When networking giant Cisco acquired social network software developer Five Across last February it raised a few eyebrows. Cisco is known for its hardware, the switches and routers that power the Internet behind the scenes and in our homes. What they wanted with Web 2.0 software platforms was a curiosity. Now, ten months later, their vision is still not well explained, but a few more facts have emerged.
Some years holiday presents come early, some late. Over the past few weeks, a good handful of companies have gotten their gifts from venture capital firms. From Red Room to Spotzer, MixerCast and Edgecast to 56.com and Kyte.TV, here’s the latest Venture Roundup: Metue’s regular recap of companies recently receiving funding.
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
It’s four in a row for imeem. After settling a lawsuit signing a deal with Warner Music Group in July, the social music site has won over the rest of the Big 4 music labels. Sony BMG signed up in late September. EMI inked paper at the end of October. Now Universal Music Group has crossed over too.
Imeem is a free social networking service built around streaming digital music. Unlike most music sites which build a library of content to then offer to their users, imeem works partly in the reverse. Subscribers can upload music which is, in turn, added to the catalog. As a member of the site, you can create playlists, upload music, or listen to streams of music already in the catalog. Members can also use embeddable code to add the stream of a chosen song to a blog posting or a personal webpage (including profiles on some social networks).
The hook for imeem is the songs are not available for download. To hear the music, or watch equivalent video content, you must access it as a digital stream, either on the imeem site, or through embedded code elsewhere. 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.
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.
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.
