Three Studios Say No to YouTube's Movie Rental Plan

YouTube may be moving ahead with plans to stream Hollywood movies on demand, but not all of the major studios have signed on. According to The Wrap, Fox, Paramount and Disney have all refused to a deal so far, with Fox and Paramount even confirming that their intention is to "not move forward with any deal at this time." The reason: piracy.

[via TIME Techland]

Nielsen study confirms growing "social TV" trends

A new report in the US by Nielsen says that almost half of all U.S. citizens - 143.9 million - viewed some video online in January this year. Newsline reports.

Overall, online video viewing came to an average of four hours and 39 minutes for the month; and mobile video viewing is now 41% higher than it was a year ago.

Nielsen also says that in January 2011, 49% of all social networking and blog site visitors also visited TV network and broadcast media sites. Twitter had the biggest overlap with broadcast media sites at 76%, while Facebook was at 50%.

Read full article.

Netflix Now Has More Subscribers Than Any Cable Company

With 23.6 million subscribers in the United States and Canada, Netflix has more subscribers than the largest cable TV service in the US: Comcast has 22.8 million subscribers. 7% of Americans subscribe to Netflix.

[CNN Money via Geekosystem]

N.Y. case underscores Wi-Fi privacy dangers

Read and be afraid. From USA Today.

Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of “pedophile!” and “pornographer!” stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn’t need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.

That new wireless router. He’d gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.

“We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night,” the man’s lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, “Doldrum.”

“No, I didn’t,” he insisted. “Somebody else could have but I didn’t do anything like that.”

“You’re a creep … just admit it,” they said.

Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale. Their advice: Password-protect your wireless router.

Read more.

How TV & The Web Are Merging: Al Jazeera's New Show, The Stream

As television continues to adapt to the Web, expect to see new forms of content emerge that are a hybrid of traditional TV and the latest Web technologies. Last week, television news network Al Jazeera launched a new TV show and website. Called The Stream, it's an indication of where mainstream TV news is heading. ReadWriteWeb reports.

The show uses social media curation service Storify - which opened up to the public yesterday - to gather content and interact with the community. The Stream is unique in its use of tools like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to both source the news and interact with its audience. Let's look at today's episode, along with related content on The Stream website, to see how this new form of social media based television is shaping up.

The show will debut on television on May 2, but it's already up and running on the Web using UStream. It currently live-streams every Monday-Thursday at 1930 GMT (3:30 PM EST).

Read more.

Shazam like IntoNow app recognizes TV shows

Hoping to capitalize on television’s central role in TV chit chat, Yahoo said on Monday that it bought IntoNow, a mobile phone app that lets users tell friends what they are watching and discuss it. Bits reports.

What sets IntoNow apart is its ability to automatically recognize shows. Users let the app listen to a show for a few seconds, and, in theory, it will determine the name of the program and the episode. Much like Shazam does for music.

IntoNow has a vast database of shows over the last five years – the equivalent of 266 years of programming. The app can also detect new programs on 130 channels.

After the app recognizes “Desperate Housewives,” for instance, users can then share that information without having to type it in on their mobile phones. The same goes for news programs like CNN.

Read full article.

Related:

Do You Suffer from Netflix Streaming Syndrome?

Watching countless movies or TV shows whenever you want to is giving rise according to Gawker, to Netflix Streaming Syndrome, or elsewhere around the world where Neflix is not available, just plain Streaming Syndrome.

Symptoms include:

-- Insomnia brought on by watching every episode of a compelling series in a row at the expense of getting a good night's sleep.

-- Anti-social behavior as a result of staying in and making it a "Netflix night" rather than going out in public and seeing other human beings.

-- Blackouts induced by spending an entire day watching movies back-to-back.

-- A gnawing impatience when you can't watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it coupled with fits of rage when movies are not available for streaming.

I would add :

-- Procrasting by watching streaming videos instead of doing actual work.

We will definitely read more about this in the future - especially on how it's impacting students and their studies.

Netflix Searches Booming, DVDs Fading Away

D|All Things Digital explains why Hollywood is so freaked out about Netflix: A chart shows Web searches for the movie rental service booming, while queries for “DVD” are plummeting.

New to Your TV Screen: Twitter Hashtags

Although the TV screen is already crowded — with network logos, news crawls and promo messages routinely popping up throughout a program — broadcast and cable networks are now starting to add Twitter hashtags to the bottom of their shows. TV Guide reports.

We've noticed shows like Glee and Idol trend while the show is on, but fans often use different hashtags," says Fox marketing president Joe Earley. It's true: While some fans might have been using "#Glee" in their Twitter posts, others might have been using "#Gleeks" or "#WhiteRappers." Says Earley: "We thought if we provided the official hashtags, then more posts would aggregate."

Read full article.

Sundance Film Festival 2011 "Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul"

In a country with innumerable problems, Skateistan represents an oasis where children can be children and build the kinds of cross-cultural relationships that Afghanistan needs for future stability.

Youtube

UK Royal Wedding to Be Live Streamed on YouTube

Palace officials will offer live streaming of the April 29 royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton on the royal channel on YouTube. ABC reports.

The four-hour live Internet coverage will include the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the procession to Buckingham Palace, and the newlyweds' appearance on the palace balcony for an expected first public kiss. William's press office will also provide a live blog providing commentary and historical information as well as additional footage.

Read full article.

Want to speak at TED? Now you can audition

TED is offering anybody the opportunity to join the ranks of Bill Gates, Al Gore and Jane Goodall as a TED speaker. Starting this month, the organization will begin accepting auditions via YouTube and Vimeo videos for its TED2012 conference. CNN reports.

We're holding this audition to give a chance to the undiscovered talent we know is out there -- and especially talent that can help us continue to reinvent the ancient art of the spoken word," reads the online application.

Hosting open auditions fits with the conference's 2012 theme, "Full Spectrum," which TED describes as a focus on using creative methods to reach an audience. Some suggestions the application gives for fitting this theme include adding a custom-animated movie, improv or more images than words to a presentation.

Read full article.

Television 'breakups' cause some viewers distress: study

A new study reported by PhysOrg.com examined how college-aged television viewers reacted when their favorite shows went off the air or were replaced with reruns as a result of the television writers' strike of 2007-08.

The results revealed the important role television plays in the lives of some viewers – particularly those who use television for companionship and those who feel they have a strong "relationship" with their favorite TV characters.

<>But for those who think that less time spent with the media may be a good thing for some people, the results may be disappointing.

TV viewers basically replaced the time they normally spent watching their favorite shows with other media activities, such as watching TV reruns and using the internet, rather than spending more time with friends or exercising, according to the study.

Read full article.

Will streaming TV online lead to the death of the big media players?

As more and more television moves online thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, The Guardian's Jemima Kiss examines the options available to traditional media – which some say faces a bleak future.

Google honors Charlie Chaplin on homepage

The Google Doodle team stars in an homage to the silent film era's greatest star's 122nd birthday.

YouTube Invests in European Content Creators to Attract Quality Clips, Ads

Bloomberg reports that YouTube is offering as much as 500,000 euros ($720,000) plus training to help Europeans develop higher quality content for the video-sharing site and lure advertisers.

Up to 25 individuals across Europe will win 20,000 euros and training under the company’s NextUp program. They will produce videos that may earn revenue for both themselves and the Google owned site.

YouTube NextUp winners will be announced on April 20 at youtube.com/creators.

Read full article and YouTube press release.

YouTube launches Copyright School

YouTube on Thursday announced that users who have received copyright notices on any of their videos will be required to attend "YouTube Copyright School." PC Mag reports.

The lesson involves watching a copyright tutorial video and taking a quiz about its contents, which users must pass before they can upload any more videos to the Google-owned site.

Passing YouTube Copyright School, however, can also help you erase previous copyright infractions. Until today, YouTube has had a strict three strikes policy—rack up three notices and your account is suspended, even if some of those notices are invalid.

Read full article.

World's First 3D Porn Film Opens

According to the The Huffington Post, the $3.2-million "3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" opened to packed cinemas across Hong Kong on Thursday.

@Laurent Haug.

File-Sharers Await Official Recognition of New Religion

According to Torrent Freak, a group of self-confessed radical pirates are pinning their hopes on gaining official recognition of their own unique belief system.

The founders of the Missionary Church of Kopimism – who hold CTRL+C and CTRL+V as sacred symbols – hope that along with this acceptance will come harmony, not just with each other, but also with the police.

‘Thou shall not steal’ is one of the most well-known of the Ten Commandments. But for the followers of a brand new religion in Sweden, this commandment would be against everything they believe in.

The congregation at Missionary Kopimistsamfundet – The Missionary Church of Kopimism – believe that copying is to be embraced by religion and they hope that very shortly this way of life will be officially accepted by the authorities.

Founded by 19-year-old philosophy student, Isaac Gerson, this brand new church believes that copying and the sharing of information is the most beautiful thing in the world. To have your information copied is a token of appreciation, say the church, a sure sign that people think you have done something good.

[via Switched]

FilmOn Streams Live TV, Movies via Facebook

FilmOn, one of a few over-the-top video providers seeking to rebroadcast content on the Web, said Tuesday that users can stream live TV via Facebook to their friends. PC Mag reports.

FilmOn said that it has published an API by which users can view content on the company's site, then share it with their friends via Facebook. The users will then have access to several minutes of live video rebroadcast from TV stations that FilmOn has partnership agreements with.

Read full article.

Out There in the Dark, All Alone

Movies, once a collective experience, are now often seen in solitude, on digital devices. Has something been lost? The New York Times reports.

New digital technologies have transformed not only how movies are shot, processed, edited, distributed and exhibited, but also how they are watched. And this has altered our moving-image world in ways that, because we’re in the midst of all this change, are difficult to comprehend.

What we do know is that for much of the 20th century when we talked about movies, we meant glorious if sometimes scratched bigger-than-life images flickering on theater screens that we watched with other people and, when the next attraction rolled in, were gone, maybe forever.

Now we watch digital content on various machines, armed with the new consumer confidence that everything is a click away.

Read more.

Beyond Cute Babies: How To Make Money On YouTube

Beyond videos of cute babies, how-to videos are extremely popular and some of the creators are actually making serious money. There are hundreds of people who make more than $100,000 a year on their videos with instructional videos on the rise.npr reports.

... Geoff Dorn knows this market well. He's the man behind a series of videos on how to tie a tie.

In the video, you can't see Dorn's face — just a close-up of his neck, his white dress shirt and pale blue tie. With a monotone voice, he carefully describes the mechanics of the four-in-hand knot.

"That was shot in my kitchen," Dorn says. "I think I tacked a white sheet up against what was a red wall."

That incredibly dry video has been viewed six million times.

Read full article.

Related: - Student has earned $70,000 from Origami videos on YouTube

Japanese City’s Cry Resonates Around the World

Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai issued a plea on YouTube for the world to help his city. He was not prepared for the response.

[via The New York Times]

Saudi activists press release of reformers on YouTube

A group of Saudi activists launched a 10-minute YouTube video (in Arabic) protesting against the imprisonment without charge of some Saudi intellectuals which has attracted over 9,000 hits in less than 24 hours. The Straits Times reports.

The video, Saudis Missing, was posted late on Friday and shows interviews with a lawyer and family members of some of the prisoners who had called for reform in the absolute monarchy.

Saudi Arabia does not tolerate any form of dissent. It has no elected parliament or political parties and political life is dominated by the ruling Al Saud family.

Read full article.

Sidereel's success

The Washington Post on the sucess of sidereel.com, the Web’s largest independent source for TV content, with 10 million unique monthly viewers.

The site is redefining how younger viewers watch television. In a December survey of 1,800 visitors, Sidereel found that 78 percent watched more than five hours of TV online per week.

Serialized viewing online is transforming the landscape of television production and consumption. It has exposed old series to a new generation and is emerging as an inexpensive production home.

No longer do college students and young professionals sync their schedules with network prime-time lineups.

Not just for young (American) viewers. I won't say how old I am - but way beyond College years, and I follow a dozen favorite TV series on sidereel. They are available the day after their broadcast in the US. Like many Europeans and Asians, I love American TV. Many series are not shown here at all and the ones that are, are one or two seasons behind and poorly dubbed.

Related:

-- With the rise of laptops, college students begin to deem TVs obsolete

-- Opinion: Why TV viewers resort to piracy

-- Hollywood whining about illegal streaming again

-- Seeking options for watching TV online (legally) from Europe

-- US TV series become outdoor entertainment for South Korean youth

-- America lags behind Europe and S Korea in watching TV Online

ESPN streaming live on mobile app for some cable subscribers

Sports entertainment company ESPN has released WatchESPN, a free mobile application for watching live ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com content via iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

The giant caveat here is that WatchESPN is only accessible to Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Verizon FiOS TV subscribers. Subscribers to Comcast, Cox, Cablevision and other providers are unable to experience to experience live programming. Cable cutters, of course, are also left out of the live sports viewing party.

[via USA Today]

Time Warner Cable Turns to the Courts in iPad App Fight

Since launching its iPad app a couple of weeks ago, Time Warner Cable has been embroiled in a disagreement with cable networks over whether or not it has the rights required to stream cable live channels to the tablet device. Rather than haggle back and forth with those same programmers and negotiate over rights, the cable operator is taking its case to court.

Read full article in GigaOM.

Related:

-- Time Warner Cable Fights Back, Adds New Channels To Ipad App

-- Time Warner Cable scales back iPad app channels

-- Time Warner launches TV-viewing app for iPad

European Commission wants ISPs and online services to act as copyright cops, snoops and censors

The European Commissioners met Wednesday to decide the future of EU copyright policy. boingboing reports.

French Commissioner Michel Barnier is pushing for a set of control measures aimed at ISPs, web-hosts, social networking services, and related services that would force them to act as private police for the entertainment lobby, who would be able to direct them to spy on and block domains and users without judicial oversight or due process.

Read more and European Copyright Law: Collusion for the Control of the Net by La Quadrature du net-

Netflix to start streaming 'Mad Men'

According to USA Today, Netflix will start streaming the hit TV series Mad Men in a multi-year deal the online movie rental company struck with Lions Gate, the show's producer.

Netflix and Lions Gate Entertainment said late Tuesday the show's first four seasons will be available beginning July 27, with additional seasons added each year after they air on AMC.

Netflix is already streaming the first four seasons of Mad Men in Canada.

Read more.

Net giants challenge French data law

Google and Facebook are among a group of net heavyweights taking the French government to court this week. The BBC reports.

The legal challenge has been brought by The French Association of Internet Community Services (ASIC) and relates to government plans to keep web users' personal data for a year.

The case will be heard by the State Council, France's highest judicial body.

More than 20 firms are involved, including eBay and Dailymotion.

The law obliges a range of e-commerce sites, video and music services and webmail providers to keep a host of data on customers.

This includes users' full names, postal addresses, telephone numbers and passwords. The data must be handed over to the authorities if demanded.

Police, the fraud office, customs, tax and social security bodies will all have the right of access.

Read full article.