THE DOWN LOW

May 18, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Online video company Heavy.com has inked a deal with gaming channel G4 for its male-centric programming. As part of the deal, Heavy.com shows Behind the Music That Sucks, The Burly Sports Show and Kung Fu Jimmy Chow will be available on G4 VOD, podcasts and starting in June, the company will host an original show on G4's video channel featuring clips from its Attack of the Show series about gadgets and web culture.

The young male gamer demo is one of the most sought after by online video producers. Last month, Sony's Crackle.com announced it would begin streaming movies for free with ads and producing more original ...Read More
Industries: Technology, Videogames

May 13, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Hulu has added a new feature that lets users embed an entire TV series on their Web site, rather than settling for one episode. Hulu announced the new feature this afternoon on its site in a blog post titled "The evil plot continues..."

The new feature works with any show on the site. Users can click on a show and then the "widgets" panel to get an embed code to paste into their blog to add a series. (I've added the Daily Show below as an example of how it shows up on blogs.)

Hulu says in the blog post that it released the video panel widgets as a way to "continue to deliver on our mission to connect audiences with their favorite content wherever they are — or, as Denis Leary would say, on their “bl...Read More
Industries: Studios/Suppliers, Technology, VOD/Downloads

May 13, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

CBS  said today it will begin stream a sampling of CSI, NCIS, How I Met Your Mother episodes in not just HD, but 1080p HD, equalling quality delivered by Blu-ray. Of course, you'll have to watch it on the computer, so maybe not quite.

Hulu and others who have also added HD streams and downloads in the last year, though Hulu's and most others are only 720p HD. CBS allows viewers to choose between HQ, HD and 1080p for its high definition streams. The 1...Read More
Industries: Studios/Suppliers, Technology

May 12, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Benchmark Capital's Bill Gurley, whose current investment portfolio includes VUDU, Linden Lab/SecondLife, Move Networks,  Zillow.com and other familiar startups, gives his view on where digital video is headed in this presentation he posted to his site from the AlwaysOn Hollywood conference two weeks ago. (via boxee)

He disputes the techie idea that one day all content will be free, saying "great content is superexpensive." He also argues the Netflix DVD model will never work online because retailers can't buy a digital copy of a movie to rent out for an unlimited period of time the way they can with a DVD. "The $25 all-you-can-eat video service online will never exist."

Then he calls Blu-ra...Read More

May 11, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

So last week RealNetworks was sanctioned by the judge in the RealDVD case for destroying evidence, namely notebooks kept by former Real project manager Nicole Hamilton documenting development of the DVD ripping software. Hamilton contradicts some of Real's case in a comment she posted to Ben Sheffner's Copyrights and Campaigns blog Friday.

Notably, she says when the company went to the DVD Copy Control Assoc. for a license to use CSS copy protection, she was told not to tell them they were developing DVD ripping software:

I was the contact person at Real charged with arranging the license and was instructed not to disclose that we were building a ripper, preci

...Read More
Industries: Studios/Suppliers, Technology