Created by Scotty Iseri (who longtime web video fans ought to remember as Scotty of Scotty Got An Office Job), The Digits features Pavi (Sara Castilleja) and a cast of puppets using music to make math rock. And despite being online only a few months, the project has already received an IAWTV nomination for Best Educational Web Series.

Iseri first began developing Digits two years ago, after winning a fellowship from the Center for Asian American Media, and initially tried to pitch the project to various children’s entertainment entities. After many passed on the project, though, Iseri decided to take a different approach: “I started looking at it as a start-up, as opposed to a media property.”

He thus went out in search of investment, raising money from a wide variety of sources, including friends, family and the Oregon Governor’s Office of Film and Television — making Digits the first new media property to receive state incentives.

The difficulty in pitching, Iseri found, was the fact that Digits was “a thing that doesn’t really exist yet” — in app form, Digits blends video content with number games, encouraging viewer/players to engage directly with the content. (Pavi gets prety stern with you if you don’t play along.)

“I was inspired by watching my nieces and nephews play with their devices, apps like Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street. They expect their stories to play back with them,” he said. “Gamified narrative is how I’d describe it.”

Launched last September for Android and last week for iOS devices, the Digits app comes with the first installment of the series available for free; subsequent “appisodes” cost $2.99 each.

The reason for launching first on Android, Iseri said, was due to the differences in approval processes. “Android allows us to iterate very quickly — we were able to look at reviews and problems and address them quickly,” he said.

In addition, the official Digits YouTube channel is regularly updated with new video content — both new math-related adventures, as well as response videos to viewer questions.

Traffic so far is low, with the channel almost at 6,000 total views, but a recent episode featured a cameo by Huffington Post science correspondent Cara Santa Maria, and plans are in the works for more guest appearances, including Dr. Hannah Critchlow of the BBC’s Naked Scientists.

“I’m trying to find science and math-positive people. I also wanted to find women, because we want to show that it doesn’t matter if you’re an alien or a robot — there’s something really awesome about being smart,” Iseri said.

And it’s at a key time in a child’s life that Digits is trying to spread that message. “There are a lot of apps and educational shows out there for young kids, but not a lot out there for 4th, 5th graders,” Iseri said. “And we’re targeting that age group because that’s when math gets hard — it’s also developmentally when kids decide who they are and what they like. It’s important to me to show that age group that math can be fun and beautiful.”

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The inaugural IAWTV Awards will be held on Jan. 12 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. It’s organized in partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which will be holding its CES show in town at the same time. The awards will be part of the CES Entertainment Matters program, which is supposed to attract Hollywood executives and other content professionals to the electronics show.

“CES is a great partner,” said IAWTV Awards Committee Chair Amber J. Lawson when reached by phone, explaining that the new venue will provide the organization with an opportunity to reach a much broader audience. “I consider now a renaissance of content,” she said, adding that content makers have been empowered through more affordable gear produced by CE manufacturers. The next step would be to reach new audiences through devices. “It’s an exciting time,” she said.

The IAWTV was previously involved in the organization of the Streamy Awards, a very similar show that also focused on web series talent. However, the 2010 Streamys were a bit of a disaster, and eventually led to a fallout between the organization and online video magazine Tubefilter, which held the rights to, and organized, the show. IAWTV has since severed ties with Tubefilter with a new board of directors, and the organization eventually announced in November that it was going to launch its own awards show. However, Lawson said that the split was under amicable terms.

IAWTV also announced the categories of the new awards on Thursday, which bear many similarities to the Streamys. There is a bigger emphasis on live programming, and the awards will — for the first time — not only honor creators, but also the best distribution platform with an award that is supposed to recognize “outstanding achievement in technology by an online distribution channel in an effort to provide a pleasant viewer interface and experience, as well as a practical, easy to use creator interface.”

Image courtesy of Flickr user http2007.

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NewTeeVee: What can you say about the the negotiating process?

Baldwin: As the founders of both the IAWTV and the Streamy Awards, we are proud the Academy has grown so quickly from its initial roots as the Streamys voting body to an independent industry organization with its own mission. And now that it has become its own functioning entity, it’s free to evaluate whatever possible partnerships make sense for itself.

NewTeeVee: What is your perspective on Michael Wayne’s statement that “There was an inherent conflict of interest in supporting the Streamy Awards, which is a for profit awards show, when the proceeds from any activity the IAWTV is involved in should go back to the community”?

Baldwin: From the beginning, everything we’ve done at Tubefilter has always been to promote the online video industry, its content creators, and the community. Through the Streamy Awards we tried to shine a spotlight on this industry and do everything possible to bring it to a higher level and expose it to a wider audience. Like anyone else in this space, we want to create great content, promote great shows, and make a living doing it. No matter what we do, it’s always going to be to benefit this space and the people within it.

NewTeeVee: Was the for-profit/non-profit issue one you foresaw initially?

Baldwin: Sure, but non-profits and for-profit companies work together all the time. Had either side thought that was a major conflict, none of us would have taken a seat at the negotiating table in the first place.

NewTeeVee: Were you surprised by this result?

Baldwin: Not really. We’ve always been aware that the Academy would consider pursuing its own event. We knew it was a possibility, and one that we’ve always sincerely supported. But the membership expressed a clear desire to work with the Streamys, and as founders and members of the Academy we honored that sentiment throughout the negotiation process.

NewTeeVee: What does this mean for next year’s Streamy Awards?

Baldwin: Whenever an opportunity is created to honor the achievements of those who are building an industry around web video, it’s a win for the entire community, regardless of who is running the spotlight. In any business you must safeguard against surprises or disappointments by always leaving the door open to explore other opportunities. There absolutely will be a Streamys 2011, and it’s going to be great.

NewTeeVee: It’s early to discuss this, I know, but are there any plans you have for the 2011 Streamys that you can mention? In what direction do you want to take the show?

Baldwin: Over the past two years, there’s been continual interest in the Streamy Awards from a number of organizations. We can’t mention any specifics just yet, other than there will be a 2011 Streamy Awards and we have great plans for it. You’ll just have to wait and see.

NewTeeVee: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Baldwin: We congratulate the IAWTV on their announcement, and wish them all the best in their new endeavor. Here’s to a bright new year in web television!

The Streamy Awards, a for-profit organization, were never the property of the non-profit IAWTV, and the IAWTV’s decision comes after months of negotiations between the IAWTV and the owners of the Streamy Awards, who are also the co-founders of Tubefilter.

“As a non-profit entity, there was an inherent conflict of interest in supporting the Streamy Awards which is a for profit awards show when the proceeds from any activity the IAWTV is involved in should go back to the community. We believe there is ample room for more than one award show in the space and wish the Streamys Awards success in its future endeavors,” Chairman of the IAWTV Board Michael Wayne said in the statement.

This both is and isn’t a surprise. On the one hand, previously both Tubefilter and the IAWTV had said they wanted to work together for next year’s awards show.

On the other hand, it’s well-known this year’s Streamy Awards were full of fail — and that at least one sponsor was deeply upset about the show’s content. Ominously, Wayne’s initial response to the event, a few days afterwards, included the word “if.”

We’re currently seeking comment on this from all parties involved, and will update this story soon.

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Previously, joining the IAWTV required a listing of credits in the web video space, as well as two endorsements from industry professionals or one endorsement from a current IAWTV member. Members were evaluated individually by the membership committee and many were rejected.

In order to become a member now, an applicant must “prove interest in the industry through work experience, contributions made to the industry, or by agreeing to uphold the values and policies of the IAWTV,” according to the release, as well as pay the $90 annual dues.

The move follows a public blog post made last week by IAWTV membership committee member Jack Ferry, in which he presented the committee’s recommendation for open enrollment.

“The web… is open,” Ferry writes. “It’s designed to let the public in. Anyone can create a web series, upload it, and gain worldwide exposure. It’s inclusive, not exclusive. If the IAWTV intends to represent those who work in this medium, then it must be as inclusive as the medium itself.”

Ferry believes that the $90 annual dues would be enough to keep non-professionals and those uninvested in the web video community from joining the organization, and would also help keep membership numbers from dropping. From Ferry’s post:

From my conversations within the community, I’ve found that, unfortunately, interest in our organization is waning. I already know many current members who aren’t even considering re-upping their membership at the end of this year.

Much of this chagrin can be attributed to the negative attention the IAWTV received post-Streamy Awards. Like it or not, the IAWTV is perceived by many in the web series community as being too elitist, too opaque, and too cut off from the needs of the everyday members of the community.

In the comments on Ferry’s post, a passionate discussion reveals many of the concerns that will likely be raised during IAWTV membership meetings this week. Web producer/actor Tom Konkle, for example, wrote:

Strongly disagree with open enrollment. [The IAWTV] like any other group its effectiveness is diluted the more you add people who are not invested in it anymore than paying and maybe doing something one day as a show or worse paying to sit near someone from a show they like. I am SURE as it grows it would be like Joe Blow super fan who pays money at convention would EASILY pay 90 to sit next to a star or creator of a show they like in meetings and parties and they can offer nothing.

However, other commenters stated that open enrollment would allow them the opportunity to benefit from the organization without needing to know someone inside it.

“If you open up membership in a meaningful way, and try to evolve the process so people in my position aren’t then stuck in some ‘junior member’ limbo because we’re not near HQ or don’t fulfill more vague concepts that are never explained when used against someone, I’ll be the first one in line!” commenter James Fernandez wrote.

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• Miles Beckett (CEO, EQAL)
  
• Zadi Diaz (Producer and Host, Epic Fu and Smashface Productions)
  
• Jim Louderback (CEO, Revision3)
  
• Chris McCaleb (Co-founder, Big Fantastic)
  
• Timothy Shey (Co-Founder and EVP, Creative and Audience Development, Next New Networks)

The new board members were chosen in a special election held after five of the original board members — Brady Brim-Deforest, Josh Cohen, Marc Hustvedt, Mo Koyfman and Jamison Tilsner — stepped down last June.

Beckett, Diaz, Louderback, McCaleb and Shey join Michael Wayne, Dina Kaplan, George Ruiz, Drew Baldwin, Felicia Day and John McCarus on the board, and represent the first delegates of the IAWTV infrastructure that were elected by the Academy membership as a whole.

This now completes the board’s quota of 11 members, who will go on to weigh in on important future issues facing the IAWTV, especially the fate of the Streamy Awards. The first board meeting has been scheduled for August 24.

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Each member’s decision to step down, according to executive director Elisabeth Flack, was made for personal reasons. As an example, Koyfman, who’s a principal at investment group Spark Capital, said via email that he joined the board “as a favor to [Chairman of the Board Michael Wayne] initially as a friend, and stepped down simply because I was too busy with other board commitments — both VC-related and charity. Had nothing to do with anything else.”

Brim-Deforest, with whom I spoke via phone, said that he decided to resign because, “My personal intention was never to control something. I wanted to build it to pass it along to the community as a whole.” And after the community’s um, passionate response following this year’s poorly received Streamy Awards ceremony, Brim-Deforest felt comfortable stepping down. “I felt that the community was galvanized to participate,” he said. “Sometimes a little bit of controversy goes a long way towards getting people involved.”

The reason that five members of Tubefilter were board members to begin with, Brim-Deforest said, was “more of a convenience — an organization takes a long time to build and to scale. It was just about being custodians for the IAWTV and ensuring that it got off the ground.” In addition, at the time of the board’s formation Tubefilter had not yet acquired Tilzy.tv, which Cohen and Tilsner founded.

Tilsner, according to Brim-Deforest, is no longer with Tubefilter, having recently taken a position at Kantar Video. He remains an active member of the IAWTV, however, as do the other board members who have resigned. The board has created a non-voting Director Emertius seat to be held on a rotating basis by the IAWTV co-founders, which will first be held by Josh Cohen. “We as a board discussed ways of recognizing the contributions of the founders. [The Emeritus position] was one idea that was thrown out and so we adopted it,” Wayne said via phone.

Two meetings with the membership — one in Los Angeles, one in New York — took place this week to lay out the election schedule for the new board seats, which goes as follows:

Jul 1: Call for nominations
Jul 6: Nominations tallied
Jul 7-10: Nominees accept or decline the nominations
Jul 12: Candidates announced
Jul 12-18: Campaign week
Jul 19-23: First round of voting by the membership, verified by two volunteer election inspectors
Jul 26-30: Potential second round of voting, depending on number of candidates

The new board members would thus be elected in time for the next board meeting, scheduled for August 24.

Another issue addressed during these member meetings was the formation of committees dedicated to focusing on key issues for the organization. One of these, the awards committee, will be specifically in charge of coming up with a recommendation to the board as to what the IAWTV’s relationship with the Streamy Awards — or any awards show — should be in the future.

While initially the decision about that relationship was going to be made by Wayne and Brim-Deforest, as discussed at the May 12 Los Angeles member meeting, Wayne said that following said meeting, they decided to let the awards committee generate the first proposal. “The membership needed to figure out what it wanted from the awards and what was best way to represent the organization,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a top-down decision, it should be a bottom-up decision.”

13 people so far have signed up for the awards committee, including Streamys co-producer Drew Baldwin. According to Brim-Deforest it would be up to the committee to determine how to handle any potential conflicts of interest that might result from Baldwin’s participation, and IAWTV executive director Elisabeth Flack said she didn’t think that Baldwin’s presence would prove a problem. “That’s up to the committee itself,” she said via phone, “but what I’ve seen in Drew Baldwin is passion and dedication to the IAWTV overall, and a desire to really work on this with the committee and with the membership.” Baldwin did not respond to immediate requests for comment, but I’ll update this story accordingly should he do so later.

I attended last night’s Los Angeles members meeting, and while the turnout was much lower than the May 12 meeting (due no doubt in part to conflicting with Game 7 of the NBA Finals), Flack presented a clear agenda to an engaged room. (There were also remote viewing options available to those unable to attend.) Flack was positive about the results when we spoke this morning, saying that “A lot of positive responses — lots of members want to help and want to make recommendations. What’s important is that as a community we continue to move forward together.”

Disclosure: I am a co-founder of the IAWTV — the only one who is/was not a Tubefilter principal — and thus technically eligible for the Director Emertius position. However, I am not a member of the board, was not consulted about the seat’s creation, and have no official authority within the IAWTV.

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While about half of the IAWTV Board of Directors were present, including Marc Hustvedt, George Ruiz, Michael Wayne, Brady Brim-Deforest and Drew Baldwin, it was Wayne, acting as Chairman of the Board, who took the lead in speaking for them. Meanwhile, Executive Director Elisabeth Flack — who is also the WGAW new media contracts administrator — will handle member suggestions and infrastructure issues moving forward.

One of the big revelations to come out of the meeting was the fact that the IAWTV simply hasn’t come together as an organization yet. For one thing, while the IAWTV is working with a lawyer to file for non-profit status, it has not yet done so and is thus not officially a non-profit organization. UPDATE: According to Brim-Deforest via email, “The IAWTV is a Nonprofit corporation registered with the State of California. While we have not yet filed our application for federal tax-exempt status (the IRS gives non-profit organizations up to 24 months to file) the application is currently in progress.”

In addition, the $90 membership fee collected from each member over the past year is currently “sitting in a Paypal account,” according to Wayne, and not “one penny” has been spent. A member of the audience joked about whether or not it was earning interest, which Wayne said it was not — but given that there are over 200 IAWTV members, that means at least $18,000 should have been collected and is now sitting around unused.

This all came out during a relatively civil but passionate discussion about both past events and the organization’s future, in which only a few moments hit a truly negative tone. The proceedings might have had more focus with a set agenda, but a number of issues that were raised as a result of the free-form format, included some interesting revelations.

Brim-Deforest and Wayne acknowledged that while there had been “some drama” over the last few weeks with regards to the Streamys’ future — externalized by the Tubefilter-backed Rebuild the Trust initiative that accused unnamed board members of a “hostile takeover” effort — they had moved past it and were now committed to working together to come up with a solution. When asked, Brim-Deforest said that the Rebuild the Trust website would be taken down. It’s still online as I write this, but that may change soon. UPDATE: Rebuildthetrust.org now redirects to IAWTV.org.

While an effort was made to avoid rehashing the problems with this year’s Streamys, the awards show’s relationship to the IAWTV was a chief concern of the evening. While there is currently no legal relationship between the two organizations and Tubefilter remains the outright owner of the show, the front page of the IAWTV site at this moment reads:

The principle mandate of the organization is to oversee the selection of nominees and winners for the annual Streamy Awards™ which recognize outstanding achievement in episodic shows produced originally for broadband distribution.

The consensus of the room seemed to be that this principle mandate is a core problem; because a non-profit group was created to support a for-profit awards show — not the other way around, as is traditional — the priorities have become skewed.

Many, including Easy to Assemble creator Illeana Douglas, said that they didn’t know what the organization was supposed to stand for, to which Wayne responded that plans to revise the IAWTV mission statement were in place. A few people, including EQAL CEO Miles Beckett, even suggested that the Streamys should be ditched entirely, and that the IAWTV should instead focus on being an organization that supports the development of web content. Hustvedt said that he’d hoped the IAWTV would be an organization that could focus on industry issues like view count fraud. “That’s where I thought the Academy was going to head,” he said.

“Absolutely we need to have a vision,” Ruiz said. “We’re showing the industry that we’re growing up. But we got sidetracked by the awards show — it’s the tail wagging the dog. The fact we’re all talking about an awards show is ridiculous. [Ruiz's client and co-board member] Felicia Day is not on an awards show academy, I’m not on an awards show academy. I’m on a board to grow and support the industry.” Day was not present due to shooting commitments on The Guild.

What the IAWTV might be beyond “an awards show academy” lacks definition at this stage, but one benefit that got people excited was this: in theory, the IAWTV could offer grants and otherwise funnel money to the community through fundraising initiatives.

Wayne’s response to many issues brought up was to refer people to the newly established members-only forum, which was added yesterday to the IAWTV site and in theory will be a place for members to discuss these topics and suggest changes. There was also a promise that the IAWTV by-laws and an org chart would be added to the site last night — as of this morning, only the org chart (in PDF form) is currently available.

Another thing revealed last night was that the current board’s terms expire on December 3, 2010. But while five of the 11 seats are currently held by Tubefilter principles Drew Baldwin, Brady Brim-Deforest, Josh Cohen, Marc Hustvedt and Jamison Tilsner, Wayne said last night that “Even the Tubefilter guys think having five guys from one company is too much.” In addition, people such as Epic Fu host Zadi Diaz raised concerns that there wasn’t any creator representation on the board beyond Day.

The meeting concluded with Wayne and Flack announcing that on June 15 in New York and on June 17 in Los Angeles, the IAWTV board would present a proposal to the membership for what kind of relationship would exist between the Streamys and the IAWTV going forward, as well as a “road map” for the future development of the IAWTV. That plan will hopefully provide infrastructure to get the membership involved with helping the organization grow. The IAWTV membership, at least those who were present last night, might still have questions, but seems ready and eager to get involved.

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In a Tubefilter News post promising “The Truth About the Streamy Awards and the IAWTV,” Tubefilter principles Drew Baldwin, Brady Brim-Deforest, Josh Cohen, Marc Hustvedt and Jamison Tilsner stated that, after having learned a lot from the mistakes that were made this year, they were rarin’ to go for the 3rd Annual Streamys. However, their vision for next year’s awards is now in jeopardy, according to the post:

What’s happening right now inside the Academy’s Board of Directors is a classic attempt at a takeover. Certain members of the Board have taken advantage of the current situation to attempt to seize the show from its creators, and potentially shut it down.

Thus, a new site — Rebuild the Trust, which anyone vaguely familiar with Tubefilter will recognize as an example of their polished approach to web design and branding — presents their new plan for how the IAWTV should be restructured, which creators can sign as a show of support. (The original version of Rebuild the Trust called the plan a “manifesto” — it has since been renamed a “proposal.”)

The way they’re hoping to get the creators engaged is by completely reorganizing the board of directors from its current make-up — the five Tubefilter principles and six new media notables including ICM agent George Ruiz, Guild creator Felicia Day, Blip co-founder Dina Kaplan and DECA CEO Michael Wayne, who also serves as Chairman of the Board — into a 11-15 seat board that allows for two executive seats, two founder seats and 10 seats for creators. This proposed structure would mean that three of the five Tubefilter guys, as IAWTV founders, would have to give up their seats on the board — but so would five of the current “non-creator” members.

Via phone, Wayne didn’t respond to the takeover comments made by Tubefilter in their post, saying that “I don’t think that speculating on it is useful. We all agree that the IAWTV should have oversight over the awards ceremony — we’re trying to figure out the best way to do that.” Wayne ran a IAWTV town hall meeting yesterday in New York that he said was “very productive,” and a Los Angeles meeting is being planned for the second week in May.

He said that he’d taken a look at the Rebuild the Trust site and considered it an interesting proposal for how things should proceed; as for the bullet point specifying that the Chairman of the Board must be an active content creator (which, as CEO of DECA, would most likely disqualify him), he only said that “I serve at the board’s desire — if the board decides that I shouldn’t be the chairman anymore, I’ll step down.”

The rest of the board has remained for the most part silent since Rebuild the Trust was launched, though in the case of Felicia Day, that is because she is #speechless:

The Tubefilter team is fighting for what they’ve spent the last two years working to build — and like most start-ups, they have not made a profit from the Streamy Awards. In fact, Tubefilter Inc. is a self-funded enterprise without any venture capital, and according to Brim-Deforest via phone “all five of the founders put their pocketbooks on the line for the show and committed their own personal funds to making it happen.”

Brim-Deforest also stood by the Tubefilter News claim that “certain members of the board” were attempting to seize control of the show, but declined to specify who they might be. “It was not the intention to imply all members of the board,” he said, “and I have the utmost respect for all the members of the board and know that we can find solutions that are amicable.”

However, by attempting to turn Rebuild the Trust into a movement for change, and by casting the blame for the lack of transparency surrounding the Streamys at the IAWTV board, they’ve succeeded in alienating six powerful members of the online video world. And frankly, when you implicate Felicia Day as being a part of a “classic attempt at a takeover,” you might as well go ahead and punch Julia Roberts in the face while you’re at it. Alienating Day and her fanbase is not the way to get web series creators on your side.

It’s no secret that the non-Tubefilter members of the board were furious after the Streamys this year — by handing over complete control of the show’s content to Tubefilter, they allowed their names, reputations and (thanks to the show’s programs) headshots to be connected with material that many found to be offensive and insulting to the community. What Tubefilter is characterizing as a takeover looks, from the cheap seats, like a completely understandable effort on the part of the IAWTV board to set up controls and oversight that make sure one company does not have total authority over what should be a community-owned event.

The problem is that Tubefilter is now comparing itself to the starving web video artists it covers. In “The Truth About the Streamys” post, there was a frank mention of the fact that Tubefilter owns the Streamy Awards, and when I asked yesterday on Twitter how long that had been the case, Brim-Deforest replied that “The Streamys, like most independent web series is owned by its creators.” This is not a stance that is going to allow for a lot of compromises.

Tubefilter’s aim with “Rebuild the Trust” is clearly to enlist the community’s support while it negotiates with the rest of the board over the Streamys future. But as of 8 AM this morning, nearly 20 hours after the site went online, only 19 people had signed the proposal, six of whom were Tubefilter founders or employees. The rest of the community remains skeptical of Tubefilter’s motivations, specific points of its proposal and the wiseness of this “dirty laundry” approach to negotiating with the rest of the board. (See previous points regarding Felicia Day.) In an open letter this morning, Blip.tv CEO Mike Hudack implored Tubefilter to hand over Streamys ownership to the IAWTV, saying that:

Transferring ownership — or, perhaps, leasing the marks for a number of years — to the IAWTV is not defeat. It is not even a compromise. It is a natural and admirable result of the success that you have had so far. It is an acknowledgment that you have been so successful in building a brand and a show and an idea that the torch must now be passed to the community. Because the community loves what you have created, and wants to shepherd it, and grow it, and build it into something big and meaningful and transformative.

Tubefilter deserves all the credit in the world for what it’s accomplished, and by pioneering these initiatives it has done the community a great service. At this point, though, it seems as though both the Streamys and the IAWTV need to grow up in order to fulfill their potential — and as long as one company is attempting to control both organizations, that will never happen.

Disclosure: NewTeeVee is a Streamy Awards media partner and I am officially a co-founder of the IAWTV. I am not a board member and have no authority within either organization beyond voting in the awards.

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To exclude geoblocked shows from the Streamys would mean that many of those released via Hulu, Crackle and other major players would be ineligible, thus dramatically lowering the award show’s potential star power while also failing to accurately represent the breadth of web series content currently being produced. Also, because the event is an annual one, it would be tough at this point to change the rules for the 2010 show. The decision does, however, create additional difficulties for the IAWTV in building a truly international presence, which has been a hot-button topic ever since the group’s first public meeting.

The important issue to consider here is the fact that the Streamys, by virtue of the event’s position, does have influence that it shouldn’t be afraid to wield in the future. For example, The Bannen Way deliberately premiered its first three episodes during the 2009 calendar year (a week in advance of the show’s previously advertised premiere date) so that it would be eligible for this year’s awards. If the Streamys also required that episodes not be geoblocked, who’s to say that Sony and Crackle wouldn’t have also conceded on that point, at least for the first three episodes? After all, the Streamys are a one-of-a-kind event, and based solely on the outreach being done by both creators and companies, it’s clear that shows are hungry for the recognition.

The deadline for public submission to the awards has been extended through the holiday weekend. So keep submitting your favorites at Streamys.org — geoblocked or not.

Disclaimer: NewTeeVee is co-hosting the Streamy Awards, but is not involved with policy decisions such as this one.

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