New platforms & the future of TV? (News round-up)

The revolution will not be televised. The Revolution will be no rerun, brothers. The Revolution — will be live. The revolution will not be televised Gil Scott-Heron 1971

I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can’t stop eating peanuts. ~ Orson Welles, New York Herald Tribune, (Oct.12, 1956)

 

The beauty of not asking permission
By Paul Hartsock

Last year, when Viacom visited YouTube and spotted shows from MTV, Comedy Central and other content producers it owns, it decided to act quickly – and the only quick reaction a company of Viacom’s size is capable of in that sort of situation is to sue.

Only after many months did other giant TV networks put the finishing touches on Hulu, a site that does basically the same thing that YouTube had been doing – showing proprietary content for free on demand. The only major difference from the user perspective is that Hulu wedges in short, relatively unobtrusive ads that you can’t skip over.Content owners know that they’re going to have to change in order to survive in the face of digitization and widespread broadband access. They’re just having a hard time figuring out exactly which way to go, and when you’re steering a ship as big as CBS, for instance, you’d better be sure of yourself before plotting a new course. U-turns are expensive.

Meanwhile, upstarts often come up with compelling ideas on media delivery. Yet they risk being clobbered by lawsuits from the content owners and their various industry groups should they so much as dip a toe into the cloudy waters of copyright infringement.

Read the full article here.

(The above article appeared on BizCommunity )

Cinema Dailymotion, Full-Length Films

April 3, 2008 — by Kristen Nicole

Dailymotion was already in the habit of helping indie filmmakers promote their work, even going so far as to participate in filmmaker festivals around the world. Now the video-sharing site is taking things a step further with the inclusion of full length films in its new section, called Cinema Dailymotion, according to 901am. This is an online screening series for viewers to watch streaming, full-length films and documentaries.

Dailymotion has also ramped up its partnerships in order to introduce premium content for the new cinema section. To set things off, Cinema Dailymotion is featuring “Red Without Blue,” an award-winning film from IndiPix. Having recently finalized its deals with its digital fingerprinting service INA and also offering HD embeds, Dailymotion is out to differentiate itself from other video-sharing networks, and more fully embrace the premium content offerings that are out there, seeking an online presence.

This move also speaks to the niche startups like wildscreen that are launching with alternative advertising methods in order to lure new users in. With established video networks like Dailymotion and MySpace moving further into the filmmaker’s arena as well as Dailymotion’s own alternative advertising methods, more distribution partnerships will come as a result of the overall weeding-out process, as the industry continues to feel out the best way to build audiences via the Web.

This article is sourced from http://mashable.com/