The acquisition is the latest in a string of online video purchases by the Prague based company including:

In case anyone is interested, check out the forum on the My.NBC message board. Thread started in August of 2008. In that entire time, there [...]]]> Last rant before leaving. NBC Direct sucks. Period. Their “HD Download” service is a great idea, especially for people who want higher quality and dont mind downloading in the background.

In case anyone is interested, check out the forum on the My.NBC message board. Thread started in August of 2008. In that entire time, there is about one message from an official NBC rep, and thats it.

Seems to me that NBC is just letting this thing die, which is a shame. However, if thats the case, they should just stop offering it as a download and trying to promote it at all. I did like the quality of the few shows I managed to download about a year ago.

Bring it back, or kill it. But leaving thousands of people stuck without a solution is a shitty way to deal with customers. And Hulu isn’t going to be the answer forever.

Tonight and tomorrow, March 12th and 13th, The Drive By Truckers will be live streaming two nights from Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse, courtesy of [...]]]> Since I can’t get enough concerts streaming to my living room since last week’s Trey Anastasio stream, I’m adding more concerts to my Weekend Pick and Pick of the Week for next week.

Tonight and tomorrow, March 12th and 13th, The Drive By Truckers will be live streaming two nights from Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse, courtesy of iClips.net. The concerts are being streamed to drive interest in their new album, “The Big To-Do,” which will be released on Tuesday, March 16th. Prices for the live broadcast are $6.99 per show or $9.99 for both. For those that purchase the live broadcast can also purchase their new album, The Big To-Do for $7.00 as a digital download at a later date from the Drive-By Truckers website. All pre-orders will receive an immediate Premium DRM-free 320kbps MP3, FLAC, or Apple Lossless download of the songs “Birthday Boy” and “Working This Job”.

For the less alt-country, more traditional southern rock fans, The Allman Brothers have returned for their New York City residency, this time at the United Palace Theater (instead of the usual Beacon Theater). Last year, The Allmans launched Moogis, their own live streaming service, powered by OrchardTV.

In what could be a hint towards web VOD pricing models, the Allmans are offering a subscription to the live streams of their 11-show run in NYC for $150, which also includes access to tons of their archived footage, including 50+ archived shows. That boils down to slightly less than $10 per live show, which beats the shit out of their $60, $100, and $150 priced seats to be at the venue. I’d like to see the ability to buy one show, rather than the whole run, though. Regardless, there’s a market for live VOD for bands of all sizes, and I’m looking forward to seeing some up and comers charging $1 for a show, or a weeks worth of shows, since the economics work out just fine. (NOTE: if you are an up and coming band and want help with the economics and production, please contact Ben or I for an intro and options through OVW Consulting.)

Either way, streaming from home means not looking over your shoulder for that pesky security guard. Party On!

Two years ago the company said in a regulatory filing that it planned to go public. However, as the equities market began to deteriorate, the company pulled [...]]]> Rich media ad serving provider, Eyeblaster, selected as Streaming Media’s Reader’s Choice Award Winner for video ad serving, has refiled with the SEC for their highly anticipated IPO.

Two years ago the company said in a regulatory filing that it planned to go public. However, as the equities market began to deteriorate, the company pulled back their planned IPO, preferring to wait for better market conditions.

Apparently they believe that those conditions have arrived. Since their original filing, Eyeblaster’s profit has grown by about a third from $7.4 million in 2007 to $9.8 million in 2009 while revenue jumped to $65.1 million from $44.7 million.

JPMorgan Securities Inc. and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are serving as the lead underwriters for the deal.
Ed Note: I am a former employee of Eyeblaster and holder of stock options in the company.

While ABC initially cut off access to Cablevision during their dispute (access was restored at approximately 8:45PM EST, disgruntled viewers are turning to the web for their OSCAR content. In [...]]]> On the heals of Livestream’s open letter to the industry about piracy of live streamed content, it wasn’t long before a quinticential example pops up.

While ABC initially cut off access to Cablevision during their dispute (access was restored at approximately 8:45PM EST, disgruntled viewers are turning to the web for their OSCAR content. In addition to the legal pre-award show content being offered, as predicted, Justin.TV is hosting multiple streams of the show. Even better, there’s a Cablevision ad running as an overlay on top of the pirated content.

Oh, how ’bout that. Guess what’s on Ch.7? The OSCARS. I’m going back to watching on real TV instead of the pirated stream.

oscar irony

The months long public battle between ABC and Cablevision over retransmission rights fees came to a head today when ABC pulled the plug [...]]]> UPDATED: Disney and ABC have apparently reached an agreement “in principle.” Access to ABC was restored on the Cablevision network at approximately 8:45 PM EST approximately 30 minutes into the Oscars broadcast.

The months long public battle between ABC and Cablevision over retransmission rights fees came to a head today when ABC pulled the plug on the cable operator and removed the channel from 3 million Cablevision households ahead of Sunday’s Oscars telecast. In an e-mail to customers Cablevision directed viewers to the web for live coverage on E!, Livestream and the LA Times Gold Derby blog.

We have seen a number of disputes like this come down to the Wire but it’s rare that it results in a service disruption – by pulling the plug on the eve of a high profile event like the Oscars ABC is making a very public statement. Whether it will work out for ABC, and if the network broadcast model itself is still viable are still very open quesyions.

Cablevision charges ABC with demanding unreasonably high fees to carry the network, a message on the Cablevision homepage claims ABC is demanding $40 million more on top of the $200 million it receives. According to Reuters “Disney executives have privately disputed those numbers.”

The latest is that the companies have agreed to binding arbitration. Eventually Cablevision will give ABC a little more money and the network will be back in Cabvlevision homes. But the bigger question is whether the broadcast network model can be profitable when competing with thousands of specific cable channels and millions of specific online video channels.

At the very least, I think it is fair to say that even if content is king online, then distribution and marketing are the “crown [...]]]> In the must read department, Break.com CEO Keith Richman points out in an Ad Age article that even in today’s long tail, hyper-syndicated media environment distribution and marketing are still critical:

At the very least, I think it is fair to say that even if content is king online, then distribution and marketing are the “crown princes.” Good content or not, understanding and embracing digital distribution and marketing will prove critical to everyone in the entertainment industry.

We’ve harped for a long time on the importance of marketing and the difficulties independent producers have in reaching their audience. Richman clearly gets it. Break.com is currently the 441st most visited site on the internet according to Alexa and, reports the LA Times, has moved beyond its user-generated roots into producing original content. The company has “more than 15 series and single-episode videos in the works” and “built up a network of seven editorial sites.”

In a competitive industry they’ve found a model that works. The Times reports that Break, which counts studio Lions Gate as a minority investor, has been in the black for two years. Maybe there is money in this online video thing after all.