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Even though a handful of successful TV shows found their beginnings as short form serials (the Lone Ranger and the Simpson’s, to name a pair), the road to prime time television is rarely without potholes and stalling traffic.   As the old maxim goes, fame or success is “a fickle food – Upon a shifting plate.”  As net video program Quarterlife is finding out, that’s as true now as ever.

Quarterlife, a high concept Internet series about a group of twenty something artists coming of age in a digital world was expected to handle the transition to TV well.  Because the show was conceived with six one-hour story arcs, translation of formats seemed easy.  Click to Read More

Disney earnings were solid earlier this month, and their online performance has been sound too but that isn’t stopping them from shifting and tweaking their Internet approach.  The changes started with the purchase of Club Penguin in August.   In November they made moves to strengthen their M&A practice.  About ten days ago, they revealed Disney Online Studios – a new organization to focus on casual games and online social networks.  Now, it’s online video getting a makeover.

In a launch story fed to the LA Times, Disney revealed their latest group: Stage 9 Digital Media.  The group is an in house studio focused on developing original short form Internet programming for syndication on both Disney and 3rd party sites.   The first show from the studio is called Squeegees.  Debuting today, it’s a comedy about window washing slackers.  It will be distributed in ten episodes on ABC.Com and on YouTube.  20 other programs are also in development.

The idea for Stage 9 follows the lead of other Hollywood elite, including former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, and others, who are applying their talents and skill to online content creation. Click to Read More

In less than two years, San Francisco private equity firm Hellman Friedman turned a $1.1b investment in advertising network DoubleClick into a $3.1b windfall.  Now they will set out to try and wring a similar result out of the struggling financials but solid intellectual property of stock photo and content licensor Getty Images.

The $2.1b buyout deal ($2.4b with the assumption of debt) was announced Monday.  It effectively closes a month long auction process in which Getty, beaten and battered in the markets, was seeking bailout assistance from a deep pocketed suitor.

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Thanks to popular websites like Digg, Propeller (rebranded from Netscape in September) and Reddit, the idea of crowd-sourced, user submitted, news sites have become a staple of the “Web 2.0” Internet-era.   Mixx, a later entrant to the market that launched in October, has reportedly just closed a $2m financing led by prior investor Intersouth Partners.

It’s unclear if the round is formally a Series B or an extension of their prior A round financing.

Mixx is based out of Maclean, Virginia.  It was founded by Chris McGill, the former General Manager of Yahoo News and former VP of Strategy for USA Today.   They initially raised $1.5m from Intersouth.   A small equity investment was also sold to the LA Times as part of a larger syndication and partnership struck in early December.

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The high volume of Internet video sites begs the question “why more?” each time there is a new launch or venture financing in the space.  The spate of comedy focused sites begs a punchline.  Yet even with sites like HBO’s This Just In failing in July, Revver selling out on the cheap this month, or Grouper changing its name and business objectives over the summer, more video sites still appear like chickens waiting to cross the proverbial road.

The latest entrant into the fray has the benefit of a memorable name: comedy.com.  The question is will that make a difference?  Will their effort turn out to be another equivalent of amateur night at small town bar or will they headline with must-see footage before a packed house on a bigger stage?

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With the gaming industry setting records at retail, content creators are increasingly looking to bring development activity in house instead of having to share the revenue pie with  third party developers.  To that end, it’s been previously reported that video game tie-ins for the next installment of Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story franchise will be developed inside Disney instead of with previous partner THQ.  Now, to keep on top of similar online and casual gaming initiatives, and streamline internal management, Disney has announced they will create a new division within the Disney Online Internet Group. 

The new organization will be called Disney Online Studios.   While not exciting news to those uninvolved, the reorganization hints at Disney’s recognition of the increasing value of their online entertainment offerings and shows a concerted plan to accelerate development of new offerings.(Disney made related moves to strengthen its M&A focus in late November. )

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The devil is in the details, they say.  That’s especially true with business rumors.  More often than not they start with a kernel of truth and then distort around the facts.   Last week, the rumor was Internet video site Revver was gasping for last breaths and on the verge of sale for a fraction of the $12.7m so far invested.  Speculation was that it might be had for as little as $500k plus the assumption of debt.  Now, correcting prior reports,   Newteevee is reporting the web video company did in fact sell but for a far less desperate price than originally speculated.

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