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DVR
Aside from working in the TV industry, I am also a television fan and I use vast amounts of the product. In other words, I watch way too much TV! The year is coming to a close and owing to my ridiculous travel schedule, business and family obligations, I just haven’t had time to consume Continue Reading →
TiVo
TiVo has announced some new services that it says will bring the concept of television/Internet convergence to a new level. You will be able to upload “home movies” (aka user generated content) to your TiVo box and create a “home movie channel” for other TiVo subscribers to watch. Through a relationship with One True Media, Continue Reading →
House of Representatives
November 8, 2006 — It’s about 1:30am on the East Coast. Election coverage is winding down. The Democrats took control of the House and everyone is still waiting to see what will happen with the Senate. Of course today’s really big news is that Verizon will be offering YouTube content on its Vcast and FIOS Continue Reading →
YouTube
“Like our peers in the media industry, we are focused on finding the right business model for professionally created content to be legally distributed on the Internet. We want our audiences to be able to access our programming on every platform and we’re interested in having it live on all forms of distribution in ways Continue Reading →
Black Friday Money
“Is There an Ad Supported Internet Video Business?” There are only three business models: I pay, you pay or someone else pays. In the media distribution business this is well understood. Networks and stations are ad supported (someone else pays). Premium networks charge a monthly subscription fee (you pay), etc. And, in case you are Continue Reading →
Target
THERE WAS AN INTERESTING NEWS item this week in the Wall Street Journal that quoted a sharply worded letter from Target President Gregg Steinhafel, who said that the chain had become aware that “some movie studios have made new-release movies available to download service providers at lower cost” than DVDs, allowing the downloaded movies to Continue Reading →
Youtube and Google
As you undoubtedly know, Google has purchased YouTube. This is very good news for Google shareholders, YouTube stakeholders and advertisers. However, it is not great news for every other short-form video distribution site on earth. The hyper-efficient integration of video serving and Internet advertiser sales is going to be very, very hard to compete with. Continue Reading →

ESPN Mobile RIP

ESPN Mobile
On its Web site, ESPN Mobile says that it has “decided to change the direction of Mobile ESPN.” This is, of course, a euphemism for “sorry we tanked, your new phone may now be used as a paperweight or a very stylish tree ornament.” All kidding aside, the massive failure of ESPN Mobile provides a Continue Reading →
Music
We live in a world of democratized production. Anyone with a compelling idea can use ubiquitously available hardware and software to create remarkably popular content. Funtwo, for example, has enjoyed over 7 million views of a video he created with a home video camera (one camera position, very few edits). The subject of this video Continue Reading →

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