The Venice Project
As a .tv holder and developer I dream of a system with the ease of use of many of today's video sharing platforms (youtube, revver, blip, etc) both for uploading content and for user discovery. Additionally, there needs to be a simple (one-click) system for syndication to affiliates; easy way to integrate advertising; a marketplace for developers to find free content or content that can be licensed; a way to customize the look and feel of the video player. etc.
An ideal platform should also enable viewers to access (with ease) on any device, including but not limited to ipod, PC and ultimately television. Brightcove's (and others) deal with Tivo is a start, but if we're going to integrate the internet and television it has to be very easy, no matter what system the end user has to access content.
.tv is becoming synonymous with video on the internet. The Venice project will be a great benefit to the dot TV forum if it provides that name recognition in the consumer consciousness. For example if the everyday user says "i want to browse my .tv channels... They might use media RSS for the initial syndication and the URL:
www.yournamehere.tv to discover the content. I could see TVP as the catalog for the best .tv content on the net. Particularly if they can figure out the economics to reward developers and make the development, discovery and access easy. Just as some of the founders have done with internet telephony. If TVP makes internet TV as easy and affordable as Skype is for making calls on your PC, they will be a formidable competitor in this space. I think one of the best things will also be the legitimacy of the internet as a source of television-like content beyond the youtube.com genre of brief, funny, promotional clips. Good luck to all...
In terms of the technology, I think many of the pieces are already in place in terms of ease of use for the end user. Truveo search technology and RSS subscription tools are easy to use and enable people to find the content they want. This is a good system for individual clips. For channels however we may need something more robust. Is peer to peer technology a better solution? Maybe, but again, it needs to be easy. Consumers are not always keen on downloading a client. If they could create an application that linked the internet to the TV, like Apple's Front Row or Windows Media Center, I think people would download it just as millions have Skype.
