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Few new technologies have generated more PR and press coverage during periods of the past year than IPTV: peer to peer television broadcast over the net. Companies like Joost have billed themselves as TV’s future. Joost’s raised huge pools of funding, recruited a high profile CEO, even partnered with talent agency Creative Artists . Then they went quiet. Not much has been said about Joost in a while. Yesterday, they captured a few new headlines with the announcement of a partnership with the NBA. Today, they added PBS. Joost is back in the spotlight.

In partnering with the NBA, Joost will launch a channel showing current and classic NBA highlights on the Joost platform. The web distribution channel will be similar to other programming the NBA makes available via digital media, including offerings on YouTube and MySpace.

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Movie distribution generally follows relatively strict calendar windows.  First releases go to the theaters, then, after a nice time lag, the DVD is issued.  From there, TV, pay per view, hotels, airlines and the rest of the mix get their shot.  Every now and then, the calendar gets thrown away for an experiment.  Vudu is the latest beneficiary.

Today, coinciding with the DVD release of the Bourne Ultimatum, set top box video on demand provider Vudu will be making the film available in a downloadable HD version.  The same day download breaks the calendar tradition and is characterized as a first of kind offering.

Much as it’s respected, the calendar for film distribution is not sacred.  Despite pressures from the theater industry which seeks to protect box office revenue through exclusivity, experiments do happen on occasion. Click to Read More

In July, Gemstar-TV Guide announced it was reviewing “strategic alternatives” including the possibility of selling the company.  Fast forward to December, they’ve now found their buyer.

Macrovision, the content protection and Digital Rights Management (DRM) company,  grabbed the bulk of Friday’s headlines and much of the stock market’s ire after announcing they’d pay $2.8b to acquire the once powerful TV Guide brand and Gemstar’s other properties.

The deal represents an approximate 29% premium of July share value for Gemstar and a 6% premium over Thursday’s closing price.

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Global venture capital investments are at a six year high and technology continues to encroach on the domain of entertainment and media.  We have net radio, TV and print news increasingly available online.   Even actors and movie industry veterans have moved to create both their own online distribution outlets, and their own brands of online content.  Think Will Ferrel’s Funny or Die, the Coen brothers with 60 Frames Entertainment, or Jerry Zucker (of Airplane fame) with National Banana.   It makes sense, given all this to see Hollywood jumping deeper into venture capital, private equity and early stage investment.

Earlier this week, PaidContent discovered the latest entry will come from Hollywood’s elite talent agencies.  Creative Artists (CAA), the biggest of the bunch, is reportedly raising $150m to $200m for venture investment in digital entertainment. They are seeking funds from traditional limited partners like pension funds and being advised by experienced Silicon Valley VC’s.

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Blockbuster hasn’t been able to derail Netflix but could the U.S. Post Office? That was a question that popped up earlier today after results of a November audit by the Postal Inspector General began to circulate in the wider press, and more narrowly from a blog posting on Wired that sounded an alarm but left out important details.  The details tell a different story. Fear not.

The audit report in question was from early November (See PDF link Below).  It was focused on First Class Permit Reply Mail, the category of mail used by popular movie rental services as well as Game Fly and some audiobook services.   

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Earlier today Adobe announced the availability of the latest update for their popular browser video player software.  This latest version of Flash, previously codenamed Moviestar, had been in Beta since August.  Now available, it brings to market full support for high definition video.  Hulu, NBCU and Newscorp’s high profile video site wasted now time in taking advantage and supporting the upgrade.

Logging into Hulu’s beta moments ago, I was able to watch HD quality content streamed over the web. Available content was limited.  There were approximately a dozen movie trailers. I watched three; the previews for the now playing film, Hitman, Angelina Jolie’s upcoming movie, Wanted, and the soon to be released Charlie Wilson’s War trailer. I was impressed. Click to Read More

There’s no such thing as corporate Darwin Awards or business Razzie’s but when it comes to bad executive decisions or business "say what’s?" it seems there ought be something.

In fairness, there are lots of gambles that don’t pay off, decisions that look much worse in hindsight than they did on the drafting table. As the cliches go: Nothing ventured nothing gained. You’ve got to gamble sometimes. Take some risks. Bad decisions and mistakes, of course, happen all the time. I’m not talking about those. What I’m thinking about are those decisions that fall easily in to the "should have known better"category. Choices that seem to violate common sense. It seems there should be some sort of trophy to acknowledge those kinds of mental lapses in the executive wing. A decision that leaves people scratching their heads and going "watchoo talking about Willis."…that deserves a special Lucite block on the mantle.

Looking back over last weeks events, I’ve got to wonder if management at Blockbuster might be inline for such a nomination. Click to Read More