Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Long Tailed PORTALS for DIGITAL Content Creators

Time Warner Cable Launches User-Generated VOD Service

Time Warner Cable has launched a free, user-generated content service, called PhotoShowTV, that allows customers to create so-called "PhotoShows" out of their personal photos and videoclips and then place them on the operator's VOD platform for public viewing. The service is currently available on Time Warner Cable's Hawaii system, which has traditionally served as a test bed for the operator's advanced services. To use the service, customers must subscriber both to Time Warner Cable's digital service and to its Road Runner broadband data service. The service is based on software, dubbed PhotoShow Deluxe, which is located on the Road Runner portal and which is provided to Time Warner Cable by a company called Simple Star. The software is designed to enable end-users to easily assemble digital photos and video clips into multimedia presentations, complete with captions, music, animations, transitions and effects: customers submit their content by clicking on a "share tab" on the PhotoShow they want to upload (note: the software, which has been available on Road Runner since April, also allows customers to share their PhotoShows on other Web sites and via email). All submitted content is screened by Time Warner Cable, and, once posted to the operator's VOD service, is available for what the operator describes as a "limited" time, in order to accommodate new content. The user-generated PhotoShows on Time Warner Cable's VOD service are organized into such categories as Events, Pets, Family, Sports and Travel. "Marking another first in the history of television, Time Warner Cable's PhotoShowTV continues our company's tradition of innovation and being able to successfully match new products with customers' interests," Bob Benya, Time Warner Cable's SVP of on-demand product management, said in a prepared statement. "By converging our digital cable and high speed online service, this new feature brings sharing the family photo album to a whole new level and gives users the opportunity to put their favorite photos and videoclips on TV."

Blinkx Creators Launch UK-Focused Video-Sharing Site

--Blinkx Signs Deals with Trouble Homegrown, ITV Consumer

The team behind San Francisco-based video search service, Blinkx, has launched a video-sharing site designed primarily, though not exclusively, for people who like to shoot video using their mobile phones. Dubbed SelfcastTV and targeted specifically at UK residents, the site lets users upload their videos by texting 07893 111 222--though they can also do so via their PC. "Just as podcasting was the craze of 2005, video blogging and sharing is what is taking the world by storm in 2006," SelfcastTV founder, Suranga Chandratillake (who is also CTO of Blinkx), said in a prepared statement. "Whether it's making videos or just watching them and sending them on to friends, everyone's got the bug. What makes SelfcastTV stand out from the crowd is that our users can upload footage straight to the site with a simple text message. Unlike other popular video-sharing sites, SelfcastTV is a UK site, built specifically for the UK market and we've made sure we have tailored services and features that fit with what the UK audience wants."

Among other things, the new site allows end-users to create their own channels for their own or for their favorite videos; provides a MovieMode feature that allows end-users to combine their chosen videos into one continuous stream; and allows end-users to embed their video files into other Web sites, such as MySpace, eBay, Xanga and brit-journal.com. According to its founders, it supports more formats than any other video-sharing site; simplifies the process of uploading video by requiring users to fill out "only a handful" of fields in order to register, and even fewer in order to upload their video; and uses Blinkx's indexing and search technology (which the company touts as using speech recognition to generate metadata from videos).

In related news:

  • Blinkx has signed an agreement with Trouble Homegrown, a video-sharing site operated by Trouble TV (note: for more on Trouble Homegrown, see [itvt] Issue 6.62 Part 3), a Flextech-owned UK TV channel that targets youth. The deal will see Trouble Homegrown's videos indexed on Blinkx's blinkx.tv video-search site. "Trouble Homegrown recognizes that Garage Video--or user-generated content--is incredibly popular among Web users," Chandratillake said in a prepared statement. "By providing a space for users to upload their homemade videos, the site allows users to be creative and share their work online. Blinkx is very pleased to be a part of this initiative, and I know our users will enjoy viewing the large collection of Trouble Homegrown's Garage Video clips."
  • The company has also signed a deal with the ITV Consumer division of the UK's largest commercial broadcaster, the Independent Television Network, that sees the latter making behind-the-scenes footage and other videoclips from the currently airing second season of its reality TV series, "Love Island," searchable through blinkx.tv. As a result of the deal, new highlights and supplemental footage from "Love Island" is available on blinkx.tv immediately after each new episode of the show.

Fox Atomic Launches Broadband TV/Video-Sharing Site

--Partners with Jumpcut.com, StupidVideos.com

Fox Atomic, the new youth-focused division of Fox Filmed Entertainment (targets 17-24 year-olds), has beta-launched a broadband TV/video-sharing Web site, Foxatomic.com. The site offers a mix of original content, content from other Fox brands, and user-generated video. In order to ensure that the new site has a steady supply of user-generated content, Fox Atomic has partnered 1) with Jumpcut.com to offer an online video editing and viewing tool, which it is calling "The Blender," and 2) with StupidVideos.com, a user-generated video site devoted to humorous stunts, bloopers, standup and other comedic content. StupidVideos.com will provide video for "The Blender," which Foxatomic.com visitors can then use to create mash-ups (note: Fox Atomic is also making available for mash-ups a selection of footage from its new releases). "We're eager to watch the convergence of user-generated content with professional content, powered by a major studio, like Fox Atomic," Greg Morrow, president and COO of StupidVideos.com's corporate parent, PureVideo Networks, said in a prepared statement. "It's a powerful validation of the user-gen and viral video space. It will be especially rewarding to watch mash-ups that include our user-submitted videos." In addition to providing content for "The Blender," its partnership with Fox Atomic will see Stupidvideos.com providing the new site with a "Clip of the Day" that will be featured on the latter's homepage.

CNN Launches Site Devoted to User-Generated Content

CNN has launched a Web site, dubbed "CNN Exchange" (http://www.cnn.com/exchange), that is devoted to user-submitted video, audio, text articles and graphics, and that also allows users to interact with news reports, commentaries and polls. "User-generated content has the potential to play a pivotal role in journalism whether it's online or offline," Mitch Gelman, SVP and executive producer for CNN.com, said in a prepared statement. "With CNN Exchange, we've essentially created a one-stop shop for CNN.com users to share their contributions with other Internet users, as well as to weigh in on the day's most pressing news."

The new site, which CNN says builds on the success of its World Cup Web site, FanZone (note: according to CNN, the latter was "inundated" with content from around the world), includes a spotlight section featuring the best user contributions; an online "toolkit" with tips from CNN producers, correspondents and photographers on creating and submitting stories; a section featuring CNN.com's various blogs; polls; commentaries; and links to other "citizen journalism" sites. However, the main focus of the site is what CNN is terming "I-Reports," user- generated video shot on cameras, mobile phones and other devices, which the broadcaster says "will enable viewers to tell the world what is happening where they are through the reach of CNN's television networks and CNN.com." Viewers can submit video for I-Reports either through links located throughout CNN.com, or by emailing ireport@cnn.com. The uploading capability is enabled by software that CNN has licensed from Blip.tv, a New York-based company that specializes in hosting and distributing Web-based TV shows and videoblogs. CNN says that it will review all the viewer-submitted videos and that it plans to use them on multiple platforms, including its linear TV channels.

AOL Launches Video Portal

AOL has beta-launched its long-awaited AOL Video portal (http://www.aolvideo.com). The portal offers over 45 VOD channels, containing several thousand hours of programming from high-profile entertainment brands; free streaming content, as well as full-length content that can be purchased (for the most part for $1.99 per episode) and downloaded for viewing on multiple devices online or offline; access to millions of music and news clips, movie trailers and other short-form content; AOL Video Search, a search functionality based on technologies from Truveo, which it acquired earlier this year, and from Singingfish, which it acquired in 2003; a video player which AOL says can go full screen without losing picture quality and which supports AOL's Hi-Q video format (note: the latter, which is powered by technologies that VeriSign acquired through its recent purchase of Kontiki, is touted as enabling DVD-quality video online); and a new service, called UnCut Video, which AOL claims makes it easy for end-users to upload and share videos directly from their camcorder, Webcam, video-enabled mobile phone, or PC. "AOL has long been a leader in online video and with the new AOL Video portal we have created the best and easiest place online for anyone on the Web to find, watch and share the videos they're looking for," AOL EVP, Kevin Conroy, said in a prepared statement. "From originally produced and licensed programming to branded online video-on-demand channels to user-created videos that people create, upload and share on the Web themselves, AOL Video is truly the first one-stop source that brings the best videos on the Web together in one place and gives consumers more choice. If a video is out there, you'll find it here on AOLVideo.com."

The new portal's homepage centers on an EPG that lists the various VOD channels (featuring both free, advertising-supported and download-to-own content) provided by AOL and its programming partners. Those partners include A&E Television Networks (and its channels, A&E, The History Channel and The Biography Channel), Comedy Time, Endemol USA, Expo TV, LIME, MTV Networks (and its Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, The N, Nick at Nite, Spike TV, TV Land and VH1 channels), National Lampoon, Procter & Gamble Productions, Sorpresa!, South Coast Golf, TBS, TNT, TotalVid, TV Guide, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Wild America and WNBA. Channels provided by AOL and its existing joint-venture partners include In2TV (note: for an in-depth overview on the latter, see [itvt]'s interview with Eric Frankel, president of domestic cable distribution at Warner Bros., in Issue 6.83), TMZ.com, Lat34.com, AOL Uncut Video, AOL Music, AOL News, AOL Coaches, AOL Television, AOL Viral Videos, KOL and Moviefone.

AOL Video's homepage also prominently features the new AOL Video Search engine. According to AOL, the search engine returns results from all the most active video sources on the Internet, including YouTube, Yahoo!, Google Video, iFilm, AtomFilms and others. It leverages "visual crawling" technology from Truveo, which is designed to automatically discover video files and related metadata on complex, dynamic Web pages (note: for an explanation of Truveo's technology, see [itvt]'s interview with Truveo founder, Tim Tuttle, in Issue 6.51 Part 1), and which AOL claims can find videos on the Web that other search engines are unable to find. AOL also claims that AOL Video Search has a much greater reach than any other video search engine on the Web, as it is available--in branded and white-label form--on AOL's network of search properties, which includes AOL Search, InfoSpace, and Real.

According to AOL, AOL Video is built using an open architecture that will allow the company to extend it across multiple platforms and devices, thus enabling end-users to view the site's content on PC's, plasma screens and handheld devices. AOL is currently working with Intel to offer a custom "10-foot" version of the portal that will be enabled by Intel's new Viiv technology-based PC's, and that will make the portal's content easily viewable on large-screen TV's and other devices. The companies say that they expect to launch this within a few weeks. In addition, AOL says that this fall it will make available open API's that will allow developers to incorporate AOL Video Search results into third-party user experiences, as well as tools that will enable developers and consumers to incorporate features from the AOL Video portal into other Web sites. The company also says that it is working with PC OEM's and broadband service providers to develop co-branded versions of the portal.





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Gotuit Launches Video Portal

Gotuit Media--which has developed a search/navigation system, dubbed "Gotuit On Demand," that combines segment metadata with VOD content, allowing viewers to use their remote control to quickly access the specific parts of an on-demand show that interest them, and which has used the system to power VOD services that have been deployed on a number of Time Warner Cable and Adelphia systems in New England, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio--is entering the broadband video space. The company has launched a broadband video portal, Gotuit.com, which it touts as using its search and navigation technology to make "loading, buffering, and waiting to watch videos online a thing of the past." The portal features an array of free-to-view video from such content providers as Universal Music, Reuters, Associated Press, AccuWeather and Planet X, organized into four main categories: "Music," "News," "Sports" and "Entertainment" (note: the latter features movie trailers, celebrity news, and a large collection of short films). It currently contains around 5,000 titles.

Visitors to the portal can view programmed playlists, create playlists of their own, and share its videos with other consumers: Gotuit's flagship search/navigation technology allows them to search for specific segments within a video, which they can then combine into a "personal highlight reel." Thus a soccer fan, for example, could search multiple videos to find segments where their favorite player scores goals, and then assemble a personal highlight reel showcasing that player's talent. Surprisingly--in light of the current popularity of user-generated content--the new portal does not yet feature any facility for end-users to upload their own video. "It's no longer about making video available online, it's about helping consumers make sense of it," Gotuit Media president, Mark Pascarella, said in a prepared statement. "We're focused on enabling people to find the video they want quickly and easily. Our search and navigation technology, paired with professional content, gives viewers instant, relevant and precise access to the video they are most interested in seeing."

Gotuit hopes that the portal will appeal to advertisers because it offers "inventory that is more highly targeted to areas of interest and paired with valuable content." It also hopes to expand the reach and the volume of the site's content via co-branded partnerships with premium content owners, that will see the latters' content billed as "powered by Gotuit."

BBC News Begins Video Podcast Trial

BBC News has begun a 12-month trial, under which it is making available free video podcasts based on its flagship "Ten O'Clock News" and "Newsnight" programs. It is currently offering three separate video podcasts (at http://www.bbc.co.uk/newspodcasts): "Ten Weekly," a weekly selection of stories from the "Ten O' Clock News"; "Newsnight," weekly highlights from the eponymous show, presented by the show's regular team; and "STORYFix," which it describes as taking "a high- speed tongue-in-cheek look at the last week's news on the BBC." "Ten Weekly" is available every Wednesday, while "STORYFix" and "Newsnight" are published on Friday evenings. Later in the year, BBC News plans to offer a video podcast that will feature highlights from each week's episode of the talk and current-affairs show, "Question Time," as well as a video podcast that will provide a "daily news briefing" aimed at the morning commuter. The BBC also plans to offer video podcasts that will feature non-news content. "We view video podcasting as a convenient way for our audiences to consume BBC News content at a time and place of their choosing--both established programs such as the 'Ten' and 'Newsnight' but also content they may not have come across such as 'STORYFix,'" Adam Van Klaveren, deputy director of BBC News, said in a prepared statement.

The video podcasts appear to be popular with consumers: the "Newsnight" video podcast shot straight to number one on the iTunes news podcast chart, while "Ten Weekly" reached number six.

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