DVD sales tumbled this year as the weak economy and competition from the Internet soured consumers on buying new discs. What's a movie studio to do? Look to the iPhone to goose sales. USA Today reports.
NBC Universal and 20th Century Fox have launched interactive apps that tap into DVD or Blu-ray discs to augment viewing. The apps provide information about the film and stars and connect you with friends to chat about the movie while you watch.
Fox's FoxPop uses the microphone on your iPhone, or your laptop, to "hear" the audio signal from the movie you're watching, then responds with pop-ups about the movie. It also intersects with Facebook and Twitter for movie chats.
Universal's Pocket Blu is just for the iPhone. It turns the device into a remote control for the movie if you watch on a Blu-ray player (it doesn't work with traditional DVDs or computers) and plays trailers for upcoming movies.
Sony Pictures and Showtime are starting to move up the digital delivery of select content so that you can get it online before you can walk into a store and purchase the DVD. DownloadSquad reports.
For instance the film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs comes out on DVD next week, but it's also ready available for digitla rental if you have a Sony TV or other device. Lionsgate is making the latest season of its Showtime TV series Weeds available online a week before it's available on DVD.
Of course, web sites like Hulu have been offering free, ad-supported episodes of broadcast TV shows within 24 hours of the air-date for a while now. And some cable shows are available for download from services such as iTunes shortly after broadcast. But premium content like Hollywood movies has usually been available either at the same time as the DVD release or later.
UK broadband users are to get a £500 ($802) million bill for tackling online piracy, according to a report in today's Times newspaper, working out at £25 ($40) per user per year. TechRadar reports.
Ministers have confirmed that the Digital Economy Bill, which has already generated mass protest, will force ISPs to raise the costs of an average broadband subscription by £25 a year, costs associated with warning users, then slowing or stopping the connections of those who subsequently refuse to stop downloading.
Broadcast Engineering explains in great detail how Apple's online TV proposal could shake the TV business to its core, essentially offering a less expensive online alternative to cable and satellite subscriptions.
One month after the government's war on illegal video-sharing sites, CNTV.cn, China's first-ever State-level online TV station, officially launched Monday, spearheading the government's latest attempt to overhaul the online video market that has been marred by copyright issues.China Global Times reports.
... Internet users can watch programs broadcast by all channels by downloading a video client Cbox. All programs are free of charge and support high-definition mode.
From the Iran protests to the uprising of monks in Burma, YouTube has become a place where citizens can expose human rights violations and promote free expression. This month, YouTube was excited to see many of you help the organizations that regularly combat injustice and abuse around the world, by creating a video for one of them through Video Volunteers.
Today, the top three selections will appear on the YouTube homepage to raise awareness of several pressing human rights issues.
Organizing For America, has launched a viral video campaign that sends out personalized holiday wishes and thanks to Obama supporters.
On OFA you fill out the name of the person you want the video to go out to, as well as their e-mail address, and they will receive a video with the recipient’s name appearing in various places of the clip. The last frame is President Barack Obama himself signing a personalized holiday card, where the same name appears.
According to NewTeeVee, the video has seen 5 million visitors in the first seven days since it's launch.
Following hot on the heels of similar announcements by Google and Facebook, YouTube is launching its own shortening service. The Google-owned video service is rolling out youtu.be for those overly complicated YouTube URLs.
In an attempt to stop a growing number of TV viewers who are bypassing cable to watch free television and movies online, Comcast has rolled out its attempted solution — authenticated cable TV on the Internet.
Two years ago, the BBC turned the computer screens of Britain into TVs. CBSNews reports.
All the BBC's programs — news, movies and entertainment — were made available free, online and on-demand, through an easy downloadable program called the iPlayer. All you needed was a broadband connection.
Now the BBC is in partnership with several private channels and Internet providers in the U.K. to go one better.
They are poised to make the country's TV sets behave more like computer screens, by developing the software to put Internet staples (like Amazon or YouTube) on conventional television, along with streamed content from the iPlayer.
In effect, the venture — called Project Canvas — will make all screens, from shiny new 42-inch TVs to tiny iPhones — able to show and play just about anything.
France based video sharing site Dailymotion has released a couple of iPhone apps (one free, one for a fee) - that work with 12 million of its videos.
With the Dailymotion app you can:
- easily search and find videos
- discover new featured videos every day (short films, music videos, trailers, animation, etc.)
- check out the latest viral hits
- surf 15 themed channels (News & Politics, Fun, Music, Film & TV, Sports…)
- access your Dailymotion account
Also, with your iPhone 3Gs, you can record and upload videos directly to your Dailymotion account.
China shuts the door on Internet downloads that violate copyright laws, reports Beijing Review.com.cn.
China's millions of netizens were recently astonished to find that the government shut down 530 websites that allowed the illegal sharing of audio and video content among users. Authorities said the sites, like peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing giant BitTorrentChina (BTChina), which offers free downloads of music, movies, games and TV shows, did not have the authorized licenses they needed to operate.
... The illegal websites have been ordered to shut down or to delete all links to downloadable films or TV shows. Authorities said their campaign would last until they rectified the problem.
There is no mention of video sharing sites that offer TV series in streaming, so perhaps they are not affected. The WSJ reports today that Youku.com, one of China's largest video Web sites, raised $40 million in new funding. Its a prime destination for the latest US TV series.
Fortune Brainstorm Tech reports that Ashton Kutcher's TV series on CW with Misha Barton, and Elle MacPherson, The Beautiful Life, which was canceled after only two episodes, will come back to life on the Web at youtube.com/user/TBL and good news - the videos are not geographically blocked, at least not the first two episodes-, they are viewable by international users (thank you AK for that!).
I really enjoyed the first two episodes and was shocked and disappointed that it was canceled. It's a good thing this was Ashton Kutcher's project because he knows a thing or two about producing on the Internet.
A show on the life of models in Manhattan has such an appeal and the acting was great. It made no sense that it was canceled in the first place.
According to Fortune Brainstorm Tech, "the Web venture will be funded by Hewlett-Packard and get distribution help from YouTube. Kutcher’s Katalyst Media plans to post a total of five episodes online and keep them there for six months. Two episodes are up already, three coming next week.
If the show draws enough engaged viewers, it could live on – either as an online-only show or back on TV." That would be such a great victory for Kutcher and his cast. Take that CW!
A producer from Uruguay who uploaded a short film to YouTube in November 2009 has been offered a $30m contract to make a Hollywood film. The BBC reports.
Fede Alvarez's short film "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack!) featured giant robots invading and destroying Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.
It is 4 mins 48 seconds long and was made on a budget of $300.
So far it has had more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.
YouTube says "thousands" have signed up with its Partner Program, set up to financially entice its most popular producers to keep the pipeline full. USA Today reports.
... You, too, could make a living producing videos for YouTube, but you'd need to devote massive hours (figure about 75 hours a week) making videos and spreading the word. You must stay in constant contact with the community, via the comments left on your work.
Paramount Pictures, looking for new ways to turn its old movies into cash, especially as DVD sales continue to decline, is creating an online video clip service that will allow users to search hundreds of feature films on a frame-by-frame basis.
TwitVid.com on Monday unveiled real-time video search and video analytics, along with virtual gifting. Mediapost reports.
The real-time video search feature serves up the most popular videos on Twitter as they're posted. The San Francisco-based search engine aggregates all TwitVid and YouTube video links currently being shared on Twitter. A real-time ranking algorithm ranks the videos based on relevance to the search keyword term, popularity and buzz on Twitter. Newest videos rank highest.
The ads will allow consumers to start pre-ordering the movie 'Inglourious Basterds' today on Blu-ray and DVD, or purchase the movie on Dec. 15. The transactions are done through the "secure" rich media ad-unit via mobile phones.
Until recently you would never have seen women presenting television programmes dressed from head to toe in the niqab or burqa. But on the Saudi religious channel Awtan TV it has now become the norm. The BBC reports.
A British company, Internet Eyes, offers volunteer spies, monitoring of live CCTV footage online. If they witness criminal activity and alert the police, they get a reward. According to the BBC, more than 10,000 recruits have already signed up.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), suggested by the US administration in 2007, aims to redefine global trade rules. The intention is to stem losses from counterfeiting and internet-mediated piracy of content like music and movies.
It will do that by penalising internet service providers and websites that carry, or help people to find, pirated content. ACTA has quickly proved a hit with G8 nations, the European Union, South Korea and Australia, who are all using it as a basis for future national laws.
Research conducted by London-based Global Web Index, a collaboration between online market research agency Lightspeed Research and Trendstream, suggests that streaming might in fact be the right antidote against content piracy. TechCrunch reports.
The number of teenagers who download copyrighted content from illegal sources has fallen dramatically over the past few years in favor of streaming.
... Contrary to popular belief, the research also shows that people who download illegal media content are not only driven by the desire to access it for free, but increasingly by the fact that they want to get their hands on the content as soon as it’s available, even if only legally in other countries.
According to Business Insider, Google is in talks with TV networks and studios to stream episodes of television shows for a $1.99 a pop on YouTube.
It would be akin to what Apple offers through iTunes, or Amazon offers on its site. The main difference: You can only stream the episodes, not download them.
If YouTube and the networks can work out a deal, it will be interesting to see how consumers react. Why would anyone pay to stream an episode when it was available at the same price as a download from Amazon or iTunes? (Which you can stick on your iPod, for example, or on your laptop to watch on a plane.)
Academics from around the world attended the "The Wire as Social Science Fiction?" conference over the weekend in Leeds, discussing topics like "Omar: Ethics, Power and Performativity."
Academics from Oxford, Harvard, Vanderbilt and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand also discussed whether the HBO series was a real sociological exercise or not.
In the UK, YouTube turns to traditional advertising to draw attention to its 4,000-strong collection of entire television programs. The Guardian reports.
With the slogan "YouTube's got TV", the campaign will feature advertisements on the sides of buses and inside underground trains, along with full-page print ads in publications, including one in today's Guardian. There will also be online ads to support the campaign.
NBC Universal and 20th Century Fox have launched interactive apps that tap into DVD or Blu-ray discs to augment viewing. The apps provide information about the film and stars and connect you with friends to chat about the movie while you watch.
Fox's 
Universal's 
UK broadband users are to get a £500 ($802) million bill for tackling online piracy, according to a report in today's Times newspaper, working out at £25 ($40) per user per year. 
Cable Network 
Two years ago, the BBC turned the computer screens of Britain into TVs. 
France based video sharing site 
China shuts the door on Internet downloads that violate copyright laws, reports 
