NEWS: Justin.TV Network Launches: More Shows to Come

News/Social Networks/Videos
Found on: techcrunch.com

Using a process called "lifecasting" sites like Justine.TV and Ustream.tv are taking off and reality television just made a huge shift over to the web. Both platforms provide a network and a set of tools to create your very own live show using a webcam.

Techcrunch.com post:

24/7 reality online TV show Justin.tv has has turned into a bit of a mini-phenomenon since launching just two months ago.Their apartment was raided by the police, and they were later evicted by their landlord. They were on the Today Show. Justin has hung out with famous rappers. They’ve taken extravagant dares from their audience, and a crowd always surrounds Justin and his ubiquitous camera. Hundreds of adolescent viewers watched (sort of) as Justin had sex on the show, although users were left with a black screen and silence until the Justin.tv team started playing porn music. The site has been far more successful so far than the founders anticipated.

NEWS: Ex-Disney chief launches Web video company

News/Web Culture/Video
Found on: news.com

Ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner launched a new web video company called Vuruga this week - it's mission: deliver "high-quality, story-driven content" on par with all the other crap on television.

Vuruga's first series will be a mystery drama called "Prom Queen," the first of 80 (90 second long) episodes will begin airing next month.

Cnet post:

Vuguru, officially a project of Eisner's investment firm Tornante, debuted Monday along with its first production and set of sponsors. According to a statement from the new company, Vuguru aims to focus on "high-quality, story-driven content for the Internet" on a par with professional television and cinema productions.

The inaugural Vuguru series, a mystery drama called Prom Queen, will release the first of its 80 episodes on April 2. The 90-second clips, aimed at a tech-savvy teen audience, have been produced in conjunction with Web video company Big Fantastic--best known as the team behind the video podcast Sam Has 7 Friends. Among Prom Queen's sponsors is the magazine-turned-webzine Elle Girl, which stopped print publication last year to focus on online and mobile distribution.

NEWS: Viacom lands video deal with Joost

News/Web Culture/IPTV
Found on: reuters.com

If you don't know what Joost is by now, here's the skinny: the boys that started Kazaa and Skype recently launched a new Ad-supported internet TV service, leveraging the P2P technology that they used to make Kazaa what it was back in the day (totally sucks now) and Skype what it is today.

Fast forward to this story; earlier this week Viacom agreed to provide video content to Joost and it's users in return for a piece of the pie - huge!

Reuters post:

Viacom Inc., engaged in a public copyright battle with Google Inc.'s YouTube, has agreed to offer videos to Joost, the Internet video service created by the founders of Skype and Kazaa.

Viacom said on Tuesday hundreds of hours of TV programing from its MTV and BET Networks and feature-length films from Paramount Pictures will be available to Joost users for free under a revenue-sharing deal between the two companies.

It did not disclose financial terms, but an industry source said Viacom was likely to have secured a slightly better agreement than its traditional deals to receive two-thirds of advertising revenue.