Metacafe has introduced the first of many new verticals that it is building dedicated sites for. Hoping to cash in on consumer interest in Hollywood blockbusters, the new Metacafe Movies site will leverage its existing video library while also providing exclusive premium content to its users. Read more »
BitTorrent has been working tirelessly to add new features to its uTorrent client, including adding on-demand streaming and secure remote web access to the client’s browser. Those features are available to all users for download as part of a public beta of the file sharing client. Read more »
Google’s launch into the living room could threaten Boxee, Roku and other broadband-connected set-top makers. But Boxee CEO Avner Ronen said that the launch of Google TV could also present an opportunity for the startup, giving it an easier way to connect to consumers. Read more »
A new skunkworks project within Comcast dubbed Tunerfish is almost ready to launch with a new website and mobile applications aimed at using game mechanics to chart the social graph for video by enticing users to share what they’re watching with their friends. Read more »
Today on the Net: more documents are unsealed in the Viacom-YouTube copyright infringement suit, the FCC is seeking more information from Comcast about what its NBC Universal deal will mean for the online video industry, and SeeSaw has launched a premium paid service Read more »
Today on the Net: An analysis of what Google TV means to advertisers, Clearleap hits a milestone by topping 10 million cable subscribers and the U.K. Office of Fair Trade has decided against investigating the BBC’s Project Canvas. Read more »
Miro has introduced the first tool designed to convert files to the just-released VP8 video format. The release of Miro Video Converter 2.0 will leverage Google’s new open video format, which was announced as part of its WebM Project earlier this week. Read more »
Google made waves earlier this week by releasing its VP8 codec under an open source, royalty free license, providing an open, high quality alternative to H.264 and Ogg Theora. But if MPEG LA gets its way, the codec might not remain free for long. Read more »
With the introduction of Google TV, the search giant could majorly disrupt the online video industry by merging it with existing broadcast TV services. By doing so, Google might render obsolete standalone set-top boxes and DVRs that pipe online video content to the TV. Read more »
In the latest volley in the war over making Flash on mobile devices, Adobe has teamed up with Google to make Flash-based video and applications on mobile devices. At Google I/O, Adobe announced that it will make Flash Player 10.1 available on phones running Android 2.2. Read more »
Don’t expect Netflix to start supporting HTML5 video playback anytime soon, according to cloud architect Adrian Cockcroft. Without a good way to protect the streaming video available through its Watch Instantly service, the company won’t be able to make content available using the nascent web standard. Read more »
A day after a Pakistani court suspended access to Facebook, the country has blocked its citizens from being able to access YouTube and about 450 other sites as part of a widening ban on Internet content deemed offensive. Read more »
VMIX has announced a shakeup in its senior management team, replacing its CEO with a turnaround specialist whose main area of expertise seems to be taking over companies in dire straits and putting them on the right path, raising questions about the health of the start-up. Read more »
Up until now, those who wanted to watch HTML5 video in the Firefox browser were unable to access content that was encoded the H.264 format. But that could soon change, as a new project seeks to remedy this by marrying H.264 video to Mozilla’s Firefox browser. Read more »
Microsoft said it would support Google’s newly released, open source VP8 video codec in the next version of its web browser, Internet Explorer 9, contradicting some earlier statements that claimed it would only allow HTML5 video playback via H.264. Read more »
Google roll out of its open source WebM Project will offer a high-quality video codec to compete with industry incumbent H.264, but it will be relying on a long list of software, hardware and encoding partners including Adobe and ARM to help push the format forward. Read more »
Clicker has taken its online video search and discovery tools one step further, with a new web site that leverages HTML5 to provide a 10-foot, interactive viewing experience to the TV, all without the need to install a new application. Read more »
For years, companies that wanted to launch pay TV services had to invest heavily to do so. But now the acceptance of IP video services could provide a way to reach a large and growing audience without a huge upfront ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Blip.tv has raised a $10.1 million round of financing aimed at rapidly growing its business for the distribution and monetization of web video shows. The funding round, which is the company’s third, was led by Canaan Partners and included existing investors Bain Capital Ventures. Read more »
With the proliferation of new connected TVs, Blu-ray players and other consumer electronics devices, the next generation of TV distributors could find themselves delivering live video broadcasts through broadband networks, which would open up a whole new market for virtual network operators to compete in. Read more »
Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted the iPad’s “freedom from porn” as one of the device’s key selling points, but that freedom didn’t last very long, as at least one major adult site — YouPorn.com — has begun encoding its videos to work on the Apple tablet. Read more »
Today on the ‘Net: YouTube’s Hunter walk believes online video is dead, Viacom’s Philippe Dauman discusses alternative subscription models and Hulu is going to make users wait a little bit longer before rolling out its much-anticipated subscription service. Read more »
Online video aggregator and search firm MeFeedia now has access to content from all four major broadcast networks, after striking a deal with CBS to add videos from CBS.com, CBS News, CBS Sports, The CW, Showtime, TV.com, The Insider and Chow. Read more »
Google has made an offer of $68.2 million in cash to buy voice and video over IP company Global IP Solutions, which could enable the search giant to offer video chat through Android mobile phones and other devices. Read more »
Today on the ‘Net: More evidence of a Google TV platform emerges, Adobe’s Kevin Towes describes the peer-to-peer capabilities of Adobe Flash 10.1 and Virgin Media talks about its TiVo rollout plans, among other things. Read more »
KIT Digital is continuing its two-year buying spree, announcing this morning it has acquired video management provider and systems integrator Benchmark Broadcast Systems for approximately $9.5 million in a cash and stock deal that will give it a leg up in the Asia-Pacific market. Read more »
Just five years after YouTube launched the first beta version of its site, it now streams more than 2 billion videos a day, with a full day’s worth of video uploaded to the site every minute. All that momentum has YouTube on the verge of profitability. Read more »
Roku is boosting the amount of sports content it carries through a multiyear deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) that adds live pay-per-view events and archived matches to its broadband set-top box. It’s the third major sports deal for the set-top box maker. Read more »
Who lines up at Blockbuster on the first day a movie’s released on DVD to rent it? Turns out, more people than we thought. Or at least, that’s what early evidence suggests after Blockbuster became the only place in town to rent a new release. Read more »
Around the ‘Net today: Sony looks to TV sales and network services for growth, Kyte talks up iPad ads, and Diva takes its VOD service. Plus, lots of talking points from the Cable Show. Read more »
A federal appeals court said today that it’s going to take another look at the patent infringement suit between TiVo and satellite companies Dish and Echostar, throwing into jeopardy a $200 million award that TiVo was granted last September and causing TiVo’s stock to tumble. Read more »
Skype has rolled out a new version of its software that will finally allow more than two people to video conference with each other. With the latest update, groups of up to five friends can now chat with each other via video through the Skype application. Read more »
While users can forget about watching Hulu on the iPad — at least for now — on the PC they now have a bigger, sleeker video player that can adapt to changes in network conditions, as well as personalized video recommendations and more relevant ads. Read more »
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski today defended to cable industry executives the agency’s plan’s to reclassify broadband, pitching the commission’s “Third Way” for regulation and attempting to assure the audience that the agency would continue to operate in good faith. Read more »
Hulu made a bunch of updates to its video player today, making it bigger, adding adaptive bitrate streaming, improving content recommendations and enabling users to receive more personalized ads. But there’s one thing that Hulu won’t be adding any time soon: support for HTML5. Read more »
Netflix is finally making some of its streaming titles available in HD on the PC, a full 18 months after the subscription rental service first announced support for HD on the Xbox 360, Blu-ray players and other connected devices. Read more »
Verizon is upping the amount of premium broadband content that can be accessed by its FiOS pay TV subscribers, adding select content from Time Warner cable networks TBS and TNT on their PCs, with plans to make those videos available later on mobile devices. Read more »
In what could be the grossest misuse of the iPad to date, the new Comcast remote app can be used to control the subscriber’s TV and DVR, obviating the need for smaller, lighter and more convenient remotes. Read more »
With “unlisted videos,” YouTube has finally introduced a way that its users can pass their video links around without limiting availability to 25 viewers or having videos show up on the YouTube front page or in Google’s search index. Read more »
Over the past year, 3-D has been good to Hollywood, but Disney president and CEO Bob Iger warned that the industry shouldn’t go overboard with the technology, and should take care not to “kill the goose that laid the golden egg.” Read more »
