How many times have we written about this before? Today, I watched the pilot for “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” the new fall show on NBC that’s (very) loosely based on the behind-the-scenes life at a SNL-like show. It was on YouTube, albeit in five parts. I was going to write about how much I liked the show, and how good I thought it was that NBC was leaking it out there. Instead, by this evening, this message was up: “This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. because its content was used without permission.” What do you bet this is a classic case of marketing puts it up, and the lawyers threaten to sue the site? (The video was posted by username “studio60ss.”) What would the harm be in posting the show? I downloaded USA Network’s preview of its new show, “Psych,” and watched it on the plane ride home from vacation. Good show. Learn from the experiment: get your stuff out there and build good buzz. Don’t punish the people who want to see your entertainment. They are your best advertisers.
The TV promo ad for VH1’s Vspot broadband video site clearly shows it in a Safari browser. I went to check it out, only to find the site is not Mac compatible. From the site: We are sorry! Vspot does not currently have Digital Rights Management (DRM) support for Macintosh. Please see our FAQ for system requirements to view on demand and free video on Vspot. But the promo shows it in Safari which only works on a Mac. I can only assume the VH1 graphics folks are proudly Mac-centric.
Excellent video parody from YouTube: what the trailer for a “Long Tail” movie would look like. It’s The Day of the Longtail, complete with tagline: “THE AUDIENCE IS UP TO SOMETHING.” You betcha. Chris Anderson’s gotta be proud that a long tail site like YouTube is hosting this.
It took some time, but we’re beginning to see a steady stream of announcements as big media sites throw open their doors to user-created content. Just today, CNN, AOL and WeatherBug said they’re getting in the game. Last week, which I have failed to mention, ABC News Now debuted Seen & Heard, a new show where viewers send in their video comments and questions. Also last week, MTV announced it’s debuting a user-created channel in the UK, and many NBC owned-and-operated stations are doing deals with MotionBox to power video uploads. And what about MSNBC.com? “(It’s) a pretty urgent priority,” said Jennifer Sizemore, managing editor. The gates have opened to user-created content — the beginning of a new chapter in media and journalism.
I’m just back from Aruba, and I have great news for everyone who supported that Aruba boycott: It worked! The Aruban police realized how serious we were, devoted all their resources to the investigation, and found Natalee over at Joran’s place. They handed her over immediately, and issued a full apology on Nancy Grace. No, seriously, the boycott’s still stupid, and one year after I first wrote about The Land That The Media Circus Has Now Forgot, the damage we have done to Aruba is, mercifully, minimal. Unfortunately, now the blogs are taking up the vigilante justice that the news nets left off. More…
Using CNN.com’s Pipeline technology, TNT along with PGA.com will offer four live streams from the PGA Championship on Aug. 17-21. The streams will be ad-supported (Hitachi, Travelers and Buick) and available for free. TNT says if the coverage goes well, it may work up a similar plan for its Nascar races next summer.
WeatherBug Video users can send in home video of crazy weather and even their own weathercasts. Each clip has built in sharing features, ratings and the ability to subscribe to a designated user’s video feed. (Via CyberJournalist)
Earlier this year, Google quietly did a deal with the Associated Press, one of more than 50 agreements AP CEO Tom Curley has obtained from Internet players since 2003. While it’s unclear how the Google deal is arranged, PaidContent’s Rafat Ali speculates, “It could be on the basis of how may people click on AP stories on the Google News topic index pages, according to some sources I’ve spoken to, though I have not been able to verify that.”
Ah, everyone is chasing YouTube’s success. Coming this Friday, AOL will relaunch its free video site with user-created clips. Plus, it will include new video from the History Channel, Comedy Time, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, WNBA, and Warner Bros. “We’re trying to integrate all elements,” said Josh Freeman, VP of AOL Video. The site’s slogan? “If a video is out there, you’ll find it here on AOLVideo.com.” Plus, the new video site will include better search, thanks to AOL’s recent acquisitions of Truveo and Singingfish.
Now into the second season of Rock Star, Mark Burnett Productions and MSN are seeing some success with the online-only episode of the CBS series. MSN served 250 percent more streams in the first week of Rock Star: Supernova this summer compared to Rock Star: INXS last year. Show executive producer Lisa Hennessey says the key is constant cross-promotion. “You have to say it all the time and let people know,” she said. “(MSN) is promoted on all the shows and the performance episode says, ‘To see backstage and what happened after the rockers are done, go to MSN,’” she said.
Coming soon to a theater near you, NBC and Nissan will distribute cards with iTunes codes for free downloads of the pilot of the network’s upcoming show, Heroes. Also, moviegoers will see :10 promos for the show during the previews.
Here’s an interesting list of the first 100 domains registered on the internet. If you’re like me, you wonder why you didn’t register everything under the sun all those years ago…
CNN.com is introducing a new section dedicated to user-created content. Called CNN Exchange and powered in part by Blip.tv, the section combines CNN.com’s blogs and message boards with user-submitted video, photos and comments, or I-Reports. “User-generated content has the potential to play a pivotal role in journalism whether it’s online or offline,” said Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and executive producer for CNN.com. “With CNN Exchange, we’ve essentially created a one-stop shop for CNN.com users to share their contributions with other Internet users.” Gelman said CNN.com will screen video and photos before posting them on the site.
Slowly but surely, the new Lost Remote is taking shape. I updated the resources page, and I’ll add a longer list of sites in the near future. I’m working on bringing back the pitch box, provided I can find a spam fix. I’ll transfer over the domain name next weekend. And the archives are a big work in process.
I’ve had a few inquiries why Lost Remote is embedding YouTube clips of copyrighted material rather than linking to the video on the originating media site. It’s a legitimate question, but I’m staging a protest. As a blogger, YouTube’s functionality allows me quickly find and embed the player on the site with a simple copy-paste. When I went to ComedyCentral.com, I tried searching for the clip, but no luck. Once I found it, I tried to find the URL to link directly to it. Nothing. And of course, there’s no functionality to embed their player on the site. So YouTube it is. Media sites must realize that YouTube is becoming the Google of video. People are “YouTubing” to find video before visiting the originating site. And an army of bloggers are embedding YouTube players on their sites, which as an aggregate probably makes up a good third of YouTube’s total video traffic. Why aren’t media sites copying YouTube search and share functionality? Good question.
As part of the “Better Know a District” segment on the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert interviewed Congressman Robert Wexler, who’s running uncontested in November. As a joke, Colbert asked him to say some things that would normally lose him the election, like how much he enjoys cocaine. And as a joke, Wexler did. Funny stuff. But the Today Show and Good Morning America followed up with a story that wondered why Wexler would do such a thing. “(It exposed) the uncomfortable truth about journalists,” writes Jeff Jarvis. “They have no sense of humor.” So true. And here’s Colbert’s follow up…
By an overwhelming vote, the U.S. House has passed a bill that would require public schools and libraries to prevent minors from accessing “social networking sites” and “chat rooms.” Initially designed to apply to MySpace — that great evil — the bill is worded so vaguely that it may apply to sites like Amazon, LinkedIn and Slashdot. “(Social networking sites) have become a haven for online sexual predators who have made these corners of the Web their own virtual hunting ground,” said Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, one of the original sponsors of the “Deleting Online Predators Act” or DOPA. As you can imagine, I think this is absurd. So here comes the rant…
The user video site Grouper has just added a feature that allows people to post video comments on clips using their webcams. A great idea and a natural evolution for comments. Plus, check out that sharing functionality at the bottom of their embedded video player (below). Download to desktop, iPod or PSP. And one-click publishing to MySpace, Wordpress and other blogs. “It is our philosophy that video should be enjoyed everywhere,” explains the Grouper blog. “Whether it is browsing through great clips on Grouper.com for hours on end or creating a more personal viewing experience in the place of your choosing.” Ah, if only media companies would understand that philosophy…
How many times have we written about this before? Today, I watched the pilot for “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” the new fall show on NBC that’s (very) loosely based on the behind-the-scenes life at a SNL-like show. It was on YouTube, albeit in five parts. I was going to write about how much I liked the show, and how good I thought it was that NBC was leaking it out there. Instead, by this evening, this message was up: “This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. because its content was used without permission.” What do you bet this is a classic case of marketing puts it up, and the lawyers threaten to sue the site? (The video was posted by username “studio60ss.”) What would the harm be in posting the show? I downloaded USA Network’s preview of its new show, “Psych,” and watched it on the plane ride home from vacation. Good show. Learn from the experiment: get your stuff out there and build good buzz. Don’t punish the people who want to see your entertainment. They are your best advertisers.
