Online Video Update

The barrage of news about online video continues. Last month, we described some of the companies we met at VON who are playing in this segment.

Here's a brief update about online video items that have hit the wires this month. They illustrate how rapidly videos are moving from TV to the net and vice versa.

Networks Starting to Get It

Whether it is by looking at the CBS Web site -- which is full of videos -- or looking at their corporate announcements, it's clear that CBS takes online video seriously.

• CBS and Yahoo! signed a deal to make local news video from 16 of CBS's owned stations available on Yahoo! There will be 10 to 20 local news video stories daily from each of the 16 metropolitan markets. The TV stations will get a portion of the advertising revenue from Yahoo!, giving them a way to benefit from the move to Internet video.
• CBS has launched the "CBS Brand Channel" on YouTube. It will offer network-owned programming, newsclips, sports video and more and will sell ads and split revenues with YouTube.

NBC previously struck a similar deal to upload promotional video clips of some of its TV shows, including "Saturday Night Live" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" with YouTube.

As the networks try to work out whether online video is friend or foe, they are experimenting to understand usage and economic impacts of these services.

CNET TV Officially Launches

CNET Networks officially launched CNET TV, its web portal where viewers can access all of CNET's videos on technology and consumer electronics. Additionally, Verizon will distribute CNET's video via on-demand TV as part of the FiOS TV service.

Two More Plays For Niche Content

UK company Aggregator is focusing on niche content including material for Russian expatriates, martial arts, Anime and motor sports. They have signed their first deal with freedom2surf offering what they call "television over broadband (TVoBB)" to serve special interest communities via both PCs and hybrid set-top boxes. For example, Aggregator powered MoëTV offering hundreds of hours of Russian television. It can be watched using a PC and broadband connection. Shortly it will also be offered via a set top box, allowing customers to mix on-demand video delivered through broadband, Freeview TV and a personal video recorder.

SIVOO uses an Internet TV network to provide multicultural programming for U.S. residents who speak a language in addition to English. They claim to have 20,000 hours of programming in Spanish, Chinese, and Hindi.

...And Lots More

• Dow Jones has teamed up with Brightcove to create an online video channel that will link video segments to relevant stories on Barrons Online, WSJ.com, and Marketwatch.com, and allow users to upload their own videos.
• UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) has launched an online video service offering live coverage of UEFA games for users in 96 countries. It has been launched with 20 broadcast partners providing video feeds.
• CNNMoney.com launched an online video platform offering streaming video content covering business and finance. Segments will be based on major stories from Fortune, Fortune Small Business, Money and Business 2.0.
• Brightcove launched an online distribution network for video which will share ad revenue with content providers. At the same time, they launched a video site for consumers.

( www.cbscorporation.com ) ( tv.yahoo.com ) ( www.youtube.com ) ( www.nbcuni.com ) ( www.cnettv.com ) ( www.verizon.com ) ( www.aggregator.tv ) ( www.freedom2surf.net ) ( www.moe.tv ) ( www.sivoo.com ) ( www.dowjones.com ) ( www.brightcove.com ) ( www.uefa.com ) ( www.cnnmoney.com ) ( www.brightcove.com )