More stories from Chris Albrecht

While I’d like to think it was my complaining, it’s more likely that common sense convinced the higher-ups at Stage 9 to finally allow embedding via YouTube for its new comedy series Squeegees. “We’re working through our process and trying to understand how online video is […] Read more »

Asterpix, Innovid Push Interactive Video Forward; Asterpix’s Asterbot automatically recognizes key items and generates clickable hotspots, Innovid allows insertion of interactive 3D objects into video. (Asterpix: emailed release; Innovid: TechCrunch) Panasonic Blu-Ray Player Gets DivX Certified; Panasonic’s new device to be released in March in Europe […] Read more »

Contrary to earlier reports (including our own), former set-top-box-maker-turned-white-label-video-service Akimbo raised just $4 million in its latest round of financing. According to Thomas Frank, Akimbo CEO, the initial $8 million was a typo that got perpetuated. All investors except for Cisco returned for this latest round, […] Read more »

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Spanish company Abertis Telecom is fine-tuning a Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld Network (DVB-H) that allows cell phones to receive and play signals broadcast directly from TV towers, according to The Wall Street Journal. This would allow people to watch digitally broadcast TV programming on their cell […] Read more »

Nielsen released new stats today detailing online video metrics for January, and YouTube’s numbers actually dropped over those of December, both in terms of unique users and total streams. Now keep in mind that this is only the second report from Nielsen’s new Video Census service, […] Read more »

NBC released new research today that it says shows a large chunk of its online audiences are watching full-length episodes of programs — and better remembering the ads in them. The research was funded by NBC, so take it with a grain of self-promoting salt, but […] Read more »

Thankfully, I’m an early riser, so getting up at 5:30 a.m. today to do an interview with NPR’s Bryant Park Project wasn’t too tough. The show was looking for tips on where to find good webisodic entertainment, so I pointed them to a few standards their […] Read more »

Flash Not Good Enough for iPhone? Apple CEO says his device needs something much better and faster than Adobe’s current offering. (Dow Jones) ManiaTV Raises $5.5 Million; Series C round led by DAG Ventures along with return backers Benchmark Capital, Centennial Ventures and Intel Capital. (PE […] Read more »

The commercials-as-content site Firebrand will be shut down, The New York Times reports, as major investors decided to stop funding the project. The site launched in November and was backed by companies including NBC, Microsoft, and Ion Television, which carried a televised version of the show. […] Read more »

Independent music site Pitchfork will launch an online music TV channel on April 7, opening up an entirely new medium with which they can use to look down on you. Pitchfork.tv will showcase underground shows, full concerts, interviews and “the most carefully curated selection of music […] Read more »

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If you’re a political junkie, then tonight is your Super Bowl: Obama vs. Clinton in what could be the final showdown. Coverage starts around 4 p.m. PT, so if you’re stuck at the office (and if your company hasn’t blocked YouTube), here’s how to get your […] Read more »

SpotRunner and Break.com Make Acquisitions; SpotRunner buys Weblistic, an online marketing services firm for local businesses; Break.com reportedly absorbs business media blog “Wall Street Fighter.” (SpotRunner: emailed release; Break.com: paidContent) Mochila and Broadcast Interactive Team Up to Distribute Content; pact will deliver text, photo and video […] Read more »

Now that online video has made lunchtime the new prime time, companies fear a drop in productivity as they watch their bandwidth costs soar. So they’re taking matters into their own hands, according to The Wall Street Journal, and blocking sites like YouTube. But is dropping […] Read more »

What’s up with the Hulu clones? TV Paradise, the site created by an anonymous French guy so people outside the U.S. could watch Hulu, has vanished and a similar effort called OPENhulu has fallen behind in updating its site with new content. We weren’t able to […] Read more »

eMarketer predicts that 52.5 percent of all Americans (154 million people) will watch online video in 2008 and 80 percent of U.S. Internet users will watch an online video at least once a month this year as well. The audience for online videos is expected to […] Read more »

Next Two Years Will Be Tough for TV Ads; Screen Digest predicts a slump in 2008 and 2009 as more ad money is spent online, where revenues are predicted to grow 17 percent every year until 2012. (Screen Digest (PDF)) FastCompany Launches Video Site; FastCompany.tv kicks […] Read more »

The New York Times has a piece today about former Disney head Michael Eisner, and how he’s remaking himself as a new media mogul. But from the article, it seems like Eisner is doing so through some decidedly old media means. After the mild success of […] Read more »

The TV networks look like they’re altering the Postal Service’s motto to “neither writer’s strike nor recession nor diminishing audiences will keep us from making money at this year’s upfronts.” According to The Wall Street Journal, networks, and even ad buyers are anticipating a stronger year […] Read more »

Dancejam, MC Hammer’s YouTube for dance site is now open to the public. If you’ve always believed your motorcycle dance was better than anyone else’s, now’s the time to fire up that webcam to prove it. Upload a video to share your moves with the world, […] Read more »

With the official branding of Intel’s ultra-mobile processor (codenamed Silverthorne) being revealed on Monday, I figured it was a good time to corner Donald MacDonald (yes, that’s his real name), the company’s vice-president of sales and marketing for a quick interview. He was speaking at the […] Read more »

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial…”Has this ever happened to you?” You set your Comcast DVR to record only new episodes of your favorite TV series, but it winds up recording every…single…showing, including all repeats? The problem is especially bad with a show like […] Read more »

Actors Guild Preps for Negotiations; new media expected to play a big role as formal talks with the studios set to begin sometime after March 31. (The Wall Street Journal) Veoh to Raise Another $40 Million?; Silicon Alley Insiders hears the video company is trying to […] Read more »

Twenty years ago this month, the HP Deskjet launched, signaling the demise of the dot matrix printer (and its noise). Kids these days just don’t know how easy that have it. The first Deskjet cost $995, weighed 14 pounds and could only pump out two pages […] Read more »

Conrad Riggs, a producer with Mark Burnett Productions (Survivor), did make a “small investment” in Lonelygirl15 before the series started striking brand integration deals, and LG15 studios rents office space from Riggs in Santa Monica. But that’s the extent of it. You can put away your […] Read more »

Facebook Superpokes Filmmakers; company launches new fan page called “Facebook Film” to help filmmakers interact with members of the social network. (VentureBeat) China Central Television to Put Olympic Video on the Web; state-run television partnering with MySpace China and Tudou.com to stream video broadcasts of the […] Read more »

Disney-ABC Television Group has officially taken the wraps off Stage 9 Digital Media, its short-form programing production company, with the premiere of Squeegees, a new broadband comedy series from online sketch comedy group Handsome Donkey. Stage 9 has a production slate of more than 20 programs […] Read more »

Crackle let go of eight of its 60 employees today after “making some changes across the board,” according to Jonathan Shambroom, the video site’s general manager, who wanted to make sure we knew that the company is still growing its revenue, content library, and even its […] Read more »

Perhaps to prove that they aren’t overpaid, pretty talking heads, network TV anchors are unshackling themselves from their studio sets and venturing out to do some video blogging. Before last night’s Democratic debate got underway, Brian Williams gave web audiences a little taste of the evening […] Read more »

Akimbo showed it’s continuing its quest for a successful strategy today with the unveiling of a new service that enables content providers to publish web video on their own sites. Akimbo says its new offering will take care of the content publishing, front-end navigation and monetization, […] Read more »

In a development that could kill the network dreams of other fledgling web series, quarterlife‘s premiere on NBC last night bombed. TV by the Numbers paints the not-so-pretty picture: quarterlife came in last place in its time slot, with a mere 3.86 million viewers. An ABC […] Read more »

Panther Express Raises $15.75 Million; content delivery company’s Series B round was led by Index Ventures, with Gold Hill Capital and existing investor Greylock Partners also participating. (PE Hub) Hulu CEO: Keeps Video Ads Short; during IAB keynote speech, Jason Kilar urged advertisers to not recycle […] Read more »

As with most pop culture sensations, Lonelygirl15 spawned a spin-off, and some competition. Falling somewhere between direct offspring and competitor is REDEARTH88, a series that’s starting to build a serious fan base at a time when Lonelygirl’s audience is falling off from previous highs. If REDEARTH88‘s […] Read more »

After sparking a YouTube outage over the weekend, Pakistan has lifted its ban and restored service to the video-sharing site. The outage on Sunday resulted from an attempt to remove a video clip of a Dutch lawmaker explaining his plans to release an anti-Islamic movie. According […] Read more »

Among the victims of Stage6′s imminent demise will be its CDN, Limelight Networks, according to CDN business insiders. There is speculation that it’s a big-ticket hit for Limelight. When contacted, a Limelight spokesperson said the Stage6 news was already factored into its results and directed us […] Read more »

The Pakistan YouTube Outage Explained; As we reported over the weekend, Pakistan Telecom broadcasted a false claim that it was correct route for address in YouTube’s network space. This type of problem actually occurs more than you’d think. (CNET) Digital Hoops News; Break.com gets NBA highlights […] Read more »

Before ABC launches its fast-forwardless VOD service to prevent people from skipping ads, it should check out new research from NBC on what types of commercials viewers retain — even at high speed. Turns out people are still engaged with the ads, even though they’re being […] Read more »

Saturday Night Live’s first show back after the writers’ strike not only delivered its best ratings in 12 months, but it featured Obama Girl singing lip-synching her web phenom song. She didn’t, however, “Obamapologize” for not voting for her man on Super Tuesday. Read more »

DivX announced today that it’s shutting down Stage6 at the end of this month, putting an end to the video-sharing site’s short, expensive and litigious life. Stage6 was supposed to be a higher-quality YouTube, and while the site had decent traffic, it never caught fire. As […] Read more »

Hollywood Props Up DVD Biz; studios try to stave off a declining market by adding interactive features and including digital copy downloads on the shiny discs. (The New York Times) Kimberly-Clarke Reducing TV Spend This Year; company will allocate only 46 percent of its marketing budget […] Read more »

ABC and its local affiliates are partnering with Cox Communications to provide an on-demand video service that lets you watch shows like Lost anytime you like. But according to The New York Times, you won’t be able to skip over the commercials. The move is an […] Read more »

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