Blockbuster Set-Top Box in the Works

According to the Hollywood Reporter and news.com, Blockbuster will soon be announcing yet another reason not to go to a rental store...their own. The media-delivering set-top box, which is in the works for the company, leverages the store's existing competence in the industry to provide a viable alternative to iTunes, Xbox Live, and Amazon.



There is no mention of price or how this service will actually work. But let's think about this: to compete with Apple TV or Vudu, the device would have to cost around $200, and rentals of movies and TV shows should be around $3 to $4 each, which would be slightly cheaper than rentals of new releases from Blockbuster currently.

The device will join a growing roster of home video boxes which aim to bring broadband video to the living room. Blockbuster rival Netflix also has indicated that it will compete in this market with a similar device being created with LG Electronics. The device is believed to be a stand-alone product akin to Apple TV as opposed to embedding a Blockbuster-branded service in such existing devices as Microsoft's Xbox 360 or TiVo.

The big advantage Blockbuster would enjoy over Apple TV, Vudu,and TiVo seems to be selection, as the service would be an offshoot of Movielink, the online film service Blockbuster acquired last year that allows consumers to watch films licensed from the major studios on their computers. Movielink was created in 2002 by MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. Blockbuster now has the online rights to about 6,000 movies, though there are restrictions on moving content beyond PCs and TV.

This is the most audacious attempt yet by Blockbuster to reinvent its brand as a digital delivery service, as it risks to undercut the viability of its retail operation. Their aim is to make their brand the major force online.

I still think they're kind of late to this party, though....

LonelyGirl Jessica Rose Returns

It was Jessica Rose who had the first Internet only video show hit, way back in 2006.

Lonelygirl15, if you'll recall, was the headline-grabbing video diary of a pretty teenager, later exposed by net detectives as a brilliant, CAA-backed fiction. The lonely girl was by no means alone -- she had a team of writers and producers behind her, and though the door was closed on lonelygirl15, the frontier of "webisodic" video was wide open.

The situation with open frontiers is that the people seeking to colonize them, to borrow a quote from Ms. South Carolina, simply "don't have maps." Which is why, almost two years after lonelygirl15, no Web series has established a viable, let alone profitable homestead. However, more wagons are now arriving. Sony Pictures Television just launched C-Spot:

From Crackle: Roadents: Episode 3

an online comedy channel featuring six sharply produced programs with enough short episodes to fill a 13-week season.

And Jessica Rose is planning a comeback too. The almost-21-year-old actress from New Zealand will soon return to the online world as the star of Blood Cell, a new horror-thriller from Web TV studio 60Frames Entertainment, directed by Eduardo Rodriguez. The show, whose trailer is now up on deadcelldeadfriend.com, follows Rose's character, Julia, as she contends with an unseen murderer who will talk to her only via her fancy photo- and video-enabled cellphone. Which hopefully gets good reception because, as the name of the website suggests, if Julia's signal goes dead, a blond somewhere gets dispatched for good. To build their online audience, C-Spot and 60Frames will "syndicate" their shows on Sony's Crackle (see this and my other previous posts), Hulu, and AOL Video; while 60Frames can be seen on Bebo, Blip.tv, iTunes, MySpace and others. And everyone's on YouTube.

Revenue-sharing deals allow the creators to get a piece of the advertising pie no matter where their shows get watched. 60Frames and Sony Pictures hope to find the answer to the overriding question posed by Web-only tv: In an entertainment world dominated by multi-hour, multi-night programs like American Idol, how do you win repeat viewers with three minute webisode.

Even though more of the big name studios are tempted onto the web, the question still hangs in the air: what will it take for large numbers of us (14-year-olds included) to feel like the computer screen with its blinking and ringing distractions is a good place to watch TV?

Cybercast credit: Crackle

Now Playing in IMvite : You Know How To Love

In searching for links to my favorite artist, June Marshall, I've come across IMvite, a new (to me) “Web 2.0” media search site. The only clue I could find about what they do is this one-liner:

Search IMvite for millions of Video Clips, Games, Live TV & Radio Stations, and More.

What's caught my eye is the very high quality of the video stream and the size of the player -- 640x480 -- that are different and give you a much better viewing experience, as you may, or may NOT see:





Searching on the site is very fast. Well done, IMvite - except for your embed code if it doesn't work in Blogger and WordPress blogs....

Cybercast credit: Imvite

National Anthems - A Pangea Day Tribute

Take a look at these films. They are each just one minute long. They feature a choir in one country singing another country's national anthem: a simple idea that packs surprising emotional power.

Here France sings for the USA:





Kenya sings for India:




And Japan sings for Turkey:




They were shot by film directors in support of the upcoming Pangea Day, which I suggest you reserve in your calendar for Saturday, May 10.

Sites in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro will be linked live to produce a program of powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music. It will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones. The 4-hour program will include visionary speakers and live music in addition to the featured films. Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova are among the presenters taking part.

Don't forget to check out the trailer here!

Cybercast credit: YouTube

YouTube to YouNewsTV - A Broadcast Interactive Media Play

Broadcast Interactive Media has figured out another way to make a business out of user-generated video: They are offering to work with local TV and radio broadcasters in more than 120 markets, to host their websites and split ad revenues.



They provide content management tools, local and national sales support, along with channel programming like YouNewsTV and Explore Politics 2008. If you are a local media provider, their services might be a solution for these burning questions:

• What is your online ad share in your market?
• Where would you like to be in a year? Two years? Five?

While local TV web revenue is on the rise, the average local online ad share for TV stations nationwide is less than two percent. The good news is that there are markets performing considerably better, approaching 20 percent of their local online ad share, so there doesn't seem to be a downside to explore if Broadcast Interactive Media can do better for you.

April’s Fool Joke from VideoEgg?

but I could only get to it now....

Message received 4/1/2008: Attention: my.videoegg.com users

“It is with our sincerest regret to inform you that we will be closing the doors on the Videoegg Publisher Platform and related services at http://my.videoegg.com/. You can download all of your content from our servers, so be sure to stop by our site to reclaim your belongings.

Our last day of service will be May 31, 2008. Account creation and video uploading are already disabled.

We understand that you may have some questions and direct you to our updated FAQ to find the answers to common questions. It's been a great ride, so let's enjoy these last months together, reminisce about how far we've come, and finish strong with some awesome video blogging.

Thank you for your participation and for your support of Videoegg. It's been a pleasure working with you.”

As of 4/3, there is nothing on the site about this. Hopefully it’s a joke - maybe from a competitor?

Here is a video from them … that is, if you can view it at all now, or after May 31!





FYI, we signed up with VideoEgg right after they hatched. Never really used the service, not sure why; yet I’d be sad to see them fold.

Cybercast credit: VideoEgg

Google's Play for the Empty TV Spectrum

After winning open access by losing a bid to acquire a valuable portion of U.S. broadcast spectrum, Google is at it again. At least that’s the way it looks to me. They are now calling on federal regulators to provide access to another, "unused" part of U.S. TV signal space for wireless Internet access. Google says the signal spectrum, known as "white space" in the TV industry, is an "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans."

"As Google has pointed out previously, the vast majority of viable spectrum in this country simply goes unused, or else is grossly underutilized," Google Media Counsel Richard S. Whitt, wrote in a letter filed with the Federal Communications Commission on Friday. "Our nation typically uses only about five percent of one of our most precious resources. Unlike other natural resources, there is no benefit to allowing this spectrum to lie fallow. The airwaves can provide huge economic and social gains if used more efficiently, as seen today with the relatively tiny slices utilized by mobile phones and WiFi services."

Here is what Shelly Palmer of Media 3.0 has to say about this (and other issues):




This isn’t the first time Google proposes using this untapped spectrum. It is the first time however it has outlined its plans publicly. The filing came days after the federal government announced the winners of an expensive auction that raised 20 billion dollars, by selling off important chunks of the old analog broadcast spectrum. They will be phased out in February 2009, when the U.S. TV industry converts to 100% digital broadcasting.

"The unique qualities of the TV white space -- unused spectrum, large amounts of bandwidth, and excellent propagation characteristics -- offer an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans," Whitt wrote in Google's letter. "In particular, this spectrum can provide robust infrastructure to serve the needs of under-deployed rural areas, as well as first responders and others in the public safety community. Moreover, use of this spectrum will enable much-needed competition to the incumbent broadband service providers."

Not surprisingly, Google has already started the "technological groundwork" to utilize this untapped spectrum. Once coupled with its new "Android" open source mobile communications platform, Google would be able to provide "uniquely low-cost mobile broadband coverage for all Americans" as they put it. It would also enable them to extend and move beyond its core competency of online search into a broad and ubiquitous communications infrastructure.

Broadcasters are supposedly pleased by the details of Google's disclosure, but remain concerned about some of the technical aspects. In particular, they question whether use of TV's white space spectrum - located between channels 2 and 51 in the over-the-air broadcast signal - might not cause technical interference with television broadcasts. Their concerns are:

1. Spectrum sensing alone doesn’t protect viewers against interference from mobile devices.

2. Adding geolocation and beacon sensing may not be enough to make mobile operation feasible.

3. Mobile personal device operation in the same band as TV broadcasting may continue to be a guaranteed recipe for producing interference.

National Association of Broadcasters Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton seems to want it both ways as he welcomes and at the same time damns Google’s plan:
"We are pleased that Google now seems to realize that spectrum sensing alone won't protect viewers against interference from unlicensed devices. Unfortunately, simply adding geolocation and beacon sensing does not mean that mobile operation is suddenly feasible. Portable, mobile personal device operation in the same band as TV broadcasting continues to be a guaranteed recipe for producing interference and should not be allowed under any circumstances."

The big questions in my mind are: Will Google play the wireless carriers against the broadcasters? Does it need to? Will they go it alone for the sake of opening up this spectrum too and win by losing again?

I wouldn’t bet against them.

Cybercast credit: Google Video. Who else, really???