Saudi TV presenters wearing niqab

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.

[via The Huffington Post]

War’s Other Enduring Videos

In recent years, the popularity of surprise soldier homecomings, videotaped for posterity, has grown: dozens of such moments have been posted on the Internet. Fathers in fatigues — it’s almost always fathers — surprise children in classrooms, at a Valentine’s Day dance, popping out of a gift-wrapped box at a school assembly. Occasionally, as in a Veterans Day ceremony at a Tennessee elementary school, the local TV news lies in wait.

Read full story in The New York Times.

Hulu lands first music label deal

Hulu, the Web's No. 2 video service attracting viewers by offering full-length films and TV shows, now wants to become a video jukebox. CNet reports.

EMI Music, one of the four largest recording companies, struck a deal to offer its artists' select concert footage and music videos on Hulu.

Music videos have appeared at Hulu before but this is the site's first wide-ranging agreement with a major label, EMI said in a statement. Exclusive material from singer Norah Jones will help kick off the deal and Hulu has opened a Nora Jones exclusive channel.

Orange strikes Twitter TV deal

According to The Guardian, European Twitter users will soon be able to tweet to each other via their TV sets while watching entertainment and sports shows, after Orange struck a deal to integrate the service into its mobile and television offerings.

Under the deal, Orange is aiming to integrate Twitter into football coverage, news, entertainment shows and films.

Orange said that Twitter services would be rolled out in the UK first, to be followed by France, Spain and Poland later this year. The service will be rolled out in other European markets next year.

Read full article.

South Korean Cabbies Watch TV While Driving

Switched has reported on a crazy BBC story about a South Korean judge who ruled in favor of a taxi driver watching TV in his cab.

I remember an even more horrifying story that came out last year, about French truck drivers who apparently beat the boredom of their long-haul trips by putting their feet up on the dashboard and watching videos or playing computer games. To take their eyes off the road, they devised, get this, a technique for "driving by ear".

Apple Could Launch iTunes Version of TV Everywhere

Liz Gannes of NewTeeVee on Apple's plan to recruit TV networks to go in on an iTunes TV subscription offering. For $30 per month starting “early next year,” users would be able to watch episodes via iTunes.

A TV subscription product actually sounds promising given that iTunes already has an established business of selling digital content delivered over the Internet — TV episodes, even!

But on the other hand, iTunes today sells downloads, and only downloads. Few people seem to care about owning TV episodes, unless you’re talking multi-season boxed and special-featured DVD sets.

Read full article.

TEDTalk Tuesdays on CNN.com

Starting next week, CNN.com will show a TEDTalk on its homepage every Tuesday. It's part of a big redesign for CNN.com that puts video front-and-center, and makes room for opinion, commentary and partners like People magazine, EW.com, Oprah and TED.com.

Every Tuesday, a different TEDTalk will appear on the CNN.com homepage, along with a follow-up interview or an essay from the speaker on a dedicated TED.com page. It'll be a great chance to hear more from a speaker -- and to help great ideas connect with CNN's massive global audience.

TedBlog

Hulu May Start Charging for Online Content Next Year

According to Daily Tech, popular internet TV service Hulu may begin charging for content as early as next year.

Australia bans TV for under-twos

Children under the age of two should be banned from watching television, according to guidelines prepared for the Australian government, reports UK's Telegraph.

The guidelines warn that exposure to television at such an early age can delay language development, affect the ability of a child to concentrate and lead to obesity.

... The draft guidelines have been designed for childcare centres but also offer advice for parents.

Interesting: Australian statistics show that four-month-old infants watch an of average 44 minutes of television each day

Image from The SF Gate.

Joost UK goes into liquidation

According to NMA, the UK arm of online video company Joost has gone into liquidation.

The move marks the end of a turbulent journey for the UK arm of the start-up, which was launched by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström in 2007.

Olympics Urged To Relinquish Exclusive Rights

The Olympic movement needs to learn from the likes of YouTube or risk losing young viewers for life, IOC members were told Monday. Top Tech News reports.

Communications guru Martin Sorrell advised global sports leaders to release their grip on exclusive broadcast rights and hand them over to a new generation of technology-savvy fans.

"If they are going online, you go online," Sorrell said in a keynote speech on digital media at the International Olympic Committee's Congress. "You have to let them play -- with your content Relevant Products/Services, your assets -- in their own way."

Future is TV-shaped, says Intel

The world's biggest chip maker predicts that by 2015 there will be 12 billion devices capable of connecting to 500 billion hours of TV and video content. The BBC reports.

Intel said its vision of TV everywhere will be more personal, social, ubiquitous and informative.

Intel's developer forum in San Francisco was told that the success of TV is down to the fact there are a growing number of ways to consume content.

Today that includes everything from the traditional box in the corner of the living room to smartphones, laptops, netbooks, desktops and mobile internet devices.

... We are seeing an amazing move of video to IP (internet) networks. By 2013 90% of all IP traffic will be video. 60% of all video will be consumed by consumers over IP networks," said Cisco's vice president of video product strategy, Malachy Moynihan.

VisitDenmark removes bogus video

VisitDenmark, which is the official Danish tourist agency, has removed a bogus film from the Internet and apologised for its distribution after it transpired that the story behind the viral advertising was untrue and adverse reactions have flooded in. Politken.dk reports.

The story featured on YouTube purported to be a young Danish woman and her baby appealing to find the baby’s foreign father, with whom the woman had had a one night stand. The young woman in the video, however, is a Danish actress and the baby is not hers.

Clicker What's Online

Start-up company Clicker (with a Mad Men inspired logo) aims to help people watching TV online to figuring out what’s on. They claim to be the first “structured, comprehensive and unbiased guide for online television.” VentureBeat reports.

Clicker not only tells you what video is available on the web now, but also what’s missing. It demonstrated this by searching for Seinfeld and coming up with only six episodes. Clicker points to the page where the video’s hosted; it doesn’t necessarily host or embed the videos itself. Users can also add data about the show, putting in tags or memorable quotes.

The site is in private beta over the next few weeks. It has a couple of business models: it could function on advertising or share revenue with sites it directs a lot of traffic toward. It could also offer a paid pro version.

Only open to beta testers for the moment, it will be interesting to see if it's as good as sidereel.com.

Classicaltv.com launches Opera online

Will opera lovers watch their favorite performance on a small screen?

According to The LA Times blog, Classicaltv.com, a $10-million online start-up that launched a few months ago, is betting that people won't mind trading in the grandeur of the concert hall for the smaller but more convenient -- not to mention cheaper -- alternative of watching it on their computer.

The for-profit site has partnered with such major classical institutions around the world as the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival and the Paris Opera Ballet to present full-length videos of high-profile performances.

Most of the videos are available for free -- a short commercial precedes each selection. But there is also premium pay content that users can purchase and generally keep for 72 hours.

Time Warner, YouTube reach video distribution pact

Time Warner Inc. and YouTube announced an online video distribution agreement that will give consumers access to an extensive variety of high-quality, short-form content owned by Time Warner, including clips from movies, television shows and news programming.

The agreement will allow Time Warner's Warner Bros. Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. to program videos on YouTube using a Time Warner embeddable player.

More in press release.

Mad Men ignores TV's rules and goes online

The hit television show Mad Men is breaking new ground in Canada. When the third season debuts this fall on AMC, viewers who do not subscribe to the digital channel can purchase the episode directly from iTunes for $2.50, or $3.50 in high definition.

The show will be available for purchase after the episode has aired, and though this has been the case for the past two seasons, this season it is the only way for viewers in Canada without access to AMC to watch the show.

[via Canada.com]

Pirate Party UK now registered by the Electoral Commission

Sweden’s Pirate Party, created to lobby for more free content on the internet, is now an officially recognised political party in the UK.

This means the group can now have a Pirate Party candidate standing at the next general election.

[via The Telegraph]

MadMen Explored In Vanity Fair

Adding to the excitement mounting over the new season of the show MadMen which starts on August 16, Vanity Fair has an in-depth analysis of the series and they also got Annie Leibovitz to shoot Jon Hamm and January Jones as their ad-biz alter-egoes for the latest issue.

[via PSFK]

Vanity Fair full article: Don and Betty’s Paradise Lost

Disney to charge for content online

Disney plans to offer a broad array of its content, including movies, TV shows and games, online to those willing to pay for it -- possibly at a single Web site that requires a subscription, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Disney already is bringing in revenue online. It has joined NBC Universal and News Corp. as a content provider and equity partner in Hulu, which sells advertising. Disney also sells content on iTunes and charges a subscription fee for its Club Penguin site.

Walter Cronkite and the way it isn’t anymore

Mr. Cronkite pioneered and then mastered the role of television news anchorman with such plain-spoken grace that he was called the most trusted man in America. Bill Carter reports for The New York Times in video. A wonderful tribute.

Howard Rheingold of Smart Mobs links to a New York Times Media Decoder story today that captures how very much times have changed: from one trusted voice to crowd reporting:

Sean McManus, the president of CBS News, learned of Walter Cronkite’s death while he was at the dinner table on Friday evening, sharing a meal with his two children, ages 8 and 10.

After taking the phone call, he tried to explain to his children — who have grown up bombarded with news and information — the value of Mr. Cronkite’s once-a-day news updates.

“There probably will never be anybody who has the presence and the stature and the importance that Walter Cronkite had in this country,” Mr. McManus said in a telephone interview, recalling what he told his children.

“I tried to explain to them that most people in America expected to get both good and bad news from one man, and that was Walter Cronkite,” he said. “That will never be duplicated again,” because of the fragmentation of the media...

President Barack Obama speech at slave site

President Obama makes remarks after touring Cape Coast Castle, in Ghana.

[via The Huffington Post]

Where to Watch the Michael Jackson Memorial Service

Check out where to watch the Michael Jackson Memorial Service on NewTeeVee.

One option, go to CNN.om Live .

Michael Jackson Funeral to be live streamed

As the world pays tribute to the King of Pop, Music Celebrity will be streaming Michael Jackson's funeral live. So far the family has not confirmed definite plans about where and when.

Joost bows to YouTube, gives up consumer video

Joost, the third major creation by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the duo that also founded Kazaa and Skype, announced Tuesday that it will dump its consumer-video service and will now focus on building "white label" video platforms for "cable and satellite providers, broadcasters and video aggregators." The move marks the end of Joost as a YouTube and Hulu competitor.

[via News.com]

CNN: We Don’t Need YouTube and Twitter to Tell Us What’s Going on in Iran–We’ve Got iReport

CNN's iReport is the news service’s attempt to create its own user-generated news hub. It’s supposed be to be able attract eyeballs on its own and in some cases, feed the Web site and the cable channel with free content donated by viewers. Peter Kafka reports for All Things Digital.

CNN says it has been using the site heavily to augment its Iran coverage. From a press release it sent out earlier this week: “Since last week, we’ve received 4555 iReport submissions related to Iran–including more than 1600 this past Saturday and Sunday alone, and an additional 689 just yesterday.

To date, 150 of the Iran-related iReports have been vetted and verified by CNN producers for use on CNN air or online–something the likes of YouTube or Flickr just aren’t equipped to do given their lack of newsgathering infrastructure.” (Yesterday CNN told me it added another 399 Iran-related iReports, and that seven had made it onto air. Presumably those numbers are still increasing.)

CNN producers have contacted the people who sent in all of the Iran-related iReports it has featured on the network and at least verified that they are who they say they are. That in itself seems worthwhile, and maybe even worth bragging about.

Related: - Unverifiable Citizens' Journalism in Iran

Michael Jackson dies leaving legacy of award-winning music

It's one of the greatest losses," said Tommy Mottola, former president of Sony Music, which released Jackson's music for 16 years. "In pop history, there's a triumvirate of pop icons: Sinatra, Elvis and Michael, that define the whole culture. . . . His music bridged races and ages and absolutely defined the video age. Nothing that came before him or that has come after him will ever be as big as he was.

LA Times

Cable Grabs the Web Remote

Several major cable networks and subscription-TV providers are readying systems that will let only paying subscribers watch cable shows on the Web, part of an effort to counter the growing amount of free TV shows available online. The WSJ reports.

Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and DirecTV Group Inc. plan trials of subscriber-only online services this summer, according to people familiar with the matter.

While limited, the new tests represent part of an industry-wide push to preserve and possibly expand the cable-TV business's lucrative subscription model in a digital world. The move also come as media companies are struggling to make money from online video.

... Cable operators have chafed as cable networks have posted some of their programming online. The new systems would allow networks to put more programming online without enticing viewers to cancel cable-TV subscriptions.

Read full artice.

JokeyPhone: The YouTube of Jokes

Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups has written up JokeyPhone. It's fabulous, check it out!

JokeyPhone is a video site where users can submit their own re-tellings of jokes. The moment you land on the page, you are greeted by a random joke to watch. You’re able to browse these jokes and share them with friends. There are several features, however, that make the site unique.

The best one is Auto Play, which allows you to turn on the JokeyPhone player, lay back, and watch joke after joke without interruption. A new joke comes after five seconds, giving you enough time to save or replay a joke. Another great feature is U-Tell Joke. Have you ever heard a great joke just be ruined by someone fumbling on the delivery? Well, U-Tell Joke allows you to retelll someone’s joke. If you think you can do it better, then prove it.

I'm a Blogger Get me Out of Here!

Something I missed. I'm a Blogger Get me Out of Here is NBC's online competition based on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!. It started May 22 and ends tomorrow, June 11th.

Bloggers are pitted against each other in a contest to see who can survive to the final round, and win a trip to live blog behind the scenes at the "I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" set in Costa Rica. [Xomba]

The winner will be posted after June 30, 2009 on their Website.

Reality TV candidates entitled to salaries

In a ruling by the highest court of appeals in France - that will surely act as legal precedence - the reality TV candidates of "L'île de la Tentation" have been granted a working contract and a salary.

TFI network, producer of the show is appalled by the ruling. "I can not comprehend how participating in a TV show can be considered a professional activity when all candidates are required to do is flirt with each other and have a good time", said Edouard Boccon-Gibod, director of F1 Production, following the ruling.

[via Le Point and Nouvel Obs]

Jay Leno’s Final Tonight Show YouTube!

This Monday evening is the final Tonight Show with Jay Leno. A reported montage of Leno’s greatest moments is expected to be the highlight of the night.

Watch a preview of tonight show: Jay Leno’s Legacy Video Clip.

[via LA Late News]

Obama College Photos To Go On Display (video)

[via The Huffington Post]

TubeMogul to Serve Up Free Video Stats

Web video metrics firm TubeMogul today Wednesday version 2.0 of its analytics package that will bring better statistics for publishers on 15 top video sharing sites, including DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Break.com, and MetaCafe. Mashable reports.

Publishers on those sites will now be able to get detailed, and standardized data about how users are viewing and engaging with their videos.

By integrating their InPlay technology with outside services TubeMogul is now able to standardize the collection of metrics about how many people are watching videos, for how long, and from where. Many of the more advanced metrics offered by the company’s software were previously only available to customers who hosted their own video, but the new integrations make detailed viewership stats more universally available to publishers.

Twitter has plans for a TV series

Twitter -- the Web-site that poses the eternal question: "What are you doing?" - has plans for a TV series, according to Swamp Politics.

The social-networking service is teaming with Reveille productions and Brillsteen Entertainment to create an unscripted series based on the site, which invited 140-character postings from all.

The idea is to put Twitter on the trail of celebrities in a competitive situation.

Hulu's first live concert could be tip of the iceberg for TV

Hulu will offer a live stream of a Dave Matthews Band concert on June 1—the first of its kind for the popular TV streaming site. If it becomes a trend, cable providers may have reason to worry. For now, though, most TV viewing is still done in front of the ol' boob tube.

[via arstechnica]

Obama's Speech at Notre Dame University Commencement

[via The Huffington Post]

Michelle Obama Commencement Speech at UC

Michelle Obama's Commencement Speech At University Of California. [via The Huffington Post]

President Speaks at Arizona State University Commencement

President Obama Speaks at Arizona State University Commencement - May 13, 2009.

Read: Obama turns controversy into jokes, lesson at commencement.

Hulu Goes International (a Little)

In its first move towards opening up to international audiences, Hulu has added British television shows and Bollywood movies. Hulu today announced in a blog post that the site has partnered with U.K. content distributor Digital Rights Group and the Bollywood digital distributor Saavn to bring international content to U.S. audiences.

While Hulu's new international content may only get marginal interest from American audiences, the introduction of foreign shows is Hulu's first step toward opening up its content to the world.

Hulu says it is talking to as many as eight of the leading broadcast markets worldwide, according to Andy Forssell, Hulu's senior vice president of content acquisition and distribution. Forssell did not say which countries Hulu us targeting first when he recently spoke with the Financial Times about Hulu's international plans.

[Hulu Blog via Yahoo! Tech]

Bernie Madoff's Secretary Spills His Secrets

Eleanor Squillari, Bernie Madoff's secretary of more than 20 years gives an interview to Vanity Fair and talks on NBC's "Today".

[via The Huffington Post]

In Developing Countries, Web Grows Without Profit

To serve emerging markets, companies like YouTube need to invest in expensive servers, but ad revenue for those countries doesn’t cover those additional costs. The New York Times reports.

Web companies that rely on advertising are enjoying some of their most vibrant growth in developing countries. But those are also the same places where it can be the most expensive to operate, since Web companies often need more servers to make content available to parts of the world with limited bandwidth. And in those countries, online display advertising is least likely to translate into results.

There may be 1.6 billion people in the world with Internet access, but fewer than half of them have incomes high enough to interest major advertisers.

“It’s a problem every Internet company has,” said Michelangelo Volpi, chief executive of Joost, a video site with half its audience outside the United States.

“Whenever you have a lot of user-generated material, your bandwidth gets utilized in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, where bandwidth is expensive and ad rates are ridiculously low,” Mr. Volpi said. If Web companies “really want to make money, they would shut off all those countries.

Read full article.

Joost is seeking a buyer

Joost is actively seeking a buyer and the beleaguered video service has told cable and satellite providers that it could be their online video solution, said sources close to the companies.

[via cnet news]

Text-Message Commentary Coming to the Movies?

Thought movie hecklers were annoying? Well, if a new project takes off nationwide, prepare to be uber-annoyed by heckling via texting/Twittering projected directly onto the movie screen. MuVChat creator Rien Heald describes his Frankenstein-like creation to the Chicago Tribune as "a mash-up of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' and Twitter." Switched reports.

During a screening of "Zoolander," audience members could heckle the movie via text, then watch as their comments appeared onscreen with the film:

The system works this way: Audience members text to a central number, which runs their comments through software. The MuVChat software then displays the texts in a three-line configuration at the bottom of the screen, like a vertical ticker, as the movie plays. Sitting in the projector booth with a standard computer, Heald uses a profanity screening program and can, on the fly, filter comments and ban abusive users.

Most viewers make about 40 comments per movie, Heald said, and not all of them are snarky. Just as often, people will play "Name That Tune" when the soundtrack swells or ask other members of the audience to bring them popcorn.

TiVo to sell instant data on what people watch, fast-forward

The company that's made it so easy for television viewers to avoid watching ads unveils a plan to help stations sell them, reports USA Today.

Tivo will challenge Nielsen, whose audience ratings provide the basis for most ad sales, with Stop/Watch Local Markets. It will supplement TiVo's measurements of national TV audiences with data from all but the smallest of the nation's 210 markets.

TiVo will offer stations, advertisers and program producers year-round, second-by-second information about the shows and commercials watched by people who have one of the company's DVRs. The anonymous data will come directly from the boxes.