News Archive

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this video spoof of the final scene of The Sopranos by Hillary Clinton.  The video, which features former president Bill Clinton as well, was produced to publicize the outcome of a contest to choose her campaign song.  The winning song was Celine Dion’s “You and I.”

Getty Images, the world’s largest provider of stock imagery, announced Wednesday its first foray into digital music with its purchase of independent music licensing start-up Pump Audio. The $42 million acquisition represents a new emphasis on digital media at Getty Images, and a giant boost Pump Audio.  

See more at CNET.com

Verizon FIOS, the fiber optic service with blazing speeds that is currently only available in select US locations, recently announced they were testing HD video-on-demand (VOD).  Potential FIOS customers are salivating over the possibility of HD VOD in their living rooms, as fiber optics make for an ideal delivery method of HD content because of their incredibly high bandwidth.

The Democracy Player is preparing a new release called the Miro Player which promises an open-source application capable of playing videos of all file types. The player, which is similar to iTunes in its interface, organizes existing video files on your computer and streamlines your web viewing habits by allowing you to set automatic downloads of your favorite “webisodes.” You can also search through your files and browse the player’s channel guide to find new content faster.  

See more at CNET.com
 

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences took a major step towards legitimizing web video last week by handing out Daytime Emmy awards to broadband shows for the first time. The comedy award went to NBC’s The Office: Accountants shorts, It’s Jerry Time won in the variety category, PBS won the children’s award for Cyberchase, and Satacracy 88 took the drama award. 

It looks like the major UK broadcasters are taking a page out of NBC’s and New Corp.’s book with hints of a new download service called “Project Kangaroo.” The project will supposedly combine TV content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and possibly others in a download service that may be built around a P2P network. The details on this initiative are scant, but you’ll be sure to hear more about it in the future.  

See more at Engadget.com

It appears that the next-gen disc debate maybe all but decided, as Blockbuster has chosen to stock only Blu-ray discs in the majority of its US stores.  HD DVD films will still be carried in those stores that have offered them to date, but that won’t be enough to make up for Blu-ray’s 70% dominance in the HD disc market.

See more at Engadget.com