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Vid-Biz: Hulu Premium, KickApps, Project Canvas
Disney: “No Decisions Have Been Made” on Hulu Premium; Disney EVP Kevin Mayer says “no decisions have been made” about what kind of pay models and services Hulu is going to use, or when those will roll out. (MediaMemo)
KickApps Lands NBC for Social Video Sites; the companies struck a licensing deal that enables all of NBCU’s entertainment properties to use KickApps’ social software solution, expanding a prior relationship that focused primarily on NBC’s local media properties. (VideoNuze)
TV Makers, Retailers Voice Project Canvas Concerns; The Digital TV Group, which represents more than 100 companies including Samsung, Sony, Pace and Dixons, has expressed concern that Project Canvas is failing in its core promise to create an open, industry-wide technology standard for the service. (paidContent:UK)
Comcast To Launch Xfinity Rebranding Campaign; starting next week, Comcast will begin rolling out the new Xfinity brand — Xfinity TV, Xfinity Internet and Xfinity Voice — to customers in 11 markets. (Multichannel News)
FreeWheel Signs Up MLB As Its Newest Customer; the video ad firm now serves almost 2 billion video ads per month, doubling its volume since November 2009, and has added Major League Baseball Advanced Media to its customer roster. (VideoNuze)
YouTube Could Get Hit With Italian Broadcaster Rules; under a new decree, video sites like Google’s YouTube could be required to get government permission to host copyrighted video content, and they would also be required to get broadcasting licenses. (paidContent:UK)
EPIX Lands Cable Deal With Charter Communications; the movie and entertainment streaming network that works across your TV and computer landed its fourth cable deal, following up on other deals struck with Cox Communications and Mediacom Communications. (TechCrunch)
Battle of the Digital Media Players; Davis Freeburg takes a look at a few of the most popular software media players (and video destinations) to determine which one may be best for consumers. (Zatz Not Funny!)
Vid-Biz: YouTube, Comcast, Cablevision-Scripps
YouTube Profits Coming this Year; Google CEO Eric Schmidt tells the FT he expects YouTube to make it into the black some time in 2010. (Financial Times) Also, YouTube’s deals with Channels 4 and Five are seen as key examples of commercial partnerships that are boosting Google’s sales in the UK. (paidContent:UK)
Former Charter CEO to Lead Comcast’s Cable Business; former Charter CEO Neil Smit was appointed as the new President of Comcast Cable Communications, where he will be responsible for all business aspects of the company’s cable operations. (TechCrunch)
Cablevision And Scripps Settle Their Differences; the companies have reached an agreement that paves the way for the return of the Food Network and HGTV programming to the cable operator’s system. (paidContent)
AOL VP Jumps To KickApps; the widget maker named former AOL VP Grant Cerny as its new SVP of Product Marketing. (MediaPost)
CNN Tries on Its Edgier Side with VBS.TV Deal; VBS.TV is going to be showing some of their more newsy videos on CNN.com. (Tubefilter)
Sezmi Gets $25M, Rolls Out LA Trial
Color us surprised. Not only is would-be cable killer Sezmi not dead, the company announced today that it has received $25 million in new funding from existing investors and it has launched a pilot program in Los Angeles.
Sezmi’s two-part set-top box solution consists of a receiver that receives over-the-air transmissions (Sezmi leases spectrum to broadcast content) and a 1TB DVR that stores shows and aggregates broadband content.
To get Sezmi, customers will either rent the equipment for an undisclosed amount, or purchase the equipment outright for $299. Ongoing service fees are $5 a month for broadcast-only channels or $25 a month for a broadcast/cable combo. As the service expands, it is supposed to be available through retail channels and through small and medium telcos and ISPs.
Limelight Co-Founder Chooses Akamai
Remember how last week we talked about white-label video providers clamoring to align themselves with Akamai? Contentinople has the eye-catching story today that a new video platform lead by the founding CEO of Limelight has switched its business almost exclusively to former rival Akamai as well.
Unicorn Media, which launched a version of its service last year with Limelight as its default, will now use Akamai as its preferred CDN partner. In explaining the switch, CEO Bill Rinehart, who had co-founded Limelight, reportedly praised Akamai for its partnering abilities, saying “They really get it, in terms of how they are moving their revenue stream up the stack. They want to create the most robust ecosystem that they can.” By “robust,” he apparently means “crowded,” because Akamai also has partnerships with video platforms Delve Networks, KickApps, VMIX, Multicast, Onstream Media, VBrick and KIT Digital.
Everybody Wants to Be Akamai’s Friend; Delve the Latest
Video management platform Delve Networks today announced a non-exclusive partnership with leading content delivery network Akamai in which the two companies will combine forces to provide turn-key high-quality video services to video publishers.
Akamai may not get a lot of love in the financial markets these days — yesterday Citi said it was flying up a “Big Red Flag” over the company after disappointing earnings this week — but video platforms, by contrast, are clamoring past one another to declare their love for the CDN. While Delve had originally pitched the deal with Akamai to me as comparable to the one between Limelight Networks and Brightcove, Akamai shot that down.
“We have value-added relationships with a lot of these companies,” said Suzanne Johnson, Akamai’s senior industry marketing manager for M&E. She said Akamai’s partnerships with KickApps, VMIX, Multicast, Onstream Media, VBrick and KIT Digital are similar to the one with Delve. Plus Akamai also offers its own Stream OS video platform from its Nine Systems acquisition.
Vid-Biz: KickApps, Disney, Charter
Hearst-Argyle Taps KickApps; the social media/video platform to power “u local” UGC efforts, allowing people to upload photo and video important to their community. (VideoNuze)
Disney Eyeing Online Video Service? At a conference CEO Bob Iger says the Mouse House is considering a subscription-based online video rental service. (Nikki Finke)
Charter Communications Bundling Sports TV and Web Video Access; $10 a month extra will give subscribers a sports TV package including content on the Internet — but no live games. (Multichannel News)
Dailymotion Partners with Cinetic; agreement gives video portal exclusive rights to show one independent feature film each quarter. (release)
Obama Nominates Genachowski for FCC Chair; nominee has a reputation for being pro network neutrality. (CED)
Glitches Return to Netflix Streaming, Users Blame Silverlight; complaints of poor video quality popped up over the weekend; company says it hasn’t pinpointed the problem, and it has only impacted a small number of users. (CNET)
Charlie Murphy to Launch Web Series on Crackle; Charlie Murphy’s Crash Comedy will feature sketches and parodies from the Chappelle’s Show alum. (Hollywood Reporter)
Fliggo Addresses Not-So-Massive Need for a “Ning for Video”
Fliggo today launched a service for creating video communities. The site is similar to Magnify.net, though quite a bit simpler. Users can skin their own video upload site on a sub-domain of Fliggo.com, and make their sites private and moderated if they wish. See a demo Fliggo made for NewTeeVee Station here (but be warned, this is an upload and hosting service, so they ripped the original versions of the included videos).
However, do we really need a video-specific Ning, as the startup is pitching itself? Many companies, like Ning itself and KickApps, offer video as part of their much broader turn-key solutions. And of course there are a gazillion white-label video platform services for even the most small-time customers.
Sezmi Says Some More About its Pricing
One of the big questions we’ve had about set-top box startup Sezmi was how much the service was going to cost. We’ve known the company wants to partner up and distribute its box through ISP partnerships, but Sezmi has always kept mum on pricing (which made us skeptical of its success). Now we have a few more details on the cost front, thanks to today’s Miami Herald. From that piece:
At the basic level, Sezmi will offer broadcast stations for free and offer other popular cable shows on pay-per-show rate. Users would either buy or rent the Sezmi set-top box (from the yet-to-be-announced national retail provider) and connect it to a broadband Internet connection. The box would cost somewhere between $300 to $350, or it could be rented out for $10 to $12 a month.
We have our doubts about the viability of Sezmi, because its solution is a complex one that combines both over-the-air broadcasts and video delivered over broadband. This content pricing scheme doesn’t do much in the way of making it simpler. Granted, we don’t know how much Sezmi will charge per show, but even if it’s dirt cheap, this a la carte pricing means that people have to monitor how much TV they consume, and won’t know immediately how much their bill will be month to month. Read more of this story
Vid-Biz: Sezmi, KickApps, SAG
Sezmi Secures $28 Million; influx of cash comes on the heels of the set-top box company laying off 20 percent of its staff. (peHUB)
KickApps Raises More than $13 Million; white-label social networking site is working on Series C round. (peHUB)
SAG Seeks to Authorize Strike Vote; federally mediated talks between the actors’ union and the Hollywood studios broke down over the weekend. (Variety)
Sumner Redstone Under Pressure; tumbling share prices of Viacom and CBS hampering efforts to resolve debt issues of National Amusements, his family holding company. (Wall Street Journal)
MPAA Targets Fanedit.org; web community of hobbyists who make variations on movies will take down much of its site. (TorrentFreak)
Crackle Announces New Season; will debut Dec. 1 with renewals of shows like The Groundlings and new ones like Star-ving, the new comedy series from Married…with Children’s David Faustino. (emailed release)
Eisner Might Want Prom Queen Movie; and he’s loving being an indie in the current media market. (New York Times)
New York Times Magazine Does Special on “Screens”; including How Napoleon Dynamite Stumps Netflix’s recommendations, an essay on becoming “screen literate,” and pictures of kids playing video games. (New York Times Magazine)
KickApps Teams with Akamai to Take on White-Labels
Social media platform startup KickApps has signed on the content delivery network Akamai to try to take on Brightcove and Maven Networks and their high-end video publishing tools, the company is announcing Monday.
KickApps’ core product is a platform for media publishers to build communities, like Ning, but now it’s trying to get serious about video in particular. And where other white-label video providers have restricted their focus to one end of the market, KickApps is attempting to serve everybody.
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