Project Kangaroo Delayed Further

Every major TV broadcast company seems to be exploring video on demand services but some are having a harder time than others. It appears the UK’s VOD joint venture between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 has been delayed again.

The Project Kangaroo offering, which has been called the UK’s replication of Hulu (a joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal, was stalled in June to allow for an antitrust review by the Competition Commission (“CC”).

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METUE INTERVIEW: Talking Net Video with Rob Barnett, CEO My Damn Channel

mdc metue interviewAt times during the past couple years Internet video sites have seemed like the fad du jour, like another bubble of inflated expectations waiting to burst.  Every few weeks there seemed to be another monstrous financing.  $10m invested here.  $20m gambled there.  Even a pledged $30+ million from time to time.  Super Deluxe. 60 Frames. Joost. Veoh.  Metacafe. Crackle. Revver. Daily Motion. Funny or Die. Hulu. This Just In. Deca.TV – Every week a new company name to add to the lexicon and the watch list. It was all part of the “next new thing.” The big gamble.

Like any new market, especially one with big opportunity, a certain amount of this speculation is understandable.  With billion dollar market opportunity, there is invariably going to be a lot of competition chasing the same trophy.  And unequivocally, all these sites were, and are, chasing just that same predictable future – the migration of television and video programming to a time-shifted, place-shifted, long-tail-wagging world of Internet distribution.

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Hulu Gets Stewart and Colbert

viacom huluTraditionally, end-user video and film distribution services (movie theaters, TV channels) competed with each other by geography or a unique programming schedule.  As a viewer you watched what was on local channels, or you tuned in to one place that was showing the programs you were itching to see.  The internet video world is a different animal but, still in its early stages, it remains something of an experimental lab; especially with regard to professional Hollywood content. 

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Wii TV from the BBC

bbc wiiNintendo’s Wii isn’t the target of many complaints.  It’s fun.  It’s accessible.  It’s playable.  What the Wii isn’t, and it doesn’t claim to be, is a high performance gaming beast.   It’s not about horsepower and bleeding edge graphics rendering.  The Wii’s creative interface and controllers put playability first and at that, it succeeds.  That doesn’t mean the Wii doesn’t aim to be more, just the opposite, it continues to chase large ambitions.

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Joost Babelgum and Daily Motion: The Struggles of Web Video

When Peer to Peer (P2P) Internet video broadcasters like Joost and Babelgum came on the scene they were the rage of the new thing.  Riding the wave of video sites like YouTube investors lined up to write monstrous checks.  Obscure deals were struck with talent agents.  High profile executives were hired; programming deals struck.  But in all the euphoria two weak spots were largely ignored: the requirement to download software when competing consumer behavior was predominantly browser based, and the question of how much market share could by attained when airing what are largely ubiquitous and non exclusive offerings.

A year later, those questions have come back like a nagging rash.  Adding to the itch, traditional media companies (TV and Film) have since gotten creative and ambitious in launching their own video services. (Examples: News Corp and NBC/U have Hulu, the BBC is at work Project Kangaroo in the U.K.)  In the face of those unanswered questions, and the competition, some are wondering if these high flyers are withering away. They’re asking tough questions about the whole internet video landscape.

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Babelgum Films: IPTV Company to Fund Original Works

babelgum filmsMost startups beg for money but having a billionaire backer has a way of twisting things like Alice’s rabbit hole.  That’s the case with Internet TV site Babelgum.  Monday, along with introducing a new beta release of their peer to peer software, the company announced that they were setting up a fund to invest in new original content. 

A total of €10 million has been budgeted.  The money will commission documentaries and shorts up to fifteen minutes in length.  They will air exclusively on Babelgum’s Internet network.

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More Talent Agent VCs: William Morris to partner with Accel

WMA venture fundHollywood studios fight and follow each other in the search for their next blockbuster movies so it probably  should come as no surprise that the same “follow the leader”  “anything you can do I can do better,” mentality applies to the talent agencies representing  those in  the films.  And that’s exactly what’s happening.   Like one shotgun wedding after another, or the line waiting outside the Elvis Wedding chapel in Vegas, pairs keep forming between venture capitalists and talent managers.

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