Akimbo Systems--a San Mateo, Calif.-based company which offers a $9.99-per-month, Internet-delivered VOD service that features a 14,000-plus-title library of mainstream and niche content from around 200 programmers, ranging from standard cable fare from such companies as National Geographic and Cartoon Network to videoblogs produced by amateurs, and which earlier this year raised $15.5 million in a Series C funding round--has signed a deal with blip.tv, an online video-sharing site that hosts and distributes Web-based TV shows and videoblogs (note: among other things, blip.tv allows videobloggers to automatically cross-post their content to blogs, iTunes and other video aggregators, Web sites and media channels). The deal will make a selection of blip.tv's "premium" content--including user-generated online video series--available on Akimbo's system: according to the companies, the content will be selected on the basis of its quality (including production quality) and its popularity with blip.tv users, and will be continually expanded and updated. Akimbo customers will be able to access it via Akimbo's on-screen guide; they will also be able to subscribe to and store their favorite blip.tv shows within their personal video library. blip.tv says that it will give all creators of shows on its site the option of deciding whether their content can be considered for distribution via Akimbo. "blip.tv makes it easy for anyone to create, produce and distribute video shows through the Web--and beyond," blip.tv co-founder and CEO, Mike Hudack, said in a prepared statement. "Through this great partnership with Akimbo, user-created videos can now make the leap from the Internet directly to television sets. Together, we are simplifying the process of making a star out of the ordinary person. Just as any other video content, user-generated content is best enjoyed sitting on your couch, watched on a full-screen TV."
Originally Published: September 27, 2006 in [itvt] Issue 6.96 Part 3
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