Google has purchased Next New Networks this week, the producer of viral video programming.
The financials of the deal were not disclosed.
Since its launch in 2007, Next New Networks’ videos have collected 2 billion views and 6 million subscribers.
Says Google (via DMW):
Within YouTube, Next New Networks will be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation with the team working in a hands on way with a wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube.
NNN has raised over $27 million in funding, so far.
Result for: video programming
TiVo Inc. has reached out to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over concerns that the use of Switched Digital Video (SDV) technology by Cable providers will destroy its business. While traditional cable infrastructure delivers all available channels at once to subscribers’ receivers, SDV will deliver only the channels currently being accessed.
The benefits of SDV are obvious; savings in bandwidth for one and the possibility of setting up systems with multiple times the channels currently being offered to subscribers. The system requires a receiver to send an upstream signal to a cable headend to request a signal be sent down the cable; a TiVo box cannot do this and relies on infrastructure that allows it to simply lock on to the available signals.
In a nutshell, this means that a TiVo box cannot change a channel on a SDV-based system, whereas a provider-issued box can. TiVo attacks the industry in a filing with the FCC on the issue, pointing out that TiVo is the “only major competitive entrant left standing” in the DVR space. It attributes this position to Cable’s historical reluctance to open networks to third-party hardware, as opposed to natural free-market forces.
“It is reasonable to foresee that the majority of, if not all, video programming will be SDV in the not too distant future,” says TiVo. “Without immediate FCC action, no market for competitive video devices can emerge.” SDV has been around for a while, but TiVo has found a new urgency due to an inflating number of U.S. households with SDV-based hookups.
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Result for: video programming
Joost Inc. revealed on Tuesday its new flash-based video service on joost.com. Unlike past efforts from Joost, there is no software that requires installation exclusively for Joost, only a typical flash plug-in, just like other video sharing sites. “People have always relied on their friends’ recommendations to figure out which movies they want to watch, or talked about their favorite TV shows and moments with friends and colleagues – and now Joost has combined those real-life experiences in one online destination,” said Mike Volpi, CEO, Joost.
Volpi continued: “Our integrated social tools make it easier than ever for people to find the shows, film and music they want to watch, and to form communities around that content, which ultimately enriches their overall experience.” In addition, Joost features a number of social tools which are designed to help people navigate through the largest online library of legal video programming and to integrate user expression directly into the service.
Users can interact with video and with other people on Joost: they can voice their opinions about video through comments, “shouts” or tags; they can find out what their friends are watching by adding friends through most major online webmail services via the Friends section; or they may interact with others in the Joost community through groups around their favorite shows, characters or artists.
Joost has more than 46,000 professionally-produced videos for a total of more than 8,000 hours of video entertainment. Some of Joost’s partners include CBS (Entertainment, News and Sports, and classic library content), Showtime, Last.fm, Wallstrip, Moblogic; Viacom, including Atom, BET, CMT, Comedy Central, LOGO, MTV, The N, Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1 programming; television series and full-length feature films from Sony Pictures Television; and the Warner Bros. Television Group.
