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With Facebook trying to steal audience and the hip-factor, with YouTube working on delivering more interactive social networking features, leading social network MySpace is today defending its territory with the launch of a renamed, newly improved video sharing site and service. 

As noted by MySpace CEO Chris DeWolf in the New York Times, an upgrade was over do.  He said “We [hadn’t] really freshened up our video offering since we launched it… We wanted to highlight the fact that we have a video destination on the Web with all this great content that we’ve acquired.”

MySpace TV will be operated as an independent website where users can watch or share videos whether they have a MySpace account or not.  Those with MySpace pages will be able to use embedded tools to make videos accessible from their personal pages.   Later in the year, though not part of the original offering, MySpace will also launch a video editing service based on technology it acquired in the purchase of Flektor.

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On Wednesday, video rental companies Netflix and Blockbuster announced a settlement was reached in their ongoing patent suit.

In the case,  filed in April 2006, Netflix had claimed  Blockbuster’s Total Access video rental service violated Netflix’ patents for its business method.  Blockbuster had counter-sued with charges of fraud and anti-trust violations.  Blockbuster had  also claimed that the Netflix patents were too broad to be enforceable.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed but a Blockbuster spokeswoman said the settlement would not have “any material effect on [the Company’s] financial performance.”  Further, Blockbuster will not change either its website or business models. 

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Since January 24, 2006,  when Disney acquired Pixar,  Pixar executives have been in charge of the joint animation group.  Change has been in the works.  Animation head Ed Catmull and fellow former Pixar executive John Lasseter have been slowly introducing their Pixar based management culture (with the added support of Disney shareholder and Board of Directors member, Steve Jobs).

Pixar has always had its own way of doing business.  Movies and creative staff are given the time and space they need to create.    There isn’t a rush to market.  While bottom line revenue is important, there is a separation of powers when it comes to development.  Pixar doesn’t want their story tellers thinking about how to make money or their money makers thinking about how to tell stories.  Executives don’t go to story meetings.  It’s all part of its management practices.  Similarly, Pixar also strives to stay original and avoids copying its successes.  Toy Story is the only movie it’s made a sequel of.

Yesterday, in a clear sign of Disney’s “Pixarization,” changes were announced.  Principal among them, Disney will cease issuing direct-to-video sequels of some its franchises.  The sequels, which Steve Jobs has called “embarrassing,” were money makers but their quality level, both in story and execution was second rate.  

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Last January comScore reported 70% of the total U.S. Internet audience watched at least one Internet video stream that month. It’s been reported that there are more than 12 million hours of video programming currently hosted online.  YouTube has been reported to have more than 5.1m hours of content.  With such an enormous, and rapidly increasing, pool of content one of the bigger challenges is how to effectively index and search the data.  Without organization, it is too easy as the old saying goes “to be swimming in information but thirsting for knowledge.”

A host of video search companies are lining up to try and address the problem. The approaches vary. Some are focusing on text-to speech technology, others are looking elsewhere. It’s a new market, but one with such potential, that advertisers, eager for contextual delivery, are salivating over the potential.

One of the primary cataloging and search standard used so far has been keywords and meta-tags.  They are user controlled.  To work someone has to manually identify the content and title it appropriately.  Social networking sites allow a wide range of people to share that responsibility (by adding unique “tags” as identifiers) but the trouble with user defined search is that it’s only effective when users use the same vocabulary.  If I say tom-ay-to and you say to –mah-to we could get different results.     Click to Read More

Last week PriceWaterhouse Coopers released its global entertainment and media outlook report. The sweeping, broad survey was filled with data, statistics and projections on the state of the media and entertainment industries. Some of the data was previously highlighted. Additionally, the survey predicts that the global entertainment and media business will grow at an average annual rate of 4.9% over the next several years, rising from $81.2 billion in 2006 to $103.3 billion in 2011.

Here is a sampling of related data taken from a variety of sources:

    The average US home has 2.5 people and 2.8 TV sets. 84 percent of US households have a DVD player. (source: Nielsen)

    37% of U.S. adults who go online own a video game console and 16% own a portable gaming device. (source: Nielsen/net ratings)

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Just as Microsoft is re-branding its IPTV software, and touting the newly named Media Room, the company has bought itself a small sandbox for experimenting further with TV integration.  Microsoft has agreed to buy approximately 1% of Chinese TV and appliance maker Sichuan Chanhong Electric Co. 

At a reported price of only about $12m, the investment is pennies in a wishing well and not even a blip on radar tracking Microsoft expenditures.  (Microsoft’s 2006 Research and Development expenses exceeded $6.5b and that number doesn’t include equity investments that may provide R&D contributions).   Still, even a one percent stake in a state-backed business in China is significant.  Further, the investment provides Microsoft with more tools to explore linking consumer appliances to the PC with a manufacturing partner, and that is notable. 

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Cambridge, Ma based Internet TV and syndication service Brightcove announced it has signed a definitive agreement to become the video platform for Fox Entertainment Group’s internet TV efforts.

Under the terms of the deal Fox broadcasting, FX and its other channels will begun running programming and hosting ad-supported channels on Brightcove’s technology platform. Additionally, Brightcove’s services will allow FEG properties to manage the syndication of their programming to website affiliates and promotion their content with social media features.

While Brightcove also has a limited relationship with CBS, the New York Times, MTV Networks, and other media properties, this will be the first deal where they will act as the sole network provider for a major network.

The deal is a significant milestone for Brightcove, and arguably the company’s most significant news to date, besting even its nearly $60m private placement in January.