TNT/Veoh Promote Stephen King Series 
By Stacy - (0) comments July 22, 2006


Turner Network Television, TNT, will be showing “Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King” over a four week period from July 12th to August 2nd. The eight episode series is based on selected stories from King’s short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Stephen King is, of course, the well known master of horror and TNT’s interpretations seem to be pretty good. I’ve honestly only seen episodes three and four but episode three, “Umney’s Last Case” staring William H. Macy, was spooky like old Twilight Zone. Hopefully, TNT will offer them on the web when the series finishes. That would be the next logical step considering the amount of online promotion for the series.

TNT’s own “Nightmares & Dreamscapes” site offers episode synopsis, games and some other extras. But the real unique thing TNT’s done is to team up with Veoh. Veoh is a relatively new internet broadcasting system out of San Diego, California. Veoh’s new beta version went up around March. The deal has Veoh creating a dedicated site to promote “Nightmares & Dreamscapes” with behind the scene footage and interviews. This deal isn’t surprising considering that TNT’s parent company Time Warner is a principal investor in Veoh.

Veoh’s most recent version claims to give users the opportunity to be television broadcasters by giving them the platform to distribute quality, long form television to other broadband users. This seems to be their selling point for a system that is similar to a P2P. The company advertises several main features: television and HD quality video in full screen, link posting, user-created episodic video series, and compatibility with Apple and Windows systems including Apple's Front Row and Microsoft's Windows Media Center.

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Vlogs Come to the Newsroom 
By Stacy - (1) comments July 21, 2006



With all the recent news about Rocketboom, vloggers have gained a lot of attention. The video blog is a rather recent form but it is becoming a popular way for people to get noticed on YouTube or other sites. Vlogging’s popularity has also been noticed by the mainstream media.

MSNBC started “Early Nightly” this week. “Early Nightly” is the new video blog component to Brian Williams’ “Daily Nightly” news blog. The “Daily Nightly” started in 2005 and follows the editorial process that leads up to NBC “Nightly News”. The “Early Nightly” follows a similar format and will be live from Williams’ desk or the field. For the premiere week, all the pieces are live from Israel. The video blogs will be quite short, from one to two minutes. There is some talk that this could be added to the YouTube/NBC deal that was made in June. The only real dreawback about the new vlog is that MSNBC requires Internet Explorer for viewing.

ABC News, CBS News, and Fox News, all have some manner of online presence. NBC already rebroadcasts both the “Today Show” and “Nightly News” online after they air on regular TV. CBS is presently working on some kind of webcast that features their new anchor Katie Couric. ABC is an old hand at the webcast, having offered a daily webcast since December with a reported two million views per week.

I feel this is great, not just for digital media but for transparency in the news. Of course, I don’t think that the webcast aren’t scripted but perhaps they will give us a small window into what is going on behind the scenes.

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YouTube's New Policy Spells Trouble 
By Sherri - (0) comments



We've always been told to read the fine print, but YouTube users might actually want to take those words of wisdom to heart. Pulling out the magnifying glass and actually reading wouldn't hurt either.

The company has changed its Terms and Conditions page, giving rise to what might be the beginning of the end of original content actually being uploaded to the site.

The new policy page gives YouTube a worldwide, royalty-free right to reproduce and distribute submissions to the site, among other things. Those who submit still technically "own" the submission, but YouTube can use it and profit in any way it so chooses.

The means any original content put up on the site can be repackaged, reused and sold in any manner YouTube wants. With more than 100 million videos shown each day and some very creative content available, it would be a shame to see the producers of good videos, music pieces and so on lose their rights or worse, their willigness to share their work with the masses.

This move has been taking place in other locations, such as MySpace. But, MySpace, at least seems to have seen the light and changed its ways. Not so with YouTube.

There are those who say places like YouTube should have a right over the content, even to the royalty-free extent, as the sites give small content producers an outlet for their works. The recognition here could lead to other deals, so it's a case of tit for tat.

This is absolutely true, and if money is to be made off of content on YouTube, YouTube should get a cut. But, that's the crux of the matter. YouTube should get a cut, not the whole enchilada. A royalty-free reign doesn't seem fair, reasonable or even worth bothering with for content creators.

I guess YouTube has shown us why reading the fine print is a must.

Nods to Boing Boing

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CinemaNow Starts 'Burn to DVD' 
By Stacy - (0) comments July 20, 2006



It seems that just the other day, CinemaNow announced that they were making deals with Hollywood to offer a download to DVD service. In true capitalist fashion, CinemaNow has announced that its download to DVD service is ready almost at the same time that Movielink begins the process to offer its own download to DVD service. Will CinemaNow’s jump on Movielink be successful? Probably.

CinemaNow’s “Burn to DVD” service will allow internet downloads to be burned on a blank DVD. This service will allow the burned DVD’s to be played on a regular DVD player. This is an important step in making the service practical to the users. The service in its beta form began Tuesday. The prices per movie will begin at around $8. These DVD’s will also have the add bonus of containing the same extras that will be on the same DVD that you’d buy at the store, this is another important selling point for the service. Printable art will be offered, as well, so you can have an almost identical copy as the DVD that comes from the store. The beta version of CinemaNow’s download to DVD service will begin with about 100 of the 4,000 movies in their catalogue

Because of the copyright issues, downloadable movies have previously been limited by timeframe or transferability. CinemaNow’s “Burn to DVD” service will use a digital rights management system to limit the DVD burn to a single burn. There a currently several digital rights management systems used in this market each creates its own limitations to the DVD.

Considering that some many companies are getting into the movie download market, I won’t be surprised if more companies begin offering DVD burn options soon.

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ITunes to Start Movie Rentals 
By Stacy - (0) comments July 19, 2006


Only recently, Apple has given up its fight against blogs like Apple Insider. Apple claims that the blogs revealed trade secrets and Apple wanted to know who their confidential sources were. Apple prides itself on its rebel image but Steve Jobs doesn’t like to lose control. It appeared that Apple would prevail but in the end they gave up the appeal process which allows internet journalist may have similar rights as regular journalist. Electronic Frontier Foundation defended the rights of bloggers, as well.

Think Secret, whose fight with Apple is unresolved, reported that Apple may soon offer movie rentals through iTunes. Steve Jobs is expected to announce this at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on August 7th. Apple is thought to have deals with several major studios including; Walt Disney, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros. It is unknown exactly what content will be offered or what deals will announced.

This is still a win for the studios because they had been fighting Apple’s push for user download and ownership. It is thought that the movies will have some manner of code that restricts the number of playbacks or the time period that the movie can be viewed.

Even though, I’m sure everyone involved will make a ton of money from the deal, it is somewhat of a loss for Apple and I think the users. It will be interesting to see how this affects subscriptions services or NetFilx’s future bid into online movie rentals.

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'Rocketboom' Case Heading To Court? 
By Sherri - (3) comments July 18, 2006



If scandal is the hallmark of legitimate entertainment, than video blogging has arrived. It seems the "Rocketboom" saga is far from over and it just might take a judge to decide the outcome.

There's still an issue over former anchor Amanda Congdon's 49 percent ownership in the popular video blog.

Amanda says she retains those rights. "Rocketboom" creator, Andrew Baron on the other hand, maintains Congdon forfeited the ownership by jumping ship to move to Los Angeles, leaving the show high and dry without an anchor.

According to Valley Wag, neither Congdon nor Baron are willing to back down from their stands. Baron, it seems, believes it's "a case for a professional mediator or a case for the courts."

For her part, Amanda is refusing to give up her share. She's been quoted as saying: "I won't wave [sic] any of my rights," she replied. "I am moving forward. I hope Andrew will too."

It appears the show pulls in about $80,000 a week in advertising, so it's unlikely 49 percent is something Congdon (or anyone for that matter) would simply walk away from.

And while it appears Congdon and Baron are headed for court, "Rocketboom" is back on the air with a new anchor. As suspected, Joanne Colan has taken over the anchor chair for the daily news report.

How all of this will turn out is anyone's guess, but it does seem as if the "Rocketboom" fireworks are far from over. On the upside, the popularity and success of "Rocketboom" gives hope to others that wish to follow in the show's footsteps. It does appear as if there is a viable market to be tapped and this format of news and entertainment is reaching a new level of legitimacy.

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'Boy Who Never Slept', Open Source Movie 
By Stacy - (0) comments

At the beginning of this month, what some claim is the first fully open source full length movie was released on the internet. “Boy Who Never Slept” written, directed and starring Solomon Rothman and made for almost no money has now been viewed around 200,000 times. Every aspect of the movie is available online including: the raw footage, the finished product, the audio track, and script.

The “Boy Who Never Slept” is the story of an insomniac who begins an online relationship with a teenage girl. The story takes a turn from romantic comedy to a darker more tragic love story. Rothman’s goal was to create a full length movie with the resources he had. It’s not a bad movie considering the budget and the amateur actors and creators, but the interesting thing is the free nature of the work. The full complete film is available under a type of Creative Commons licenses that allows free use for non-commercial use while the source files Creative Commons licenses allows changes and use.

Rothman’s film is unique in that there are very few films that allow there source files to be picked apart and used by people on the internet. “Elephant’s Dream” is an animated short from earlier this year that was made with all open source software. The finished product and the production files are available for view and use under Creative Commons. This film may have been this first of its kind.

There are a growing number of legally free movies available. A lot of older films make it on to the web after their copyright runs out. Add these to hopefully more films like “Elephant’s Dream” and “Boy Who Never Slept” and perhaps users will beat out Hollywood in the online video market.

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Innertube Launches 3rd Online Show 
By Stacy - (0) comments July 16, 2006


CBS’s broadband video site, innertube, will launch its third original online only show Monday, July 17th. “Inturn” follows the on success of their other two shows, “Animate This” and “Greek to Chic.” Like “Greek to Chic”, CBS claims that there is the possibility for a successful online show to transfer to their regular broadcast format.

“Inturn” is a reality/contest show that follows eight contestants as they compete to land a spot on the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns”. The eight contestants, who include aspiring actors and non-actors, will live together in a Brooklyn, New York loft because Brooklyn is the where “As the World Turns” is currently filmed. The contestants will be weeded out through a series of challenges, like screen tests and awkward prop challenges. These tests will be used to eliminate five of the contestants with the remaining three going on to appear in “As the World Turns” where one will be chosen by the viewers through online voting.

“Inturn” will run 24, 5 minute episodes with three episodes per week played on innertube. The contest will run for about 13 weeks. The show is being made in conjunction with the “As the World Turns” producers and several of the actors on the show will participate in the challenges or serve as judges.

It seems to me that the carrying of original broadband content seems to be growing more popular among the major networks and cable companies. This hopefully will continue to benefit the users.

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