There’s never been a better time to register on Metacafe now that we have our newly released Message Center. Now you can contact your friends on Metacafe just like you do with your personal email, with the added bonus of being able to insert your submitted videos to see what people think. Another plus is that you can block members from sending you messages or commenting on your channel or videos, ensuring your security. We’ve also made a few changes to the homepage which you’ll be seeing in stages over the next couple of weeks, including a scrolling "showcase" of Producer Rewards videos.
For more info, check out the Metacafe Forums.
Last week NewTeeVee posted a fascinating interview with the founder and CEO of China’s top video sharing site, Tudou.com. Gary Wang, who founded the site two years ago, says Tudou currently serves up 60 million video streams a day to nearly 45 million users a month. While much of the content on Tudou is uploaded illegally – piracy is a huge problem in China – Wang says that non-professional users have uploaded their own original content to Tudou’s director program. Wang says there are no plans for Tudou to expand beyond China at the moment.
See more at NewTeeVee.com.
Hulu, NBC’s and News Corp’s highly-anticipated joint web video venture, will launch a private beta of its site this week. The service, which will offer movies and TV shows from both networks, will also distribute content on AOL, Comcast, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo. Hulu’s catalogue of professional content is unparalleled, featuring full episodes of most of the two networks’ top shows, in addition to a limited set of films (full list at NewTeeVee). According to CEO Jason Kilar, Hulu advertising will be 25 percent of standard broadcast TV, consisting of primarily 5-second prerolls, banners, overlays and 30-second midrolls.
See more at NewTeeVee.com.
Following last week’s revelation that Comcast has been slowing down and/or blocking BitTorrent file transfers, US senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) have asked the Senate Commerce Committee to hold a hearing to investigate the service interferences. Comcast isn’t the only ISP accused of meddling with its users’ transfers, and telcos Verizon and AT&T will likely also be investigated by the committee.
See more at CNET.com.
According to NewTeeVee, Flash memory maker SanDisk is set to announce a PC-to-TV transfer device today called Take.TV. The accompanying portal allows users to download video content onto their PCs for transfer to their television set via the Take.TV device. Unfortunately, the device must be manually connected to the television after downloading content – no wireless. The Take.TV video portal will carry content from Sony, CBS and Paramount initially.
See more at TechCrunch.com.
A UK-based startup called BlinkBox is launching today that lets users take pre-created clips from movies and TV shows and add a personalized message at the beginning. The resulting clips can be shared via link, embed or mobile device. Clips can be taken from a wide variety of movies and TV shows – all protected by DRM.
See more at TechCrunch.com.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA), the union containing the writers for nearly every American television and film production, would apparently strike if called upon. That’s the word from the WGA’s latest assembly, which voted to authorize a strike with 90.3 percent of the ballots if demands such as coverage for online writers and new media residuals aren’t met. The WGA has been in talks with the studios’ representative body, the American Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), for several months, but both sides are still far apart. According to Deadline Hollywood Daily’s Nikke Finke, the WGA likely will not strike until the end of the year so as to increase its leverage in labor talks.
See more at NewTeeVee.com.
Comcast internet subscribers’ suspicions were confirmed two days ago, when the Associated Press proved that the cable and ISP giant has indeed been blocking P2P file sharing services like BitTorrent. The AP conducted a nationwide test that showed that Comcast has been blocking or delaying uploads to BitTorrent, eDonkey, Gnutella and other services in an attempt to curb traffic generated by pirated content. Comcast continues to deny these claims.
See more at NewTeeVee.com.
