99 and up. In less than three months this fall, ABC.com showed about 25 million television episodes, supported by advertising. And experienced TV and movie producers like Steven Bochco (``Hill Street Blues'') and John Landis (``Trading Places'') are starting to partner with Web video sites to boost the quality level.

Initially, media companies regarded the Web as a ``wretched hive of scum and villainy,'' to borrow a phrase from Obi-Wan Kenobi in ``Star Wars.'' While movie studios were quick to make promotional trailers available online, they used lawsuits to battle the illegal sharing of full-length films, without offering an attractive legal alternative. Television networks put almost none of their programs on the Internet until the second half of 2005, when Comedy Central began making clips from ``South Park'' and ``The Daily Show'' available, Nickelodeon began playing full-length shows interrupted by ads, and Disney began selling its programs through iTunes.

``Pirated content and user-generated content was all that was available on the Web (for a long time),'' says Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for the Disney-ABC Television Group. ``Once you see media companies such as ours putting more content online, I think there will be a shift in what people choose, back toward professionally produced content.''

Some argue that viewers on the Internet simply prefer the wacky, unpredictable and more informal quality of amateur-made videos, comparing the genre to reality TV shows that have become increasingly popular in recent years.

But every new medium goes through an early period of playful, sometimes aimless, experimentation. In 1895, when the Lumiere brothers, August and Louis, assembled a paying audience in Paris for the first movie show, the program's short films included ``Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory'' and ``The Sprinkler Sprinkled,'' in which a prankster gets a gardener all wet. (YouTube now contains dozens of videos that echo ``The Sprinkler Sprinkled,'' many starring giggling, hose-wielding toddlers.)
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In the early days of the Web, many of us visited homemade sites offering photos of people's cute pets, lists of other interesting Web sites to visit, and information about whether the coffee was fresh on the fifth floor of the university science center. And because there wasn't much else to do on the Web, lots of people stopped by.

Some of those early sites (including Yahoo, Amazon, and eBay) are still listed among the Top 20 most popular Web sites, according to ComScore Networks. But many of the spots on that Top 20 list now are occupied by media companies that were already established businesses in 1995: Time Warner, Microsoft, the New York Times, Verizon, The Weather Channel, and Viacom.
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A similar pattern has played out with podcasting. The original promise was that suddenly, with a microphone and a Net connection, anyone could become Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, or Howard Stern. Most of the early podcasts were homegrown affairs, like ``The Dawn and Drew Show'' (a Wisconsin couple shooting the breeze in their kitchen) or ``Coverville'' (a music fan in Colorado playing his favorite cover versions of songs from well-known artists). There are still a few amateur podcasts in the Top 20, according to Yahoo and iTunes, but they've been joined by podcasts produced by NPR, HBO, investing guru Jim Cramer, Scientific American and ESPN. All of those were well-known media brands before the iPod and podcasting came along.

There are generally four major forces that cause the pendulum to swing from amateur to professional. A vacuum of professionally produced, high-quality content in the new medium is eventually filled by media companies. Consumers start to gravitate to brands that they recognize; rather than spending two minutes watching a purportedly hilarious video that proves unfunny, they feel that watching a two minute segment from ``Letterman'' is a better bet. Large media companies have extensive resources to market and advertise their content; a would-be bedroom Coppola can only hope that her viral e-mail marketing campaign will somehow catch fire.

And finally, while amateurs may have a one-off hit video or a particularly thoughtful blog posting, media companies tend to be better at sustaining a consistent, lasting relationship with an audience, whether they're cranking out a series like ABC's ``Lost'' or publishing a magazine.

The notion that the pendulum will swing from amateur to professional may cause steam to vent from the ears of Silicon Valley's tech populists. To them, MSM (mainstream media) is a dinosaur stuck in a tar pit, and ``the long tail,'' a phrase popularized by Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson, is a rallying cry. (``The long tail'' refers to the extensive catalog of niche products that Web sites like Netflix and Amazon.com can make available, which collectively can generate significant sales.)

But, as entrepreneur Jeremy Allaire explains, ``long-tail economics isn't an argument that niche content will win over mainstream content; it's an economic theory that suggests that it is efficient for micro-markets to flourish.'' Allaire is the founder of Brightcove, a Cambridge, Mass.-based company that supports the distribution of video content on the Internet.

``I don't think it'll be an 80-20 split between mainstream stuff and niche stuff,'' Allaire says. He thinks it will be more like a 60-40 split, with the tilt being toward the mainstream hit shows.

At the recent Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, Mary Meeker, an Internet analyst at the investment bank Morgan Stanley, defined three different categories of video content on the Internet: amateur, semi-professional and professional. She said she would expect that viewers might divide their attention equally between those three categories. An example of semi-professional content might be a series of yoga videos made by a local studio, or a low-budget feature film that is well-made, but was never shown in theaters.

``People's tastes are evolving,'' says Paul Palumbo, research director at AccuStream iMedia Research in Monterey. ``Pretty soon, it's not going to be good enough to have a video of a guy holding onto a pole in a gale storm.''

One key to success will be what Palumbo calls ``programming consistency'' -- the ability that networks have to create content that people return to. In fact, some amateur and semi-professional content producers have already developed continuing series that have devoted followings, like ``Red vs. Blue,'' ``Tiki Bar TV,'' or ``Ask a Ninja.''

Established media companies will face their own challenges, like learning how to produce more quality content at lower budgets, and crafting clips -- not half-hour shows -- that appeal to the Internet's shorter attention spans.

The pendulum effect does not mean there will no longer be opportunities for talented amateurs to have their work seen, to make money and potentially to develop into semi-professional or professional producers of video. A growing number of Web sites, including Brightcove and Revver, now make it possible for video producers to earn money by having advertising shown before, during or after their clips, or by allowing them to sell content as a paid download.

While the brick-and-mortar Schwab's drugstore is no more, the Internet has become a global Schwab's that's open 24/7: a powerful place where new creative talents have been discovered. The pioneering videoblogger Amanda Congdon, the original host of the wry news show ``Rocketboom,'' recently signed deals with ABCNews.com and HBO. Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, the brothers who made two of the most-watched viral videos of all time, the musical political satires ``This Land'' and ``Good to Be in D.C.,'' now have venture-capital funding and a partnership with film director John Landis. Judson Laipply, who made the ``Evolution of Dance'' video, YouTube's most-watched clip of all time, got an invite to the Montreal Comedy Festival.

But the pendulum effect will force amateurs and semi-pros to work harder to get noticed and build an audience.

``Viewers are looking for quality now,'' says Jason Holloway, chief executive of Dovetail.tv, a San Francisco site geared to professional and semi-professional producers of independent films and videos. ``As it becomes increasingly available, they will watch more of it, and the pendulum will swing.''

For the culture, it's a positive thing that new technologies are making personal expression easier, offering free global distribution, and opening the door for people with talent. But new technologies don't guarantee amateurs an audience forever.

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