In this recorded episode of [itvt]’s talk radio show, “The TV of
Tomorrow Show with Tracy Swedlow,” Silicon Valley pundit and
author, Andrew Keen (”The Cult of the Amateur“), discusses his

skeptical take on user-generated content and other participatory media,
why he is not a fan of the Creative Commons movement, his views on
the economics of broadband video, and more.

To listen to the show, click:

here.

Archived Broadcasts

[itvt] is making past broadcasts of the show available on the show’s

homepage.

Broadcast #25: A panel of interactive TV experts–Patrick Donoghue ,
VP of interactive TV product management at Time Warner Cable ;
industry analyst, Leslie Ellis (author of the column, “Translation
Please “); Bill Niemeyer , chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow ;
David Preisman, VP of interactive television at Showtime Networks;
and Lori Schwartz , SVP and director of the Interpublic Emerging
Media Lab –and special guests, Steven Roberts , SVP of new media and
business development at DirecTV, and Amy Jacobson Kurokawa , chair
of the San Francisco Chapter of the Producers Guild of America
(PGA), discuss their picks for the most important ITV stories of April
and provide a snapshot of the current state of the industry. Topics
discussed include NBC Universal’s Digital Studio initiative and
whether it can serve as a model for a new relationship between the
advertising industry and the cable and satellite industries; the latest
developments in tru2way/OCAP; and the upcoming NCTA Cable
Show.

Broadcast #24: Mark Goldenson –founder and CEO of PlayCafe.com , a
company which streams live, free-to-play game shows that allow
viewers to play along, chat with hosts and other players, form teams,
contribute questions, and win prizes (note: Ken Jennings, the holder of
the record for the longest winning streak on the US game show,
“Jeopardy!,” recently appeared on PlayCafe.com as a special
guest)–discusses the company’s offering, its business model, the impact
on the industry of the UK participation TV scandal, and new features
the company plans to offer, including making it possible for end-users
to produce their own shows.

Broadcast #23: Tim Wahlers, founder and CEO of Vidiom Systems, the
company’s VP marketing, Mike Malcy, its VP of engineering services,
Walden Miller, and its VP of strategic initiatives, David Housman, discuss
their work with the cable industry on tru2way/OCAP, describe some of the
interactive TV projects they are currently engaged in, provide an overview
of Vidiom’s OCAP testing services, and offer a preview of the upcoming
second annual tru2way Developers Conference. (Note: the conference–which
is produced by the NCTA and CableLabs, and sponsored by Vidiom–will be
held in New Orleans on Saturday, May 17th and Sunday, May 18th, just prior
to the NCTA Cable Show. Areas of discussion will include programming,
platforms, consumer electronics, application development, and retail
opportunities, and the event will also feature hands-on workshops.)

Broadcast #22: James Joyce, EVP of business development at
Netherlands-based international TV formats developer, 2waytraffic (note:
the company is in the process of being acquired by Sony), discusses the
company’s participation TV formats, the challenges involved in bringing its
participation TV offerings to the US market, the impact of the recent
participation TV scandal in the UK, and more.

Broadcast #21: Marcelino Ford-Livene and David Jensen, co-governors
of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Interactive Media Peer
Group (IMPG), and Geoff Katz, chairman of the IMPG’s Primetime
Emmy Awards Working Group, discuss the Academy’s newly issued
call for entries for the 2007-2008 Primetime Emmy Awards for
Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media (note: the
Awards will recognize excellence in two areas of competition this year:
Fiction and Non-Fiction).

Broadcast #20: Magnus Eriksson, chief development manager, and
Christian Bjorkman, director of special projects at Mindark, the
company behind the virtual world, Entropia Universe, discuss the
interactive enhancements the company created for the Swedish
television drama, “The Truth about Marika.” Viewers of the
show–which was recently awarded the Emmy for Best Interactive TV
Service by the International Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences–could participate by searching for clues within Entropia
Universe that allowed them to solve a show-related mystery. In
addition, they could interact within the virtual world with avatars of the
show’s main characters. Eriksson and Bjorkman also provide an
in-depth overview of Entropia Universe: among other things, the virtual
world has a “real cash economy,” whose currency is pegged to the US
dollar (at a rate of 10-1), and which allows participants to earn money.

Broadcast #19: Cathy Hetzel, president of the Advanced Media
Information division at business-intelligence company, Rentrak, and
her colleague, Dustin Encelewski, the company’s director of
technological business development, discuss recent developments with
its OnDemand Essentials offering–a Web-based ASP service which
measures and reports anonymous, aggregate VOD usage data, such as
viewership volumes and trends, and which is intended to provide cable
operators, content providers and advertisers with customizable reports
designed to help them better understand viewers’ VOD content
preferences. They also discuss Rentrak’s relationship with the cable
industry, cast light on the company’s future plans for its Essentials
product line, discuss its competitors, and provide some interesting
statistics about VOD usage that the company has gleaned over the past
few months.

Broadcast #18: Gary Sohmers, president and chairman of Interactive
Meet and Greet Entertainment (IMAGE), discusses his company’s
flagship Video Queue technology, which allows TV viewers to have
face-to-face encounters with celebrities. (Note: Sohmers will probably
be familiar to [itvt] readers who are also PBS viewers: he is a regular
guest on the popular program, “Antiques Roadshow,” where he
appraises toys, collectibles and memorabilia.)

Broadcast #17: AirPlay chairman and CEO, Morgan Guenther, talks
about his company’s new deal with Sony Pictures Television to provide
multiplayer play-along mobile gaming for the popular game show,
“Jeopardy!”; about some of the other new projects the company will be
undertaking this year; about its business model and its plans to scale its
business; about his experiences at TiVo (where he served as president
from 2001-2003); and more.

Broadcast #16: Phil Bender, CableLabs‘ project director for OpenCable,
and Roger Brinkley, community leader for the Mobile & Embedded
Community at Sun Microsystems, provide an in-depth update on the
latest developments in OpenCable/OCAP/tru2way; discuss the
“OpenCable Project” that recently launched on Java.net; provide a
preview of CableLabs’ CableNET showcase at the upcoming NCTA
Cable Show; and more.

Broadcast #15: Ashwin Navin, co-founder and president of
peer-to-peer technology provider, BitTorrent, discusses that company’s
recently announced agreement with Comcast, which calls for them to
work together to address infrastructural issues raised by the growing
popularity of video and other rich media on the Internet. In addition, a
panel of high-profile interactive TV experts–Paula Byrne, founder and
managing director of Pushbutton; Bill Niemeyer, chief of analysis and
research at BlackArrow; and David Preisman, VP of interactive
television at Showtime Networks–discuss their picks for the most
important ITV stories of March. Topics discussed include Navic’s
announcement that its Admira media placement platform now supports
interactivity; UK broadcaster Five’s abandonment of red-button
services; Showtime Networks’ launch of a range of multiplatform
interactive services to support its high-profile new series, “The
Tudors”; the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ call for entries
for its interactive Emmy awards; and much more.

Broadcast #14: Will Kreth, director of product management for interactive
TV at Time Warner Cable , provides [itvt] readers/listeners with an exclusive
on OEDN.net, a newly launched OCAP/EBIF developer network. He
discusses, among other things, the group’s resources and goals, its
efforts to reach out to the Hollywood and academic communities, the
current state of OCAP and EBIF development and deployment, the
relationship between OCAP and Blu-ray, and much more. In addition, a
panel of high-profile interactive TV experts–Patrick Donoghue, VP of
ITV product management at Time Warner Cable; Bill Niemeyer, chief
of analysis and research at BlackArrow; and David Preisman, VP of
interactive television at Showtime Networks – discuss their picks for
the most important ITV stories of February. Topics discussed include
new VOD technologies from SeaChange International that allow
advertising to be inserted into interior program breaks and streamed
video games; the emerging market for VOD games services; ESPN360’s
launch of HD broadband video, powered by Move Networks’ technology;
Ensequence’s new Blu-ray Disc partnership with Sony; and much more.

Broadcast #13: A panel of interactive TV experts–Patrick Donoghue,
VP of ITV product management at Time Warner Cable; Bill Niemeyer,
chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow; and David Preisman,
VP of interactive television at Showtime Networks–discuss their picks
for the most important ITV stories of January. Topics discussed include
CES; next-generation remote control and touchscreen technologies;
the emergence of cable MSO’s as broadband TV content aggregators;
new technologies that bypass the traditional set-top box; CableLabs’
rebranding of OCAP as “tru2way”; the future of EBIF; new data on ITV
from Ensequence, Backchannelmedia and Gemstar-TV Guide; and
the persistence of two-screen ITV.

Broadcast #12: Andrew Solmssen,
EVP of multiplatform interactive
design agency, Schematic, discusses the impact of the company’s recent
acquisition by advertising and marketing giant, WPP; its work on the
ABC.com Full Episode Player, Starz’ Vongo service, and other
interactive and broadband TV projects; its work on video walls,
touchscreens, “Wiimotes” (Wii remotes) and other new interactive
platforms; using design to boost the efficacy of broadband video
advertising and of content navigation systems; and much more.

Broadcast #11: Steve Shannon, EVP and general manager of product
management at EPG developer, Gemstar-TV Guide, discusses, among
other things, the company’s EPG products and its product roadmap;
new features that will be offered by its EPG’s over the coming
year; My TV Guide, its new suite of cross-platform (TV, Internet
and mobile) guidance solutions; its work on social TV and
programming recommendation solutions; its work–via GuideWorks,
its joint-venture with Comcast–on a new, graphically rich
OCAP-based EPG; the future of EPG advertising; and much more.

Broadcast #10: Kristen Fergason is VP of marketing at Maven
Networks, a company that offers a software platform which allows
content providers and brand marketers to create interactive broadband
VOD channels (its customers include 20th Century Fox, Gemstar-TV
Guide, Univision, Virgin Records, General Motors, PepsiCo, Gannett,
Scripps Networks, and A&E Television Networks). The company
recently launched an advertising platform which it bills as introducing a
series of new, non-proprietary formats that are significantly more
engaging than pre-roll ads (the currently dominant form of broadband
video advertising), make for a better user experience, and deliver
higher-value ad units for advertisers. In the interview, Fergason
describes the new platform and the kinds of interactive advertising it
enables; outlines Maven’s product-development plans; and discusses
the Internet TV Advertising Forum, an industry group that Maven and a
number of other companies recently established in order to “solve the
challenges and deficiencies associated with current online video
advertising models” and to develop new standards and formats for
interactive broadband video advertising.

Broadcast #9: Hans Fischmann is general manager of advanced media
at Charter Media, the advertising arm of cable MSO, Charter
Communications. Since he joined Charter Media in January, 2007, he
and his team have launched over 600 interactive TV and VOD
advertising campaigns. He describes the kinds of interactive TV
advertising offered by Charter Media; provides statistics on the efficacy
of the company’s ITV ads; describes its efforts to market its ITV
advertising capabilities; provides some thoughts on the cable industry
ITV advertising initiative, “Project Canoe”; discusses “Did You See
It?,” a new channel Charter is launching that will be devoted to
interactive TV advertising; and much more.

Broadcast #8: Peter Price, president and CEO of the New York-based
National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, one of two
organizations that are responsible for television’s annual Emmy
awards (the other is the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television
Arts & Sciences), discusses, among other things, the relationship
between the two Academies, and their ongoing legal dispute over
the National Academy’s awards for Advanced Media (which were
presented Monday at CES 2008).

Broadcast #7: Upstate New York resident, James Cawley, whose
background includes, among other things, a stint as an
Elvis-impersonator, is the executive producer of Star Trek New
Voyages (startreknewvoyages.com), a production company that
produces original episodes of “Star Trek,” based on the characters from
that show’s first season (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura,
etc.). Downloads of these hour-long, fan-generated broadband TV
episodes have been in the multiple millions, and their audience base
appears to be growing rapidly. Cawley shares his thoughts on
producing original, fan-generated “Star Trek” programming for the
Internet; describes the events that led to the formation of Star Trek New
Voyages; discusses the company’s relationship with CBS (the owner of
the “Star Trek” franchise); provides a preview of new episodes and new
characters that the company has in the pipeline (including “Star Trek’s”
first gay character); discusses the possibility of making the show
interactive or building a social network around it; and much more.

Broadcast #6: Three high-profile figures from the interactive TV
space–Patrick Donoghue, VP of ITV product management at Time Warner
Cable; Bill Niemeyer, chief of analysis and research at BlackArrow;
and David Preisman, VP of interactive television at Showtime
Networks–provide a retrospective of the year in interactive TV,
present their picks for the year’s most important ITV stories, and
predict the important ITV trends for 2008. Topics discussed include
the rise of user-generated content; the demise of TMG; the
significance of the top-secret interactive TV advertising initiative,
“Canoe”; the emergence of big-budget broadband TV programming;
EchoStar’s purchase of Sling Media; DirecTV’s purchase of ReplayTV;
and much more.

Broadcast #5: Three senior executives from mobile interactive TV
specialist, SinglePoint–president and CEO, Rich Begert; VP of
industry relations, Doug Busk; and director of marketing, Philippe
Poutonnet–discuss, among other things, the company’s recent deal with
NBC Universal. The deal will see SinglePoint providing mobile
interactive/participation TV services for a range of NBC Universal’s
programming and channels, including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo,
Telemundo, USA Network, NBC Sports, and NBC News.

Broadcast #4: Steve Rosenbaum is founder and CEO of
Magnify.net, a company that provides a new Web 2.0 service
which allows end-users to create video galleries/channels
complete with social networks. He discusses Magnify.net’s
service and the business model behind it; provides examples
of how it is being used; outlines the company’s current
strategy and future plans; and more.

Broadcast #3: Brian Seth Hurst, a well-known figure in
interactive TV circles, was recently elected as vice chairman
of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the
organization behind the Primetime Emmys. His election marks
the first time ever that a new media specialist has served in
such a senior role at the Academy. Hurst discusses what his
election says about the evolution of the Academy and of the
television establishment in general; the significance of the
ongoing writers’ strike for the interactive and broadband TV
industries; and much more.

Broadcast #2: Jodie McAfee, who was formerly SVP of
corporate development and marketing at The Media Group
(TMG), a high-profile interactive TV advertising and
programming company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
earlier this year, discusses that company’s demise; his new
company, BoomerangiTV; the cable industry interactive TV
advertising initiative known as “Project Canoe”; the current
state of the ITV advertising industry in general; and more.

Broadcast #1: Louis Slothouber and Dan Levinson of BIAP
discuss their company’s technologies; the challenges involved
in deploying the company’s interactive TV applications (which
include eBay on TV, Yellow Pages on TV, and Fantasy
Football and Baseball Trackers); the company’s patent
portfolio; the current state of the cable industry; ITV
standards; artificial intelligence; emerging market
opportunities; and more.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based two-screen interactive TV specialist,
Jacked, Inc. (note: the company’s flagship product, Jacked SportsTop,
is a browser-based virtual desktop that features a dashboard of widgets
and that is designed to provide synchronized two-screen ITV
experiences specifically for sports broadcasts), recently signed a deal
with Los Angeles TV station, KCAL 9, that sees it providing the latter
with a two-screen ITV service to accompany all its live broadcasts of
LA Lakers basketball games throughout the rest of the current season,
as well as next season.

The service–dubbed the “Carl’s Jr. Lakers Live SportsTop” and
featuring a range of interactive content, commerce, communication and
advertising widgets–is part of a sponsorship package for the
eponymous fast food chain that includes on-air, online and in-game
promotions. Located on KCAL 9’s Web site, it presents viewers with a
catalog of widgets that they can drag and drop onto the screen, in order
to customize their interactive experience (note: viewers can save their
settings for future games). At launch, a total of 16 widgets were
available, including Scoreboard, Player Profile, Box Score,
Play-by-Play, Video, Team and Cheerleader photos, Flickr Fan photos,
Team News and Ticker, and a trivia game. A chat widget allows
viewers to interact with one another and with KCAL personalities, and
gives them the option of setting up private chatrooms (note: for NBA
games, Jacked offers what it calls the Jacked Heat Index, a
patent-pending application that uses analytical metrics to dynamically
index each player’s performance at any specific moment during the
game, so that viewers can follow players and see at which points in the
game they are underperforming, meeting, or exceeding expectations; in
addition to using game stats, the widget adds a time component, so that
a player becomes “cold” when he or she is underperforming or
spending a large amount of time on the bench). According to Jacked, its
platform monitors the TV broadcast and automatically populates the
widgets in real time with relevant content. The company touts this
capability as providing advertisers with the opportunity to “extend their
brands to consumers online when they are most engaged in the
broadcast experience.”

Jacked’s platform incorporates standard IAB leaderboard, banner and
button ad units, as well as new proprietary ad units that dynamically
size and publish to the widgets on the end-user’s screen: the company
says that the ads can be tied to events during the broadcast and
geo-targeted, and that they will eventually also be synchronized with
broadcast ads. “This partnership marks a key milestone for Jacked in its
effort to establish a local SportsTop network enabling broadcasters like
KCAL to collaborate with advertisers like Carl’s Jr. to provide sports
fans with a truly unique and engaging cross-platform experience,”
Jacked CEO, Bryan Biniak, said in a prepared statement.

In other Jacked news:

• In order to encourage usage of its service by football fans, Jacked
  conducted a sweepstakes promotion around this year’s Super Bowl:
  users who registered on the company’s Web site before kickoff could
  enter its “Football Challenge Sweepstakes” to have a chance of winning
  a $100,000 cash prize for making 20 correct predictions about the
  game. The company also used the occasion of the Super Bowl to launch
  a number of new features on its SportsTop platform. The new features
  are a Video widget, which uses the company’s “Searchcasting”
  technology to look for team and player videos related to the game that
  is currently being broadcast, and that also includes a search function
  that lets viewers search for specific videos within the widget; a Player
  Profile widget, which automatically highlights players, based on key
  events taking place during the game; a News widget, which
  automatically searches for relevant news during a game; and a Chat
  widget.

• Late last year, the company announced that it had expanded its
  partnership with NBC Sports and NBCSports.com to provide the latter
  with a two-screen ITV service, dubbed NBCSports.com Play Action, to
  accompany its “Sunday Night Football” broadcasts. The new deal built
  on an existing deal between the companies, under which Jacked
  provided NBC Sports with a two-screen application for its broadcasts
  of Notre Dame football games.

–Teams with NBC on Two-Screen App for 2008 Figure Skating Championships

LiveHive Systems, an Ontario-based company that specializes in
two-screen interactive TV solutions, said last week that it has signed an
agreement with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to provide a
synchronized interactive experience on www.raptors.com to
accompany broadcasts of the Toronto Raptors’ NBA playoff games.
Dubbed “Raptors Shot Caller presented by Ford,” the new service
debuted last Sunday in conjunction with the start of the Raptors’
first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic. Fans access the
service by going to the Raptors’ Web site and clicking on a “Shot
Caller” game banner, or by simply going directly to
raptors.nanogaming.com. The service includes the standard line-up of
entertainments offered by LiveHive’s flagship NanoGaming platform,
including real-time game predictions, trivia questions, and instant recall
challenges: fans who register for the service receive points for
answering questions correctly and making accurate predictions, and
high-scorers can win such prizes as autographed Raptors jerseys and
playoff tickets. The fan with the highest single-game score will also
win a grand prize. The service also implements a number of features
provided by the newest version of the NanoGaming platform, including
polling, group play (fans can invite their friends to play along with
them, so that the group can have its own competition and leaderboard),
enhanced live chat (allows fans to interact with sponsors, teams and
broadcasters), and a downloadable Facebook application that lets users
compare their scores with those of their Facebook friends and broadcast
their own results after each game on their personal newsfeed.
LiveHive’s new deal with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment builds on
an existing relationship with the company: in January, LiveHive
provided a similar service for MLSE during regional telecasts on Leafs
TV of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey games.

In other LiveHive news:

• The company was recently tapped by Comcast SportsNet and the
  Philadelphia 76ers basketball team to develop a Web-based two-screen
  interactive TV service to accompany broadcasts of 76ers games. The
  service, dubbed “Get to the Net” and based on the NanoGaming
  platform, debuted in early March and is being offered during every
  76ers game program produced by Comcast including during the
  playoffs. Accessed either via comcastsportsnet.com or Sixers.com, the
  new service presents fans with a stream of game-related questions and
  challenges, including game predictions, memory challenges and trivia
  on the 76ers and basketball in general. Players accumulate points for
  correct answers, and compete against one another to win prizes based
  on their point totals: the prizes are awarded after each game, with the
  highest-scoring viewer winning use of a luxury suite at the Wachovia
  Center for an upcoming 76ers game. The service also includes a live
  chat application, and allows fans to download a “Get to the Net”
  Facebook application to access bonus statistics, earn badges and
  compare their results with those of their Facebook friends. According
  to LiveHive, “Get to the Net” was the first service of its kind to be
  offered in conjunction with NBA team telecasts. The new service has
  been promoted on the air by Comcast SportsNet during broadcasts of
  its shows “SportsDay,” “Daily News Live” and “SportsNite,” and is
  also promoted during halftime breaks of 76ers games.

• The company was recently tapped by NBCSports.com to create a
  two-screen interactive TV service to accompany NBC telecasts of the
  2008 US Figure Skating Championship. Dubbed “Skate-Off,” the
  service allowed viewers to answer trivia questions and make real-time
  predictions, in order to score points and win prizes “This will be the
  first time that figure skating has gone this route in live TV telecasts,”
  LiveHive president, Dave Bullock, said in a prepared statement.
  “Figure skating is a huge sport, and through NBCSports.com Skate-Off
  we can deliver interactive TV to a brand new audience. Fans want to
  interact and engage with the competition, which includes athletes and
  other viewers, while they are watching. NanoGaming will let figure
  skating fans experience the excitement of the US Championships as the
  action unfolds.”

Sports programmer, ESPN, is syndicating its video content through a
third-party Internet portal for the first time, thanks to a new deal with
AOL that sees it offering short-form video on AOL’s AOL Video and
AOL Sports services (note: ESPN.com’s own video portal has proven
fairly popular: according to ESPN, consumers viewed its videos over
1.2 billion times last year, representing a 54% increase over 2006). The
video content includes highlights from games and major sporting
events and clips from ESPN’s original programs, and is presented in an
embedded ESPN player on a dedicated ESPN channel page.
“ESPN.com video is second to none, and we are excited by the
expanded reach afforded us through this syndication agreement,” Matt
Murphy, ESPN’s SVP of digital video distribution, said in a prepared
statement. “Working with AOL allows us to offer new benefits to fans
and advertisers–viewers can now access the programming they want,
whether they are on ESPN.com or AOL’s portal, while our advertisers
benefit from a larger online video audience than ever before. The
potential is tremendous and we hope fans will be seeing more
syndicated video from ESPN.com in the future.”

Content available on ESPN’s embedded video player on AOL includes
“SportsCenter Right Now,” a twice-daily round-up of sports headlines,
highlights and breaking news; clips from such shows as “Mike and
Mike in the Morning,” “Pardon the Interruption” and “Around the
Horn”; and breaking news and game clips from major professional and
college teams. The player also provides links to ESPN.com content
related to the video it is playing.

PBS says that its 4.5-hour Frontline special on the Iraq invasion and
occupation, “Bush’s War,” which aired on its linear TV network in late
March, is breaking Frontline’s records for online viewership, with more
than a million views of its streamed video segments in the first few
days following its broadcast. According to PBS, “Bush’s War” is easily
on track to become the most widely viewed film in Frontline’s online
archive. “The unprecedented response to this Web site marks a turning
point in Frontline’s history, where we truly have become a
multiplatform series,” executive producer, David Fanning, said in a
prepared statement. “The primetime television audience is part of a
larger footprint that now includes a sizeable number of online viewers,
as well as those who watch Frontline on-demand, through timeshifting
devices, and on digital cable channels.” (Note: in addition, a number of
recent Frontline titles are also available for purchase on iTunes.)

Frontline’s online presentation of “Bush’s War” includes an interactive,
annotated timeline of the Iraq war and the “war on terror,” that features
175 embedded videoclips and links to over 400 interviews Frontline
has conducted with Bush administration insiders, military commanders,
foreign policy experts, world leaders, and journalists. Frontline is a
pioneer in broadband video, having offered full-length programs
online–free and with no commercials–since 2002. Its video archive
currently includes over 70 reports. Beginning with “Bush’s War,”
Frontline’s video is now available in full-screen mode, using new Flash
technology.

Gotuit Media–a company that offers metadata technologies which,
among other things, allow end-users to instantly access the parts of a
piece of video that interest them, and which can also be used by video
publishers to allow end-users to make mash-ups out of their
content–said last week that Sports Illustrated has once again tapped it
to power a version of its SI FilmRoom video portal service devoted to
the NFL Draft. According to Gotuit, the Sports Illustrated 2008 NFL
Draft FilmRoom, which launched April 15th and which is offered free
of charge (it is supported by in-stream and in-page advertising), uses its
metadata technology to provide viewers with advanced video
navigation and search capabilities: viewers can personalize their
experience of the portal and navigate its video library by Mock Draft,
Player, College or Position. Once the draft is complete, there will be
new playlists organized by Actual Draft Order and NFL Team, the
company says. Viewers can also search the entire video library to build
dynamic playlists. “This is our sixth FilmRoom with SI, as they
understand that how you organize and present your video library is as
important as the video itself,” Dan Gill, Gotuit’s VP of business
development, said in a prepared statement. “Presenting multiple paths
for viewers is critical, as viewers have different reasons for visiting the
video portal. Who are the QB’s in the draft? Who does SI project to be
taken first? Who is from my alma mater? Who did my team take?
Gotuit’s patented technology uses metadata to give viewers an easy and
simple way to get to the video most interesting to them.”

Earlier this year, Sports Illustrated tapped Gotuit to power an SI
FilmRoom video service devoted to the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball
Tournament. The service, which was sponsored by RadioShack, let
fans personalize their viewing of regular-season video highlights of
their favorite teams in the tournament: a “By Seed” view allowed them
to watch video of just the top-seeded teams in the tournament; a “By
Conference” view let them watch a playlist of the teams in a specific
conference (e.g. Big East, Big 10); a “By Team” view let them use an
alphabetical list to reach video of a particular team; and a “Still Alive”
playlist was updated throughout the tournament, as the field shrank
from 65 down to the eventual champion. In addition, fans could share
direct links and embed video in their own sites and blogs. “We are
honored to continue to deploy innovative video products with Sports
Illustrated,” Gotuit’s Gill said in a prepared statement. “They share our
vision of providing viewers with the ability to personalize their video
viewing experience in a simple and intuitive manner. In SI’s
FilmRoom, Gotuit’s rich metadata and patented technology empowers
SI to present the video library in ways that puts their users in complete
control of their viewing experience. Also, Gotuit’s advertising logic
ensures that users see an optimized amount of targeted advertisements
no matter what path they take through the library.”

In other Gotuit news:

• Major League Soccer has selected the company to power its
  QuickKicks broadband video portal for the third consecutive year.
  According to Gotuit, the new portal makes each televised MLS game
  (including the playoffs and the championship) viewable online through
  several video playlists, including Game Highlights, Goals, Saves, Best
  Runs, Set Pieces, and specific player highlights from two players on
  each team; offers deep video search capabilities across its entire library
  and within each game video; offers viral sharing features, such as direct
  links and embeddable players (down to individual plays); and provides
  a new feature called MLS QuickKicks One-Touch. The latter focuses
  on one star player from MLS Prime Time Thursday on ESPN2 and one
  star player from Saturday night’s soccer action; every play for that
  player is presented for each game, allowing viewers instant access and
  the ability to customize their own highlights packages for MLS stars,
  Gotuit says. “We are thrilled to continue our relationship with Major
  League Soccer, as QuickKicks is one of the best examples of
  unleashing the full potential of a video library using metadata,” Gotuit
  CEO, Mark Pascarella, said in a prepared statement. “Without the need
  for any video editing, MLS is able to surface their top plays and top
  players to drive audience engagement, session time, and monetization
  of their game video. Gotuit’s patented technology makes this possible
  and helps MLS truly differentiate their video portal.”

  

• The company says that Carleton University is using its technology to
  power a broadband video portal, dubbed Carleton University
  VideoNotes, that allows students to view, index, annotate, remix,
  search and share video of class lectures. “By allowing students to create
  their own lecture highlight reels with their own comments and
  annotations, we are providing a rich, personalized learning and
  enhanced studying experience,” Patrick Lyons, manager of
  instructional innovation at Carleton University, said in a prepared
  statement. “We believe students will get great value from being able to
  search the lecture videos to find the precise topic or concept they are
  interested in reviewing, then see their classmates’ notes and playlists for
  that topic.” The new Gotuit-powered portal enhances an existing
  broadband VOD service through which Carleton University’s
  30-year-old distance-learning service, CUTV, has been making
  available video of all its courses for the past three years. At launch,
  VideoNotes offers full-length video from each lecture, uploaded shortly
  after class. Students can index the video by marking key segments and
  adding their own information, such as Note Title, Description and
  Keywords. According to Gotuit, all this metadata is searchable by the
  community, allowing end-users to search inside each video lecture for
  particular segments of interest. End-users can then compile the key
  segments across the lectures into Video Notebooks for particular topics
  and study guides, and can send links and share their Video Notebooks
  with other users. “Using the Gotuit approach of harnessing metadata
  vallows Carleton to deploy a solution that does not require editing
  videos or storing new videos for each student’s VideoNotes,” Gotuit’s
  Pascarella said in a prepared statement. “This means it is easy to
  implement and easy to scale. We see offerings like Video Notebook
  becoming a core component for many educational institutions moving
  forward.”

Scripps Networks has signed a deal with TidalTV, a start-up that is
shortly scheduled to launch a broadband TV service featuring
professionally produced, branded programming (note: TidalTV, which
was founded by Advertising.com co-founder, Scott Ferber, has raised
$15 million in VC money from New Enterprise Associates and
Valhalla). According to the parties, their agreement will make ad-
supported programming from Scripps’ HGTV, Food Network, DIY
Network and Fine Living Network channels available both in
TidalTV’s programmed channel line-up and in its library of on-demand
content. Shows covered by the deal, include “House Hunters,”
“Designed to Sell,” “Sweat Equity,” and “The Perfect Party.” “Scripps
Networks strives to make our video content widely and easily
accessible to users,” Doug Hurst, SVP and general manager of
non-linear distribution at Scripps Networks, said in a prepared
statement. “TidalTV users will have access to hundreds of videos from
Scripps Networks–including full-length episodes of some of their
favorite shows.”

In related news: TidalTV last week also announced a deal to carry
National Geographic Channel’s programming on its new service.

Multiplatform children’s programmer, PBS KIDS Sprout (offers
programs on linear TV, VOD and online), has announced plans to
launch an original afternoon programming block that “makes viewers
the stars.” Entitled “The Sprout Sharing Show” and scheduled to debut
May 5th in the 3:00PM-6:00PM Eastern timeslot, the block will be
hosted by a group of hand puppets, who will introduce
viewer-submitted videos in which preschoolers will show off their
talents and what Sprout describes as their “‘Look what I can do!’
moments.” The videos will air in the new block interstitially between
existing Sprout programs, such as “Fifi and the Flowertots,” “Jay Jay
the Jet Plane,” “Pingu,” “Dragon Tales,” “Fireman Sam,” and a new,
interactive show called “PICME.” The latter, which was conceived by
Irish production company, Jam Media and which is licensed by HIT
Entertainment, will use Jam Media’s proprietary software–called Head-
hunter–on a Web site, to enable parents to superimpose a digital image
of their child’s head onto a 2D Flash-animated body. Sprout will then
randomly choose one of the resulting animated image mash-ups each
weekday to appear on “PICME.” “The Sprout Sharing Show” will also
showcase viewer-submitted artwork, which Sprout says will be
transformed into animated shorts by the Little Director company, using
a “unique technology that allows children’s drawings on paper to
become animated stories.” “Sprout is the only preschool network ‘made
for you, by you,’” Andrew Beecham, Sprout’s SVP of programming,
said in a prepared statement. “Whether it’s showcasing a child’s
homemade birthday card on the live ‘Sunny Side Up Show,’ sharing a
viewer-submitted craft on ‘The Good Night Show’ or airing kids’
homemade videos on ‘The Sprout Sharing Show,’ Sprout’s linear
channel is taking user-generated content to the next level by completely
integrating it into our unique 24-hour format that follows the day of
preschooler from breakfast to bedtime.”

–Also Launches Premium Broadband Programming Service

Premium programmer, HBO, recently launched a branded promotional
channel on YouTube. The channel features promotional clips from
HBO’s own feature and documentary films, and from such HBO series
as “Flight of the Conchords,” “The Wire,” “Def Comedy Jam,” “Real
Time with Bill Maher,” “Real Sports” and “Entourage.” It also features
full-length episodes from the programmer’s original series, “In
Treatment,” and is slated to offer “special YouTube-only features” in
the near future. “We are delighted to bring HBO content to the
YouTube community and fans of our shows,” Joseph Giraldi, HBO’s
director of digital distribution and partnerships, said in a prepared
statement. “We invest significantly in developing HBO programs and
are always searching for new promotional platforms. We are thrilled to
continue this tradition by offering the global YouTube audience access
to our wide variety of content.”

In other HBO news: The company recently launched a premium
broadband programming service, dubbed simply HBO on Broadband.
The service–which is currently available only in Milwaukee and Green
Bay, Wisconsin to HBO subscribers who also subscribe to Time
Warner Cable’s digital tier and Road Runner high-speed Internet
service (note: TWC is one of HBO’s sister companies)–is billed by
HBO as offering 600 titles each month. It also offers a streaming linear
channel.

–Company Commissions its First Film

Babelgum–a company that operates a service it describes as an
“interactive Web TV portal” featuring ” only professionally produced
content spanning film, news, sports, documentaries, music videos,
concerts, lifestyle and trends, animation and scripted programs”–last
month launched a new version of its platform that includes a
completely redesigned interface and various Web 2.0 features and
social-networking tools. The new version is also now compatible with
the Mac OS, as well as with the Windows XP and Vista OS’s.

Babelgum’s service now invites viewers to join a series of
“communities” (note: the first three to launch were “Films & Festivals,”
“Motorcycling” and “Nature & Conservation”), each of which includes
videoclips, an interactive message board, and links to custom profiles
of other members who share an interest in the community’s eponymous
subject area. In addition, the service now allows viewers to create and
manage new niche communities, as well as customize their own
profiles, save their favorites and create their own personal video
playlists. “At Babelgum we are committed to giving our viewers the
best experience possible,” Babelgum CEO, Valerio Zingarelli, said in a
prepared statement. “The new site sophistication, along with an ever-
burgeoning content library, certainly ensures we are giving our users
what they want and when they want to view it, but with much greater
ease and enjoyment.” Babelgum claims that the introduction of
communities allows its service to make “content available to users in
the widest and most meaningful way possible to them.” The service’s
content is also still accessible through traditional genre or branded
channels within a channel directory; via a search engine; via “smart
channels” (created by each user and personalized according to their
interests); and via a list of most-watched videos.

Babelgum’s revamp of its Web TV service also sees it offering the
following features:

• an advanced search function provides an automatic selection of
  keyword options as users type in search terms, and allows them to
  search by best-rated and most-watched.

• titles now receive the service’s “most popular” designation as the
  result of what the company describes as “an enhanced collaborative
  filtering that ranks video on the basis of implicit (most watched) as well
  as explicit (most positively rated) choices.”

• users can now share content with their friends and embed video on
  personal Web sites, blogs and in social networks such as MySpace and
  Facebook.

• the service now offers a content-management system that Babelgum
  claims makes it easier for content-owners to manage and monetize their
  assets. The system includes a video preview function; allows
  content-owners to modify their clips when they have already been
  published on the service, without having to remove them and re-upload
  them; allows content-owners to tag their content for discovery
  purposes; and also allows them to schedule the simultaneous upload of
  multiple pieces of content.

In other Babelgum news: Earlier this month, the company announced
the commissioning of the first film from its “Digital Studio Initiative”
(note: the latter is a 10-million-Euro fund through which the company
is investing in the development of exclusive content for its platform).
The film, which will be shown within its service’s “Nature and
Conservation Community,” is being produced by Insomnia Media
Group, Emmy-winning producer, Philip Alberstat, and Emmy nominee,
Randy Bradshaw, and directed by Oscar nominee, Leslie Iwerks. It will
showcase the impact on the aboriginal people of northern Alberta of the
oil industry’s attempts to harness the natural resources of the Athabasca
Oil Sands region. It will be over 80 minutes long, Babelgum says, and
will be released in 15 to 20-minute segments. “This documentary
represents several firsts for Babelgum,” the company’s director of
content, Mark Cranwell, said in a prepared statement. “It is the first
high-profile program for our Nature and Conservation Community
which is intended to raise awareness of major environmental issues. It
is our first original production that serves as beacon programming to
complement our library of licensed programs. And finally, it is our first
effort to demonstrate the initial and ongoing value of programs released
first, and exclusively, on the Internet. It challenges the traditional way
of windowing content and we are extremely excited and hope that this
is the first of many original productions for Babelgum.”