Internet TV Age Is Dawning, but Who Will Watch?
By Leslie Walker
Thursday, April 28, 2005; Page E01 The Washington Post

Now that television has dumbed us down, will Internet TV weird us out?

One might get that impression based on Tuesday's launch of Open Media Network, which aims to be the online version of public television with a nonprofit Internet channel anyone can use to distribute video.

This is one weird corner of the Web, a place touting a film called "Gun Shy," about a man afraid to use public restrooms, alongside a 1960s radio broadcast by Eleanor Roosevelt. It features a Napster-like peer-to-peer system for distributing multimedia files and an electronic program guide to help users find and download shows to watch on computers.

"We wanted to reinvent public television," said OMN founder Mike Homer, who ran Netscape's Web site in the 1990s.

OMN is one example of a mini-stampede underway as entrepreneurs rush to exploit what they see as the dawning of the Internet TV age.

Trouble is, no one is sure yet what Internet TV should be, whether it will have much worth watching or what people might be willing to pay to see that isn't already on television.

Homer's network is owned by a nonprofit foundation and offers mostly free content. It is designed to eventually be self-sustaining by taking a small commission on fees that video producers charge for premium content. An audience rating system is in the works to help users discover shows that other people have liked -- and to help filter offensive content such as porn and pirated material. Homer said the system runs through central computers that will allow managers to track and take down unauthorized copyrighted material.

At its launch this week, OMN ( http://www.omn.org/ ) featured a mishmash of archived shows from several dozen public TV and radio stations; daily news video from the Associated Press; 300 independent films from the Cinequest Film Festival and nonprofit Undergroundfilm.org; plus a ton of amateur video blogs and audio shows.

One premise behind Internet TV start-ups is that the cost of distributing video over the Internet to those wanting to watch a particular program is much lower than broadcasting shows to millions of homes simultaneously, regardless of who actually sees them. The theory is that many special-interest shows might prove economical for the first time, while others already recorded might find fresh audiences.

"We are tracking about 14 different revenue streams we might get from Internet distribution, including traditional underwriting," said Dennis Haarsager, who runs Northwest Public Radio, a group of 13 radio and two TV stations based at Washington State University. His group offered 13 episodes of a TV series on the art of making flies for fishing.

Haarsager said he is particularly interested in the audience-rating tools OMN is developing and software it has planned to let video producers offer subscriptions and pay-per-viewing. Producers will be able to limit the number of times users can watch a show or copy it to portable devices, using Microsoft Corp.'s digital-rights-management software.

Haarsager said he leads a consortium of public broadcasters eager to use the Internet to extend the viewing life of their shows. "Right now broadcasting is a pretty ephemeral thing," he said. "You put it on the air and nobody ever sees it again."

OMN is not alone in trying to attract and distribute Internet videos from independent filmmakers and home hobbyists. Brightcove Inc., founded by former Macromedia Inc. executive Jeremy Allaire, is planning to launch a commercial Internet TV network this year that will invite participation from both traditional cable programmers and independent filmmakers, potentially offering a way to bypass Hollywood's big studios.

Another start-up is Denver-based ManiaTV ( http://www.maniatv.com/ ), which sees itself as the MTV of the Internet. ManiaTV has been offering live streaming video on the Web for several months and plans to launch an on-demand download service next month.

Other start-ups let people watch video downloaded from the Internet on television sets using special set-top boxes. Akimbo Systems launched an Internet TV subscription service last fall requiring purchase of a just such a setup.

A Huntington, N.Y., outfit called VCinema Inc. plans in September to offer something similar, which it calls a "downloadable home video store and digital video recording service."

Traditional broadcasters and even telephone companies are tiptoeing in, too, developing their own systems for delivering TV shows over the Internet.

MTV this week launched a channel of streaming video at its MTV.com Web site called MTV Overdrive, featuring video segments shorter than the usual half-hour MTV cable shows, from 2 to 15 minutes long.

Former vice president Al Gore chairs a new company that hopes to launch a cable channel called Current ( http://www.current.tv/ ) on Aug. 1 with a heavy Internet emphasis. Current is already inviting audience participation by letting Internet users submit videos that viewers will eventually be able to watch and rate. In addition to professionally produced videos aimed at young people, Current plans to air many user-created videos and will display data from Google about what people are searching for online.

The big challenges facing Internet TV ventures, of course, will be how to attract quality content and find the right audience. Who wants to watch a TV show about a man afraid to use public restrooms? How about a video blog of your neighbors eating breakfast? If there are audiences for such shows, how will the producers of such fare find them?

"It is a classic chicken-and-egg thing," said Josh Bernoff, a Forrester analyst. "If they get the content, people will come and use it. And if people come and use it, then folks will want to make their content available on the system."

Already, Google and Yahoo, the Web's top search engines, are trying to match Internet videos with viewers. Both recently rolled out trial video search engines that attempt to index the millions of video files published across the Web and show still images from them. This month Google went further, announcing plans to host video files on its computers, potentially laying the groundwork for its own Internet TV network.

Maybe I can become a star on Google TV and retire one day, watched by billions who share, say, my acute fear of going to work.

Leslie Walker's e-mail address is walkerl@washpost.com.

a cool heads-up from my friend Andrew Blau at GBN -->

Within a day of the launch, users had discovered combining PSP Video 9 (a free PSP video conversion and management program) with Videora (a $22.95 automatic video downloader utilizing BitTorrent and RSS (define ) allows them to cobble together a system that automatically downloads video feeds directly into their PSPs. Just like Adam Curry's initial iPodder script, it isn't the most elegant solution. But also like iPodder, it works.

more

check out the web site: at Kyou

Do you have the feeling that things are moving faster than they were a year ago, or even a few months ago? That keeping up with the latest trends in culture and technology is almost a full time job? In 1965, the co-founder of Intel, a guy named Gordon Moore, outlined a theory that said the number of transistors on a memory chip would double every 18 months: Moore's Law. Turned out he was right.

Take podcasting for example. It didn't exist 10 months ago. Now it seems that a day doesn't go by without an article appearing somewhere talking about something related to podcasting. If you believe everything you read, and who doesn't, podcasting is being championed as the great equalizer.

KYOURADIO is the first radio station in the world to get all of its programming from podcasts. Everyday we'll feature new, innovative and cutting edge programs produced by people like you. Your original thoughts and sounds will be broadcast in San Francisco on the revolutionary 1550 KYCY-AM and streamed worldwide at KYOURADIO.com.

We envision KYOURADIO as a station for the people. We think you have something to say and we want to hear it. You're out there creating, riffing, ranting and raving and Infinity is going to give voice to your vision. In fact, we want to share it with the world. KYOURADIO will no doubt evolve over time, but our intention is to make the experience as real as possible. Input from the world at large will provide lots of inspiration and plenty of constructive criticism.

Doesn't everyone have a streak of genius waiting to be heard? Welcome to OPEN SOURCE RADIO.

KYCY to become podcast radio

BAY AREA STATION IS FIRST IN NATION
By Seth Sutel
Associated Press

Infinity Broadcasting, a terrestrial radio company whose business model is being challenged by the iPod phenomenon, is borrowing a page from its rival's playbook.

Next month, Infinity will convert a poorly performing station in San Francisco to a format that will play only ``podcasts,'' or amateur recordings distributed via the Internet to listeners' iPods and other digital music players.

Infinity, which is part of the Viacom media conglomerate that also owns CBS and MTV, announced Wednesday that it would convert its KYCY-AM (1550) station in San Francisco to the new format May 16.

More here

- Lot to think about here. User content becomes 'broadcast' content. Is that good? How will it be programmed? Will user-announcers get to intro their songs? What if one user becomes popular? Is this an audition? Is it for pro's or just for hobbists...

Infinity jumping in is good - maybe even great - but it still leaves open the broadcast vs. narrowcast question. And do lots of narrow podcasters with thier own idea of audience and their own passoins, make up a coherent mass market radio station.

Well worth watching...

interesting post this morning on On The Commons.org Linkthat explores Channel 4 in the UK's take on sharing.

"The idea is not just to let people watch old TV programs and films, but to encourage anyone to use the old footage to make entirely new works. Adam Gee, commissioning editor of interactive for Channel 4's education unit, said: "This isn't about making wildlife films available, it's about getting the stuff people create back into the online repository so it can be shared around." Heather Rabbatts, the head of education at Channel 4, said: "We are focusing less on the archive aspect and more on how to enable audiences, especially younger audiences, to whom we think we have a very valuable connection, to develop their creative skills."

For MORE

His name is Basilio. He's the leading man in a documentary journey that takes you face to face with the devil.
--
I am in awe. For 82 minutes yesterday I was taken by the hand and walked, footstep by muddy footstep under the blood spattered cross, and down - down - down - into the silver mines of Cerro Rico, Bolivia. My guide was Basilo Vargas, a wonderfully engaging 14 year old who's father died when he was 2. Basilio is the oldest of 3, and they call him 'papa' because he's the family bread winner.

The journey that Basilio takes me on is deeply personal, extraordinarily frightening, and political in more ways than I can even begin to explain. While I know that there filmmakers involved in this journey - to their credit - they are invisible. For an hour and a half it's just me, and this child - exploring the world of "Tio" a devil god who can kill you with explosions, cave in's, or silicosis of the lungs. Everyone seems to agree that God's power ends at the entrance to the caves - and that without the protection of the Devil, death is inevitable.

This is a film that does so many things right. Basilio is the narrator, and his guidance and guileless is extraordinary. The danger is palpable at every turn - leading you to wonder why a camera crew would expose itself to the endless crashing danger of wagons without breaks, 95+ degree heat, sticks of dynamite, methane gas, and so man other untold dangers.

We know why Basilio is there - but why are WE? Well, thanks to Keif Davidson, and Richard Ladkani - who build extraordinary trust with Basilio, his family, and all of the men of this proud but doomed mining community.

But before I scare you away - there's no hand wringing in this doc. No preaching. No overarching message of globalization or child exploitation. In fact - as we learn - this has been going on for hundreds of years, this search for minerals in the "mountain that eats men."

Basilio is determined to change his fate, to get an education (at a school that seems to put up significant barriers - including uniforms, shoes, haircuts, and a strict almost military like precision). But Basilio stays in school. Works in the mines. Pays for his families food. And deals with the imposition of a film crew for weeks (at least). All with a confidence and charm that makes it easy to see him living happily ever after. Only in the final title card - "800 children work in mines of Cerro Rico" - do you remember that he's not an anomaly - and his unique character makes him likely to be a lone survivor, not a picture of child labor in Bolivia.

--

Sitting in the dark - on a Saturday Morning - with my 15 year old son, I had no idea that staring back at me would be his 14 year old counterpart, a world away. Basilio Vargas is not the kind of child you expect to be the hero of a film about child labor. He appears neither abused nor the victim, his existence is a reality. His ability be both a child and an adult is both engaging and depressing. The seriousness of his commitment to his 'studies' had my son looking inward.

And most of all - I'll never take silver for granted again.

Truly - there i was at the Tribeca Film Festival Opening Party at the Apple Store in Soho. The lights were down low. There was an open bar. The DJ was taking requests by borrowing people's IPODS...

a techno/film/ny night that could hardly be duplicated. Julianna Margulies was hanging out near the Genius Bar. The comedian known as RENO was holding court... sans dog, filmmaker Michael Soloman was there wearing a nifty jacket with the title "HOW TO EAT YOUR WATERMELON IN WHITE COMPANY (and enjoy it)" stitched on the back. A walking billboard for his film on Melvin Van Peebles.

Oh, but you're wondering about the Gates sighting?

Well, as god is my witness - on the big screen in the demo area - there they were... the Gates, in all they saffron glory. No sign of Christo & or Jeanne-Claude... but the Gates were there. I swear!

(btw - this was my second night in a row at the Apple Store, since last night was the monthly almost legendary NY Tech Meet-Up, hosted by Scott Heiferman. And despite the fact that the Apple folks had insisted that only apple products be demo'd - Jeremiah, 8-bit artist extraordinaire, had snuck a Nintendo Game system in for the nights musical entertainment. Devo sounding tunes, minus the red wedding cake plastic hats).

i'll be moderating a discussion after tonights screening... should be fun.

CHRIS METZLER AND JEFF SPRINGER'S NEW FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY, “PLAGUES AND PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA,” MAKES ITS NEW YORK PREMIERE AT THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO'S TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL.

Screening info:

Friday, April 22nd at 6:00pm

The Museum of Television & Radio
25 West 52nd Street
New York City, NY

www.mtr.org
_______________________________________________

PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA - SHORT SYNOPSIS

There was time when the Salton Sea, tucked into the southeast corner of California was known as the Riviera of the West—a haven for jetsetters and
vacationers. Originally created by accident, it’s now one of the country’s worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and
birds by the thousands. Still, a hardy few have hung on there, hoping for help to come along and restore the lake to its former glory. Congressman Sonny Bono himself was once dedicated to saving the lake, until he went skiing one day… Eccentrics abound in this surreal landscape: the naked guy who waves to passing RVs; the man who built his own holy mountain; beer-loving Hungarian Hunky Daddy; the guys who plan to get rich someday when this virtual sewer becomes a Riviera again. Hair-raising and hilarious, part history lesson, part cautionary tale and part portrait of one of the strangest communities you’ve ever seen, this is the American Dream gone as stinky as a dead
carp. _______________________________________________

PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA - LONG SYNOPSIS

In the middle of a harsh desert valley in California’s southeast corner, lies a glimmering blue jewel — the Salton Sea.  Along its desolate shores stand
boarded-up motels, dusty rural towns, half-flooded vacation homes, and miles of sun-crisped fish carcasses.  Amid this surreal and apocalyptic landscape survives a most unusual and unexpected group of eccentrics, who have carved out their own slice of paradise on the shores of this ecological disaster.
Through their perceptions and misperceptions, the strange history and unexpected beauty of the SaltonSea is revealed.

"Accidentally" created by an engineering error in 1905, reworked in the 50’s as a world class vacation destination for the rich and famous, and then suddenly
abandoned after a series of hurricanes, floods, and fish die-offs, the Salton Sea has a bittersweet past. Now amongst the ruins of this man-made mistake, a few
remaining people struggle to keep a remodeled version of the dream alive.  However, this most unique community is now threatened by the nearby
megalopolises of Los Angeles and San Diego, as they attempt to take the agricultural run-off that barely sustains the sea.  The fate of this so-called
ecological time bomb and the community that surrounds it remains uncertain, as the Salton Sea might just dry up.

While PLAGUES & PLEASURES covers the economic, political, and environmental issues that face the sea, it more importantly offers up an offbeat portrait of
the eccentric and individualistic people who populate its shores.  It is an epic western tale of fantastic real estate ventures and failed boomtowns, inner-city
gangs fleeing to white small town America, eternal optimism thriving among the remains of failed vacation destinations, and the subjective notion of success &
failure amidst the landscape of the American Dream.
_______________________________________________

PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA – WAR STORY

4 years, 2 sunburned guys, 1 melted camera, 120° heat, 75% humidity, dust storms, earthquakes, beautiful sunsets, flooded towns, palm trees, air boat rides, double-wides, bombing ranges, amputees, meth addicts,
swinging seniors, naked Christians, mooning Hungarians, infatuated eleven year-olds, dead shit, botulism, toxic muck, an unfathomable stench, and a
whole lot of cash - all washed down with a warm 40oz beer.
_______________________________________________
CHRIS METZLER – CO-DIRECTOR’S BIO:

After graduating from USC with a degree in business and cinema, Chris’ film career has taken him from the depths of agency work, to coordinating post-production for awful American movies seen late at night in
Belgium.

His film directing and producing work has resulted in frequent partnerships with Jeff Springer, where together they've criss-crossed the country with the
aid of caffeinated beverages and made their way in the Nashville country and Christian music video industries, before finally forsaking their souls to
commercial LA rock n’ roll.  These misadventures eventually culminated in them winning a Billboard Magazine Music Video Award.

Chris now finds himself pursuing docs featuring gay truck drivers and Australian opal miners.
_______________________________________________

JEFF SPRINGER – CO-DIRECTOR’S BIO:

Jeff Springer was born in a virtually abandoned town in the California  desert, raised in Hawaii, and educated at USC Film School.  After living for a
winter in Russia, he returned to Los Angeles to begin directing music videos, shorts, and editing for UPN, Fox, Geffen Records, and Lucasfilm.  Burned out and hung over, he eventually fled to San Francisco to start work on PLAGUES & PLEASURES, while still driving to Los Angeles to edit WWF and Moesha promos to pay the bills.  He now lives somewhere between San Francisco and Berlin.

"Plagues & Pleasures" is their first feature documentary for which they won the Robert Altman Award and the BAVC Videomaker Award.

A really interesting take on the evolution of news (and content) from the Mediacenter.org that kind of takes the evolution of consumer generated content to a new level.

it says - in part; "It’s mobile, immediate, visual, interactive, participatory and trusted. Make way for a generation of storytellers who totally get it. This briefing summarizes key findings from Media, Technology and Society, a multi-disciplinary research project on the media landscape conducted for professionals engaged in strategies, research, thinking, education, policy and philanthropy related to the future of journalism and media."

Here's the PDF link

Conversations about the future of newspapers recall the story of John Jacob Astor at the bar of the Titanic: “I know I asked for ice but this is ridiculous,”Astor quipped when informed the ship had struck an iceberg. Ten years ago the captains of news saw the emergence of the consumer Internet as a way to defend and extend markets, reduce costs and drive profits through synergies with digital media. I know I asked for ice. They were also warned that the new technologies would disrupt their markets, challenge their control, and create new competitors. ... but this is ridiculous. They should have heeded the warnings.

The unsinkable ship has steered smack into the Internet iceberg. It is leaking from a hole in the hull, there’s structural damage below the surface, and the passengers are manning the lifeboats. Things could get worse. Go to the bar and order an Astor Cocktail.

They will create content and transact commerce through immersive experiences that make a newspaper look like a sunken relic. More content will be available in more formats than ever. It will be created, edited, distributed and shared by consumers. Anyone can find what they want then act on it. A small sample of what’s ahead:

After a month or so - I took the focus group back to the Akimbo... ready to play with some new features and new channels.

I'd done the leg work, and gone through the menus to find things for the boys...

for the young one - lot's from National Geographic, Lions and Egypt. For the older (15) music videos.

Good news. the download indicators now show a progress bar. Strangely, still can't watch a progressive download. This matters, because it means that it's entirely deferred gratification.

The new channels are cool. Much as I hate to admit it, the channel brands make the service more comfortable and welcoming. I don't get why the more esoteric channels don't offer free samples. there's no way I'm going to plunk down hard earned cash for the Quicksilver channel or VARSITY TELEVISION
without getting a sense of the quality or the offerings.

Some sort of trailer system (5 min for free) would really help here.

Overall - I'm still more passionate about the concept than the execution. The idea that i'm getting access to programs that come from a server rather than a cable network or satellite provider has a ton of possibilities.

But in order for Akimbo - or anyone else for that matter - to plug into the soon to be overwhelming new content sources, some sort of user-controllable filter is essential.

The weird thing is that too many choices, without a way to narrow them, tends to drive me back to safe choices like National Geographic (known brands) and away from tasting new things...

What i want is a line up that includes personalization:

- Steve's Channels.

New options..

- New things Steve may want to see (as filtered based on my channel choices)
- New 'other' things. New things that haven't been filtered.

This way i start in a place that's safe, and targeted. And then based on my curiosity and time available, i can dig down deeper to explore.

BTW- My Tivo has lost it's mind. Some number of months ago, it decided i like "B" sci-fi movies. I SWEAR i never did a thumbs up on Mothra vs. Godzilla. But Tivo is sure i did. Now it's gone further, and is downloading SPANISH LANGUAGE 'B' SCI-FI. Ok, Why? Just wondering.

Back to AKIMBO.

I do think i'm seeing their long term plan. Because having a box gives them permission to cut to the head of the line in the VOD / IPTV deal making process. And if they're betting that the box business will be overtaken by MCE... then they win either way by being able to deliver the AKIMBO service to either their box, or any IPTV ready platform. Pretty smart, if that's where they're going.

They should focus on the user-interface. Tivo was slick and usable right out of the box (and in fact has changed very little). Akimbo still makes my head hurt a bit (i wish the remote was heavier). Overall - good steps, new channels, download progress. But still needing a filter and better sampling.

I haven't bought a single VOD show off the service yet, and they already have my credit card.

Just back from judging the Museum of TV and Radio "Pitch Panel". For the first time - there was a 5k prize for the best film/pitch. The prize was sponsored by The American Documentary and POV Executive Producer Cara Mertes brought along one of those huge 'Prize Squad' checks for the winning film.

There were 5 films in competition - narrowed down by the museum staff from more than 50 submissions.

On the panel of judges:

Chana Gazit , Producer/Director/Writer, Steward/Gazit Productions
Lauren Lazin , Executive Producer of Documentaries, MTV, VH1, and LOGO
Cara Mertes , Executive Director, P.O.V.
Steve Rosenbaum , Managing Partner, Magnify Media; Trustee, IDA
Susan Werbe , Vice President, Programming, The History Channel

Here's the films - in the order they were presented:

Round Midnight - Moscow Time: Thomas Burns
Asparagus! Staling the American Life - Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly
In The Wake of the Flood - J. Carlos Peinado
Shiny Happy People - Diane Paragas and Jennifer Redfearn
License to Play - Ann Rose

The first film was a Thom Burns take on Jazz in Russia. Using historic footage and new interviews - it's a topic that's both historic and musical. Thom's written presentation was right on - but the trailer didn't to either him, or the subject justice.

Asparagus! is the story of Oceana County, Michigan - the Asparagus Capital of the Nation. This is one of those topics that plays on a bunch of levels. It's Americana. It's Kitsch. And then - once you discover that the US War on Drugs has given Peru incentives to grow Asparagus - hence creating an Asparagus crisis... well, it's not so funny after that. Well done - engaging -and a look at the human impact of globalization. This would be hard to beat.

In The Wake of the Flood. J. Carlos Peinado's story of his ancestors lost tribal land in North Dakota is potentially amazing. But it's hard to know with all the success of Supersize Me and Fahrenheit 9/11 if filmmakers are making personal stories because they want to be the focus of their film, or because it seems like such a natural element of what is now successful in docs.

Shiny Happy People is one of those topics that should be amazing - and important. It's about the huge number of teens who are perscribed anti-depressants and the terrible toll of those drugs on some kids. But it's not hard to take a shot at this topic - and it is hard to nail it. the filmmakers showed just a brief bit, and the pitch started out by saying "our hope is this will be the supersize me of anti-depressants'. It wasn't clear if this was an essay film or a exploration of the topic. But the filmmakers are just getting into it , and it will certainly evolve.

License to Play is a film about clowns. Yes, clowns. And it's a love story. It's based on Moosecamp, a close college in Maple Lake, Minnesota. This was the best cinematography - and the story was constructed really well. I loved this film - and ok, it missed the mark by promising a sociological look at the role of clowns in current society. But i think this film has a lot of promise.

The jury awarded the $5,000 prize to Asparagus! Keep your eyes peeled for this film on festival circuit... it sure to be a crowd pleaser.

HERE'S HOW THE EVENT IS LISTED ON THE MRT WEB SITE:

All documentaries begin with an idea that is eventually pitched to a producer or network. In this workshop/competition, a panel of respected producers will discuss the process of developing a documentary and will hear pitches from novice filmmakers trying to sell a nonfiction concept. Five emerging documentarians (two directing credits or less) will be preselected to make public pitches to the panelists, who will critique both their pitches and their concepts. After all the pitches have been heard, the panel will choose a winner—based on persuasiveness, originality, and viability—who will receive a $5,000 grant to be used toward the completion of the film. The prize is sponsored by American Documentary Inc., the producers of the award-winning P.O.V. series for PBS. Panelists will also take questions from the audience about how a documentary idea grows from seed to fruition.

http://www.startsomethingpc.com/

the video says:

Something fun
Something you create
Something with reward
Something with recognition
Something with style
Something inspired

Get Ready...

it's a microsoft & IDSA -- The Industrial Designers Society of America project.

Home media? Home Design? MCE? Anyone know?

Notes from an industry overview session at the Buying and Selling eContent conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.  I just arrived so I might have missed a little of the intro, and already missed David Weinberger's keynote (podcast).  MORE

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

April 13, 2005, 9:19 PM
While online music stores begin to gain acceptance among the recording industry and consumers alike, Google is looking to a future beyond just audio. The company is preparing a video distribution platform that provides a complete ecosystem of services for content producers, publishers and end-users.

Google began testing its prototype video search engine in January, which scours the closed captioning text of television shows from a variety of channels. Users can view still images from a segment, but due to unsettled licensing issues, cannot see video clips nor read full transcripts. MORE

From Danny Schechter LINK WASHINGTON - Media mogul Rupert Murdoch yesterday outlined plans to overhaul the Web sites of his New York Post, Fox News Channel and other properties to make them destinations for young people, who increasingly don't have time for daily newspapers or the evening news broadcasts of television networks.

"Speaking to a meeting of top editors here, the chief executive of News Corp. said he wants to shake up the Internet in the same way that Fox and the Fox Broadcast Network forced changes upon older TV networks. "The challenge for us is ... to create an Internet presence that is compelling enough for users to make us their homepage, he said. LINK

Tuesday nights panel at the museum of radio and television in New York had more than a few memorable moments.

I've been on panels before, but being a moderator is a whole different thing. And the combo of a live audience and a satellite audience of 30+ colleges made the whole thing a little surreal.

Stuart Brotman - the Museum President - welcomed the crowd and provided a generous introduction (and then showed a clip from 'Inside The Bubble' - (which was a fun bit of advance PR for the film).

My opening remarks were meant to throw a little red meat, and get things riled up. But perhaps it was more effective than i knew. (The mention of F/911 seems to make some filmmakers squirm in their seats.)

Bob Drew - the dean of the political documentary - was in fine form. After showing a clip from the JFK doc Primary Drew revealed that he'd be asked to do a Nixon film some years later. He passed.

Drew was the lone voice on the panel defending the concept of Objectivity (I'd posed the question "Is Objectivity Dead" to get things rolling). But it seems like it was more a matter of defining Objectivity. Drew's work - when cinema verite was being invented as bulky film cameras were retrofitted to become portable. Drew was both critical of Michael Moore - who he called propaganda, and praised Alexandra Pelosi - whose film he said was a masterpiece. He seemed to reject a film with an agenda.

Next to him- Eugene Jarecki, who showed a clip from "Why We Fight" I'd never met Eugene before and found him to be startling reveling. He talked about the 'little lies' of making a film - and how you try to be honest about your bias and point of view. This is film I MUST see based on meeting him.

The always entertaining Alexandra Pelosi was in fine form. She proclaimed that she hated John Kerry, that she liked Bush - though not his policies.
Overall she left the whole "Passion of the Partisan" thesis a bit muddy, but probably rightly so. Part of why so many filmmakers have issues with Partisan films is that they pride themselves on being committed to honest storytelling, which means not just selling your thesis at the expense of your legitimacy and an honest dialog.

Thom Powers showed "Guns and Mothers" - and may have had the most truly startling moment when he showed an NRA Promotional tape that included women shooters learning how kill deer. It was a chilling scene - and it's hard to think of any film with those images as objective.

Ted Steinberg - the filmmaker behind Celsius 41.11 was next, and showed a clip from the anti-moore 'atackumentary'. Oddly - he didn't have horns. In fact he was pretty up front about the slapped together nature of Celsius (it was made in 5 weeks). While hardly a Moore fan, he didn't engage in the Moorebashing that he had been billed to provide.

Last on the Panel was Paul Steckler. His film "Last Man Standing" was a truly great political film - a bare knuckles campaign in Texas. Steckler seemed the most uncomfortable with the whole evolution of Partisan filmmaking - and his work is a good reason why.

Overall - it all seemed not to come down to objectivity - but to fundamental fairness. But I can't help to wonder if we don't all like our films with their political bias elegantly woven into the music track, the sly editing, and the convincing overall debate being swung in favor of the filmmakers agenda. A film like "Why we fight" is an intellectual, reasoned, carefully constructed argument. Fahrenheit 911 is a filmmaker with a nuclear weapon and an agenda - hell bent to change the world or take his best shot. It's passionate, but not gentlemanly in the old style of documentary film.

one final note: Ron Simon, Ritty Burchfield, and the entire staff at MTR did an amazing job of organizing, hosting, and managing this event. The place runs like a top and it's a pleasure to work with them.

lots of interesting things happening in Canada with ZED, a user-content initiative that is doing what lots of people are talking about - turning TV over to the viewers.

As ZED managing editor says in a pice on Wired News: ""Anybody who has watched public-access TV will know that not all viewer-submitted content is good," said McLean Greaves, executive producer of ZeD. "You need to filter content."

Greaves, a former AOL Time Warner executive who has worked with Spike Lee and P. Diddy, said ZeD's mission is to democratize media production, but filters must be put in place. The most popular type of media uploaded, for example, is skateboard videos set to music.

So ZeD employs a team of online editors to sift through the content, check it for copyright issues and either publish it on its website or pass it along to a producer who will give it a lick of professional polish. If chosen, the network will pay $200 per minute for the video (although it does not pay for pieces that are shorter than one minute).

ZeD's most popular pieces tend to reflect the program's eclectic mix. For example, it acquired Anne Troake's Pretty Big Dig, a film that sets dancing construction vehicles to music, and Corey Rutley's Sheriff of the Tub, a monologue by a guy in a cowboy outfit who's eating chicken in a bathtub."

The article and be found HERE. It talks about Al Gore's interest in ZED, and a coming trip for the Current team to explore their system.

Also - in related news - ZED has opened it's source code. I'm not sure how significant that is, but i'd love to hear from folk who have seen the code and understand just how complex and important it is. In any case, it's a great way to put your code where your mouth is regarding open source.

Having lived with user content for 4+ years at MTV UNfiltered, i can certainly agree that some sort of filter is usefull. As to the idea of 45 people full time sorting - that seems pretty old media oriented to me. The point is, there's some distance between where we want to be, and where we are. Audiences learning how to make content, networks learning how to play with auidience content, and all of us getting smarter about how those interactions work. Add on top of that rights issues (a moving target) content creator profit sharing (very important) and audiences understanding of new forms (not just half hours and hours). It's all part of the mix.

btw- signed up for Google Video Upload - lots of thinking there, and lots more yet to do. But they're jumping in feet first - which will move them fast into an intense learning curve. Really impressive - i must say.

Chris Anderson continues to blow me away with his ability to turn the Long Tail thread into an exploration of media, society, technology, and change. What began as an interesting observation has turned into a significant conversation for content creators, media organizations, and advertising types.

Now Chris asks the question - "does niche replace mass?" And it's a good one. The Long Tail Blog

What's interesting here is that people seem to be suffering from a certain kind of loneliness, living in a world in which we can't all go to the office and say - hey did you see "60 Minutes" last night and be assured that half the office would nod in agreement.

But being connected to millions of strangers may not in the end be as satisfying as being really connected to hundreds of of people who share an interest or an avocation. I read blogs that I'm sure are read by just a few folks. But because they share my interest, i like reading their comments, and even interacting with them. The value of a community to it's members isn't size, it's relevance.

Glad to point you to a post by Dan Gilmore (and interesting discussion that follows) about the use of citizen video from the Republican National Convention and it's use to debunk charges that resulted in the arrest of protesters.

Gilmore's post is driven by a page 1 story in yesterday's NY Times.

interestingly, i was there - with a camera - and working with 8 other filmmakers covering the RNC. I thought that what we recorded was extraordinary. A huge police presence. Orange snow fencing used to net up people like a school of fish. And a lifting of liberties unlike anything i'd ever seen. But the media seemed uninterested. We had tape from inside protest groups, planning meetings, public protests, and what i thought was significant.

No one from either film or TV was the least bit interested. Said it was not interesting to see police doing their jobs and a few 'hairy protesters skin their knees' to quote one enlightened exec.

Now it seems that footage will come in useful - since it tells a very different story than the one the police were telling to back up the mass arrests.

interesting development.

It was like getting into a time machine. The New York Times Magazine takes a futuristic look into Nielsen and Arbatron. The dig deep into the future of media mesaurement, out of home viewing, etc.

The only problem is - they miss the elephant in the room. The internet. You know - that platform that is targeted, on-demand, and driven by direct click through revenues.

You can almost hear the debate in the newsroom - "That's a different story - the whole content on the net thing."

But had they asked advertisers - they would have heard a different story. It's not that they want better measurement, it's that they think the future is a whole different kind of relationship with readers/viewers. Ok, this is not agreed apon universally, but when the head of P&G says at the recent American Assocation of Advertising Agency's conf:

At a time when web advertising has overtaken radio LINK

"The Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade association with more than 200 members, and PricewaterhouseCoopers said that Internet advertising totaled about $2.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004, the highest revenue quarter the bureau has tracked. The estimate for entire year of 2004 is just over $12 billion -- nearly double the $7.2 billion spent in 2003. The fourth-quarter figure is a 24 percent increase, the bureau said."

Certainly advertising in mainstream media won't vanish - but why the Times article drew such a distinct line around media measurement, and didn't even allow that a shift from advertising that interupts media to advertising that effectively engages consumers might herald a more fundimental shift that simply diaries vs. passive people meters. Soooo 1998.

From DarkNet
A 'chaos theory" for big media

Bob Garfield has an insightful new piece for NPR's On the Media on what he calls the chaos theory of big media. Jeff Jarvis (briefly), Om Malik (briefly) and yours truly (briefly) are among those interviewed.

See An Impending Period of Transitional Chaos for Media.

I (and others) have been writing about this for some time -- the notion that we're in the midst of a major transformation in the mediasphere, away from traditional media pumped to us through one-way pipes and toward media that's much more under our control -- circular, responsive, malleable, multidirectional, personalized.

Simply put, people are looking to exert greater control over how they interact with media.

I just listened to it -- good piece, 12 minutes long, entertaining and dead on.

"The age of the mainstream media is passing. the new order is taking shape," Garfield intones. "Digits are the new widgets." He sees "an impending period of radical changes in the economy, the culture and society itself," and warns that "we are heading into a historically turbulent moment." Indeed, we've already entered this transformative period, which is ushering in "the democratization of media."

The result may be frightening to Madison Avenue, but it's empowering to the rest of us. "We cease to be demographics, we become individuals again," Garfield concludes.

"Mass media will be overthrown by micromedia," adds Drazen Pantic of Unmediated, perhaps a bit too melodramatically.

The show airs this weekend -- it aired Friday in LA, and it airs today in other cities.

Let's take a poll - do you think that in the upcoming 2006 mid-term elections political films will be:

a. an old idea (Michael Moore was sooo 2004)
b. an exploding trend (pleeease - no more DVD's from Move On)
c. a permanent part of the media eco-sphere (vblogs forever)

Listening to Hillary Clinton talk about the role of the media in the 2004 election (and the lack of couragous coverage of the current administration) it's pretty clear that the leaders of the Democratic Party are none too pleased with the media status quo.

All that should make for good fodder Tuesday night, when political filmmakers from all persuasions gather at the Museum of TV and Radio to debate "The Future of Partisan Filmmaking". I get to moderate - which should be like trying to ref a food fight.

The Passion of the Partisan:
What Is the Future of the Political Documentary?

In Person:
Robert Drew (Primary)
Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight)
Alexandra Pelosi (Journeys with George)
Thom Powers (Guns and Mothers)
Ted Steinberg (Celsius 41.11: The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die)
Paul Stekler (Last Man Standing)

I was invited after the museum read my article about Michael Moore in the October issue of the IDA magazine: DOCUMENTARY.

PANEL DESCRIPTION
This year Michael Moore and the Swift Boat Veterans proved that there was a passionate audience for partisan documentaries. This Museum seminar will address whether the politically charged films that made headlines in 2004 have transformed the craft and mission of the documentary. Panelists will consider if filmmakers are now expected to bring a strong political viewpoint to a project before filming starts and to appeal to a specific audience. The long-term implications of the partisan documentary will also be examined, with executives and distributors discussing upcoming projects.

Tickets: $15 ($12 for individual Museum Members); $5 for students with valid ID. Series Price (any 3 events): $40 ($30 for individual Museum Members); $12 for students.

I don't know if the event is sold out - but if you want to attend, email me and i'll see what's up with seats.

From socialsoftware, a really interesting debate about the conflict between sharing and protecting IP:

Bringing together a few somewhat disparate threads from the blogosphere (my favorite pasttime!), I’m going to remix them all into today’s question for you. As the Grokster case looms large and broadcast content creation companies seek to morph the internet into a one-way street more like TV, folks are being forced to define more precisely why this is an inherently bad idea. Techdirt reports on one individual who has just grokked this: he already has a TV, so doesn’t really want more TV content via his broadband connection. What he really wants to do is use that internet connection to communicate with friends and family, which means precisely creating his own content and sharing it with others. However, as Clay Shirky discovered recently, locking up content with ever-more complex DRM protection schemes works directly against sharing and distributing one’s own created content just as effectively as it prevents “piracy” of content prepared by broadcast media outlets. So, then, my question is this: are DRM and social media directly at odds? Copy “protection” isn’t about to make communication any easier, and it makes media that wants to be social that much less valuable, because it can’t be (easily) shared or discussed. Going further: does a social component have the potential to add value to all media? What’s your take?

Link

I was with Fred Wilson the other day - and the whole challenge of sorting video content for users is really interesting.

Fred posed this interesting puzzle about the wisdom of the crowd as a mechanism. And it got me thinking.

When I walk down the street and the are three restaurants, I tend to gravitate toward the one with the line out the door. The crowd must 'know something'. Conversely, I never want to be the only person sitting in an empty restaurant. No fun, and likely to end with indigestion.

But what about the neighborhood. What about the kind of crowd that's endorsing this joint? Are they 'cool people'? And - do I like what's on the menue. So using the crowd as a baramoter only takes you so far.

I think I imagine a modified WOC model. Crowds of people with like interests, similar tastes, or related interests. Crowds born in communities.

The big news now is that Google is going to store video. And that should add some rocket fuel to the vblog world - and other uses.

Google has an interesting challenge in this space. Think about their approach to news for a second. The Google News site search branded news sources. If I search on "Akimbo + Rosenbaum" in Google Web, I get a link to my blog and my comments on Akimbo. If I run the same search in Google News, I get no results. So Google has filtered blogs out of the "News" search engine.

As more and more video is shot, edited, and posted - the opportunity to make sense of it becomes more interesting.

For Google to treat ABC News Video the same as Joe Public video is a huge change in how news is filtered. But in opening the Google video search to vblogs, they've in a sense done that already.

On one hand - it's very cool and could result in tons of new content. On the other hand, it creates an interesting problem. Sergi has as much as said, we're going to break it, and then figure out how to fix it. And that's probably a good thing.

The revolution may have ended - in a bloodless coup that officially allowed bloggers into the hallowed halls of journalism tonight.

Ok - maybe that's a bit strong. But Reuters is among the most well respected news brands in the world. And to even open the door the question of what role blogging plays in journalism is in itself significant.

What was more interesting is what didn't happen. None of the bloggers on the panel declared 'old media' dead. And none of the MSM folks compared blogging to CB Radio or Instant Messaging. (though X from CSJ.com did say he 'didn't think it was all such a big deal').

It was a feisty and entertaining group. Paul Holmes from Reuters was the moderator.

the BLOGGERS Team had on it's side:
--------------------------------------------
Garrett Graff (first official White House Blogger)
Jeff Jarvis (buzzmachine)
Bryan Keffer (asst Mg Edior CJR Daily)
Halley Suit (http://halleyscomment.blogspot.com)

from the MSM camp:
-----------------------
John Fund (wsj editorial board member and 'laptop stealer')
Stephen Baker (Business Week - 'but i blog a little for them).

It seems that everyone acknowledges that blogging is part of the future (with Steven Levy from Newsweek asking "is Blogging a bubble?" - the answer was "no").

Among the most engaging comments - was Graff pointing out that all 'old media' was written in third person - even when it was a torture to do so. Blogging is almost always first person. Obvious, but a critical shift worth thinking about.

The overall 'can't we all just get along' mantra appeared to be 'yes' - and in that, even an admission that blogs were in some ways forcing major media to be honest (rathergate) even if bloggers were sometimes played for fools (eason jordan gate).

One non-blogging observation. Does anyone know why the weird globey thing on the NY Times Building turned briefly from white to red at 7:45? Is it a Bat Single for all reporters to return home? A warning to low flying aircraft? A signal that the early edition is no off the presses? (the Reuters building conf room looks out over the Times (i'm sure they love that).

Gore TV Network to Launch in August, Google Tie-In
Mon Apr 4, 5:32 PM ET
Entertainment - Reuters TV

By Jeremy Pelofsky

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Monday unveiled his new television network, "Current," which aims to attract younger viewers with short videos and a tie-in with the popular Google Inc. search engine.

The network plans to debut on Aug. 1 and be available to 19 million subscription television viewers, Gore said at a news conference at the cable industry's annual convention. Gore led an investment group that last May bought the network from Vivendi Universal for an undisclosed sum.

More... LINK

Lots of good data and smart thinking in Merrill Brown's report for the Carnegie Corporation. As major news organizations look for new ways to fit into the increasinly diverse news ecology - execs are unsure how to plug into the new, opinionated, first-person tone that is defining the world of blogs.

LINK: Abandoning the News

There's a terrific new post up from Chris Anderson (of Long Tail fame) about television and it's particular appropriateness to long tail economics.

He's right on many points, including the disposable nature of current offerings and the huge amount of TV that is missed and gone forever.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From The Long Tail "Thus the ratio of produced content to available content is the highest of any industry I've looked at. Other industries may produce more content--print, for instance--but it's far more available (see Google). Only television treats its premium content as disposable. True, a lot of it actually is. But not all, and not as much as is effectively thrown away after a brief moment in the sun."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What he doesn't say - but i suspect he an many other literate folks know - is that most of what is now distributed via TV deserves to be missed.

Content that is created under the current system conforms to it's shape and limitations.

That means that all content is biased in favor of scale (large audience sell TV ads).

But the power of the promise of the Long Tail isn't that we want to have all 500+ channel content on a server in an on demand world - what a pile of junk. Rather it is that evolutionary economics could actually create an entirely NEW kind of media.

Think of current 'television' as mass market entertainment, and the future of 'motion media' as having a whole series of other species. File content under:

a. Knowledge b. Debate and Discussion c. Exploration and Ideas d. Art

Overall, far more detailed - valuable, and necessary. Not a pastime, but the evolving center of a marketplace of ideas and information - created with new media tools.

So, I would suggest that TV shouldn't be saved. It shouldn't be Exploded. It should Evolve.

This is the tricky part. A number of years ago I was at conf. with lots of smart people. It was one of those 'everyone participates' think tanks. And when it came to me - the question was "didn't I agree that TV was the source of much evil in the world, in education, in our lives." Rather than answer - I asked everyone in the audience who watches TV to raise their hands. Out of 100 people - 8 did.

My point is - there is a cycle we have to break. TV programs to lowest common denominator audiences. Intelligent viewers don't use video for knowledge, or understanding. And the people who make programs for smaller, but more discerning viewers find they can't reach their intended recipients.

Companies like Brightcove (as Chris rightly points out) are key to the puzzle. But then we need to go the next step, and challenge great thinkers to attempt to translate their ideas into moving media. Not 'Sundance' films. Something entirely new.

Because we'll need an entire generation of new media ideas before we can ask people to evolve from passive consumers of junk media into thoughtful creators and remixers of participatory television.

From BOING BOING
Interesting development, no mention of DRM or security solutions that have kept most movie studios from wider digital distribution... maybe they're confident that the P2P law suit will go their way...?

At a conference in Santa Monica today, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment SVP Michael Arrieta said:

"We want to set business models, pricing models, distribution models like (Apple Computer CEO Steve) Jobs did for music, but for the film industry," [said Arrieta], "I'm trying to create the new 'anti-Napster."

To that end, Arrieta said, his group plans to digitize Sony Pictures' top 500 films and make them available for the first time in various digital environments within the next year. He said the distribution for films like "Spider-Man 2" will go beyond just Movielink, the video-on-demand joint venture of Sony Pictures and several other major studios, which to date has hosted a limited library of Sony's movies.

For example, Sony plans to sell and make films available in flash memory for mobile phones in the next year, Arrieta said. It also will further develop its digital stores for downloading and owning films on the PC, he said in an interview. Sony's plans--and similar moves by other studios--are likely to avoid empowering any one technology company--such as Apple in the music equation--and allow studios to pocket more of the profits. The philosophy in Hollywood is "Define your own agenda or someone else will for you."

NOW PUBLIC & OurMedia take on media sharing.

Two very different takes on shared media infrastructure have launched, and both are interesting.

First, Marc Cantor and JD Lasica's OurMedia is a large, free, shared content for rich media. Brewster Kahle's internet archive will act as the backbone for this. It's paid for on Brewster's dime.

There is a great audio interview with Cantor and Lasica on IT conversations (http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail406.html)

Cantor is the founder of Macromind (now Macromedia) - and has been building empowerment tools for a very long time. JD has been covering the evolution of content for 20 years (he interviewed me for a piece on MTV UnFiltered for American Journalism Review in the mid 90's).

Our media has gotten some grief for launch issues, but it's an alpha service -and it's pretty clear that these guys have the background and passion to get it done. It's a storage solution at it's launch, and it's a registry as it evolves... They're pretty sure that storage and distribution will be distributed over time... And building a sharing registry now will create audience and access as content sharing continues to grow.

MEANWHILE:

NowPublic.com is a citizen journalism site that aggregates both video and stills, all under a creative commons license (much like Our Media) but with the idea that it can be shared and used among blog users.

The interface is engaging - with tabs for "news" "footage" and "assignments"
NowPublic almost feels like a content database from a news organization, and they're trying to be transparrent about where footage comes from, and where it is going.

Overall - both sites are exciting developments - and worth tracking.