April 11, 2008
Television on the Internet taking off for real
It's been a long time coming but television on the Internet appears finally to be taking off, opening up a new viewing experience for free and helping to fight online piracy. The Associated Press reports.
One of the newest services, Hulu which was launched a month ago in the United States, is backed by media giant NBC Universal and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
The online video-on-demand (VOD) service "will let you watch your favourite programmes anytime for free", Hulu's youthful CEO Jason Kilar told a conference at the giant MIPTV audiovisual entertainment industry trade show this week.
Kilar said the plan was to make Hulu available outside the US. But this will take time as the company would need to negotiate content rights issues for each country.
... Setting aside their rivalries, the networks plan to hit back at the growing challenge posed by hugely successful Internet video-sharing sites such as YouTube, where their programmes are regularly illegally downloaded.
Both Joost and Babelgum were launched last year but industry experts are starting to question what sort of results they and other fledgling web TV services are notching up.
These services have been criticised for not offering enough content and for incomplete TV series, and recently some have started to change track.
Joost is now concentrating on partnering with major studio and TV networks. Babelgum is focusing on independent films, sport, nature and travel, and Vuze is specialising in the sci-fi and animation genres popular with young males.
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