Online Video

Next rumor? Here's one fro NewTeeVee...

BlackBerry to Launch TV Episode Service?

The article reports that TV shows will be available when a BlackBerry is connected to a WiFi network and that it will be an all-you-can-eat monthly subscription service.

I wonder how well this service will be received by U.S.carriers like Verizon who already have a video over 3G subscription service in place?

30 and 60 minute (really about 20+ and 40+ minute) episodes take up quite a bit of storage space even when compressed and formatted for small screen devices. I wonder how many people will be shocked to discover all their storage space is used by the TV shows they just downloaded.

YouTube video courtesy of GoogleMobileBlog

Google announced their...

New YouTube App for Windows Mobile and Nokia S60 phones

The list of supported Nokia S60 phones did not include the Nokia N96 I use (although it does support the older N95 model). So, I tried it on my Windows Mobile smartphone (an HTC TyTn - touch screen model). It's CoverFlow-like selection process with thumbnails moving horizontally and expanding whichever item is in the middle seems inefficient on a screen in portrait mode. I would have preferred a vertical view that would let me see more thumbnails on a portrait display. The square flat buttons look out of place and somewhat odd on a Windows Mobile smartphone.

But, these minor interface issues aside, it is good to have a native YouTube viewing app for Windows Mobile and Nokia S60 smartphones.

The Associated Press is reporting that Blockbuster will begin renting movies and TV episodes through a new device in another effort to hedge its 7,500 retail stores against the burgeoning online and mobile video markets.

Blockbuster's new strategy, using a box built by 2Wire called MediaPoint, is similar to recent efforts by Netflix, with its Roku device, and Apple, with its Apple TV and iTunes Movie Rentals.

In addition, the report said that Blockbuster's foray into on-demand video also pits them against "instant-gratification services already offered by major cable carriers like Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc."

Blockbuster is selling the new box for $99 including 25 free on-demand movie rentals. After that, Blockbuster will charge $1.99 and up for each on-demand rental. Unlike the Apple TV, which works on iPods and iPhones, there's no way to access Blockbuster or Netflix on-demand rentals on mobile devices yet.

Reuters is reporting that "Sesame Street" is finally hitting the Internet, after nearly 40 years on Public Broadcasting Service-affiliated television stations.

Sesame Workshop said in a statement that episodes of the show will now be available in three ways. iTunes Store customers can purchase individual episodes for $1.99 a pop, beginning from season 35, which will work on iPods, iPhones, the Apple TV, and of course desktop and laptop computers. YouTube and Hulu fans will also be able to watch ad-supported clips for free; each service already has over 100 clips available.

The report said that customers still won't be able to buy complete episodes online from the first 10 seasons, however, because "Sesame Workshop and DVD distributor Genius Products are anxious not to gut sales of the first 10 seasons of the show, which are available on disc."

All hands on deck, because this one must have been a doozy to come up with: MTV decided to post several thousand music videos on its online site, as CrunchGear reports.

The videos appear to be both embeddable and shareable, although there's no mobile device access just yet. A lot of the content has been available on YouTube for a while. But that doesn't matter, because they're music videos and they're on MTV's Web site! Here, look, it works:

Here's a perfect example of how the online landscape can change in a heartbeat (well, one year, which is pretty quick by any company's standards). According to Nielsen Online's VideoCensus, Hulu was the 6th most watched video site, clocking in more than 142 million streams, Wired reports.

That puts it ahead of ESPN, which scored 128 million streams, CNN (118 million streams) and MTV Networks (97 million streams). This is despite the fact that Hulu was only launched one year ago, and was a brand new IP at the time.

Back in August, Hulu added HD streaming for the first time—several months after the site exited beta in March. Also, the preceding sentence gave us the excuse to run the wonderful graphic for Joss Whedon's "Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" starring Neil Patrick Harris again, a show that features prominently on Hulu.

It sure doesn't seem like it lately, judging by the amount of news with regard to online video plays. But MediaPost reports that despite continued growth, online video ad spending will "remain in the shadows" of the $70 billion TV video ad market, with research firm eMarketer estimating that it will bring just over $500 million in revenue this year, rising to $5.8 billion by 2013.

The report said that the greatest bump for U.S. video ad spending will come from large brand marketers placing TV-like commercials—"mostly ads that run in the beginning or middle of the video, alongside professional content from large media companies." Prerolls, essentially, which don't work well on the mobile side due to the shorter usage window; most folks typically don't have time to sit through a 30 second commercial. If that's the case, advertisers will have to keep working to come up with acceptable mobile advertising—which they are.

(Image credit: Clipart.com)

YouTube has rolled out "click-to-buy" ads that give viewers the option to buy the digital products featured in them, according to MediaPost. The ads are part of YouTube's new eCommerce platform, which gives content providers a new revenue stream for videos by letting viewers buy digital music or games from Amazon.com and the iTunes Store.

The report said that certain authorized clips will show the links, which appear as a small bar at the bottom of the video while it plays back; if a user clicks, they'll be transported to the artist's Amazon MP3 or iTunes Store page in order to buy or download the music. It will work the same way for games such as Electronic Art's Spore, which is available for download on Amazon, according to the report.

The folks over at DISH Network aren't happy today. Reuters is reporting that AT&T has decided to drop its partner of five years in favor of DirecTV to offer a new co-branded package of cell phone, home phone, video, and Internet service beginning on February 1, 2009.

The report said that since the start of the year, DISH has struggled to add net subscribers. In fact, it lost 25,000 of them in the second quarter, which is the first time it ever posted a loss in number.

"The worry is how many quarters in 2009 do they lose subscribers," said analyst Thomas Eagan, an analyst at Collins Stewart, in the article. "They were adding about 100,000 gross subscribers a quarter from the AT&T deal. We think they can make just half of those and will lose subscribers in three of four quarters next year."

Back in January, DirecTV launched a mobile site that lets subscribers control their DVR from their cell phones. In 2006, DirecTV partnered with RCA to launch a dedicated portable media player called the Lyra X3000 that let users watch recorded content on the go; after a modest revision, it was eventually discontinued without a successor.

Universal Music appears to be ready to introduce an online video portal similar to Hulu, an anonymous source within the company told CNET News.

The largest of the four major music labels would likely offer music videos as well as other programming related to artists in their catalog, which includes acts such as Kanye West, The Killers, Pussycat Dolls, Mariah Carey, and Amy Winehouse.

An online portal like this would not only give Universal Music a foothold in the digital video space, but would also give them a chance to eke extra advertising revenue out of things like music videos and concert videos, which the music-related cable TV channels (MTV, VH1, etc.) play very little of these days. It would also open the label to branching further out into mobile video; some simple transcoding to fit a 2-inch cell phone screen is all that would take.