Google has announced that it will begin building an ultra fast broadband network to service up to 500,000 customers around the United States, with speeds advertised at about 100 times the current average speed for broadband connections.
The company will use fiber optic lines, and the entire network will be an experiment. The experiment is whether it can sell more Web ads, if it encourages citizens to be on the Internet more. Although the move would put the company in direct competition with Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast and others, a move to a standalone broadband business seems unlikely for the search giant.
Google says to: “Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web and discussing a unique condition with a specialist in New York. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture.”
Result for: length feature
Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced that it will begin streaming over 100 full-length feature films on its video site Crackle.com including Spider-Man 2, Stripes and Godzilla.
The move follows Sony’s previous deal with YouTube to stream full movies through the popular video sharing site.
Sony notes that Crackle users only spent 5 minutes on average on the site for the month of March, and Sony is hoping to keep users around longer, especially if they are viewing more ads.
Although the site is no competition against YouTube, Hulu and TV.com, the site posted an 84 percent gain in streams to users, year on year, for the Q1.
“Our movie lineup is unmatched online,” adds Sony Pictures Television senior VP of digital networks Eric Berger.
Result for: length feature
According to Warner Music Group, negotiations between them and video sharing giant YouTube have broken down, and the group has removed all their music videos from the site.
Currently each of the Big 4 labels are renegotiating their licensing deals with YouTube.
“We are working actively to find a resolution with YouTube that would enable the return of our artists’ content to the site,” Warner noted. “Until then, we simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide.”
Earlier this week, Universal Music noted that YouTube had become a strong revenue stream for the studio, and that it “has generated ‘tens of millions’ of dollars for the recording company this year, up 80 percent from last year.” Universal hopes to add more content to YouTube soon, likely full length feature films.
“If we can’t reach acceptable business terms, we must part ways with successful partners,” Google (owner of YouTube) added. “For example, you may notice videos that contain music owned by Warner Music Group being blocked from the site.”
