Joost

Stage6 video portal shuts down

Tom Burton — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:59:30 -0500

DivX is shuttering its Stage6 video sharing portal, admitting it was chewing resources it does not have. DivX launched the service to showcase its media player technology. It attracted nearly a million users but without revenue to pay for the high cost of quality video delivery it was doomed.

In the end, DivX could not even find a buyer for the portal. According to DivX: "So why are we shutting the service down? Well, the short answer is that the continued operation of Stage6 is a very expensive enterprise that requires an enormous amount of attention and resources that we are not in a position to continue to provide."

It is another case where the superior technology does not necessarily win. Market titan YouTube may have inferior quality to almost all the would-be portals, but is the accepted go-to site for user-generated content. And the imminent arrival of Adobe's next-generation-player software is likely to narrow the quality gap significantly. This will further challenge the various proprietary providers, all of whom are paying a high price to serve bandwidth chewing video with little to show for it other than invoices from their CDN provider.

For more;
- DivX closes its Stage6 portal Feb. 28 Statement and Blog
- DivX finally shuts Stage6 video portal Article

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SPOTLIGHT: Joost struggling in video portal battle

Tom Burton — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:59:00 -0500

The resignation of CTO Dirk-Willem van Gulik, the surge in popularity of major competitor Hulu and with another dozen-plus players seeking prominence as an online TV portal, there is much speculation the online video aggregator may not survive. Primary issue is the lack of quality content partners which is limiting growth. A competitor, Veoh, recently began embedding Hulu clips which to date Hulu's two corporate owners News Corp. and NBC have not stopped. Joost requires a software download which limits its interactivity and leaves it vulnerable to well-funded portals with access to both content and marketing horsepower. NewTeeVee has some suggestions as to how Joost can survive. Report

Content deals everywhere

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:59:10 -0500

The device space may be white hot, but there is similar feverish collaboration under way among the content players, with numerous media brands announcing distribution and alliance deals for the new year. Some are simple content swaps such as the New York Times and CNBC deal, others are platform deals such as Sony's decision to drive a number of ad-supported channels through Google's, YouTube.

Also significant was the Microsoft announcement of a partnership to make available ABC Disney and MGM programming through its Xbox 360 box. The programs will be available in both standard and high definition.

Samsung also announced a deal to enable Samsung P2 portable video users to download video content from Starz's Vongo service for mobile viewing.

But it was the decision of video aggregator Veoh to quietly integrate content from the News Corp/NBC video portal Hulu, which probably was most significant.

Hulu enables video to be embedded in any site and the move by Veoh to integrate Hulu content without any deal marks a further break down of the proprietary distribution model which has characterized the media industry for 50 years. The separation of distribution from creation has been under way for some time through RSS feeds and embedded media, but the move by Veoh will challenge traditional media companies like News and NBC who have in past vigorously defended their right to determine who will carry their content.

For More:
- The end of Exclusivity NewTeeVee Essay
- Microsoft to carry Disney and ABC Article
- NYT an CNBC to share content Article
- Samsung to work with Vongo Article

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