Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Monday, January 8, 2007 at 11:00 PM PT

 

MediaZone Launches P2P Online TV

MediaZone, an enabler of subscription online television services for companies such as NBC Sports, is set to announce Tuesday it is beta-launching an ad-supported P2P streaming online television network. The idea is essentially cable-style television offered for free online.

As opposed to on-demand efforts such as Brightcove and the Venice Project, MediaZone will offer linear, streamed programming. It is Windows-only, with a peer-to-peer client available either via ActiveX or desktop app. You won’t get any of the fancy premium content all the VOD players are fighting for, but you will get free instant content.

“As we’re broadening into broadband offering, particularly one that’s free and advertising supported, P2P allows it to be financially viable,” said MediaZone CEO Michelle Wu in an interview last week.

The launch of MediaZone’s “Social TV” includes channels for local programming from places such as China and Trinidad and Tobago, and extreme sports. MediaZone will enable larger sites to play channels as well as provide advertising and hosting on its own destination site for smaller programmers.

Though “Social TV” doesn’t pack much punch as a moniker, MediaZone is following through on the name by including chat, ratings, comments, and blogging features alongside channels.

For now everything will be free, though future versions of Social TV promise to have subscription and pay-per-view options, according to the company.

San Carlos, Calif.-based MediaZone is a subsidiary of South African media company Naspers. Wu, an entrepreneur with experience at Xerox PARC and the China Internet Group, says she runs the two-and-a-half-year-old company as if it were a startup and Naspers an investor. She leads 80 employees in the United States and an additional 250 in China.

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Topic: Content Management Systems, Networks & Studios, Online Video, P2P
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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. Besides the content is the Venus Project and Media Zone any different?

    ChinaJoe on January 9th, 2007 at 8:23 pm - Permalink

  2. Hey ChinaJoe, MediaZone is a streaming play, with a linear programming lineup, so it’s a bit different than TVP.

    Liz Gannes on January 9th, 2007 at 10:44 pm - Permalink

  3. […] Social TV funktioniert wie klassisches Fernsehen. Live und linear. Im ersten Schritt werbefinanziert, aber registrierungspflichtig. Später sollen Bezahlmodelle hinzukommen. […]

    Blogrolle.net : Social TV on January 10th, 2007 at 12:38 pm - Permalink

  4. […] Continue to read full post…. […]

    MediaZone Launches P2P Online TV » D’ Technology Weblog — Technology, Blogging, Gadgets, Fashion, Life Style. on January 10th, 2007 at 9:11 pm - Permalink

  5. i think Mediazone is using the amazing software named TVKoo, best P2P solution ever seen.

    streamer on January 11th, 2007 at 10:53 am - Permalink

  6. […] At a packed press conference kicked off by celebrity guest at the 2007 International CES show in Las Vegas, LaunchSquad client MediaZone formally announced its Social TV platform. MediaZone’s platform is a new slant on online video, allowing social networks to form around professionally-produced, long form video, fundamentally changing the television experience. Reuters, GigaOm’s NewTeeVee, AP and many others covered the news. MediaZone has already made online video history with first ever live broadband coverage of Wimbledon and the New York Marathon and we’re all pretty excited here at LaunchSquad about more great things to come. Check it out for free at http://SocialTV.MediaZone.com and stay tuned for updates. […]

    LaunchSquad : Blogs : What’s New on January 16th, 2007 at 3:20 pm - Permalink

  7. [...] to offer live television over P2P – Rawflow, another British company also has a similar offering. MediaZone, and Zattoo are two companies we have profiled in the [...]

    NewTeeVee Microsoft does P2P TV with Skinkers « on July 6th, 2007 at 7:25 am - Permalink

  8. similar site but provides african tv channels http://www.africamars.com

    belloali on December 17th, 2007 at 1:52 pm - Permalink

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