I suppose if you squint hard and plug your ears, you can pretend that this would be the Internet's first live streaming video network.

umm..call me stupid; but doesn't Leo Laporte already do this? Livestreaming I mean..old news.

I now see why Leo got mad at him.

Man, Leo Laporte is got to be pissed about this one.

I think some of the ThisWeekIn are a bit to niche. But the hosts are funny, energetic, and interesting. So who knows, it could be a huge success.

With the iPad out and many more clones to come it stands to reason that Calacanis has nailed the timing and could hit this one out of the park. It will be fun to see how this plays out.

To answer the question that the title of this article proposes, yes i do. Its a great network and I have been following it closely for months now. Something of a loyal watcher of the This week in network I think it has tremendous potential moving forward as another evolution of the weblogs format although that association is only made due to Calacanis being present.

I wonder what Leo has to say about this?

Horrible.
Leo has a right to be angry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONSDGdnb9Yk

I can't wait for Jason's show, "This Week In Backstabbing".

This has got to be pissing off Leo Laporte.

hmmm. so arrington and calcanis split up and both are kicking off video stream plays?

surely just a coincidence….

good luck finding enough people willing to tolerate working with calacanis

Why is he stealing the naming convention Leo uses for twit? He is on that show all the time too I don't get it.

Why does "This Week In . . ." sound vaguely familiar? Oh yeah: http://twit.tv/

Jason is a smart man. He clearly understood the trend a year ago when he started TWIST with Leo Laporte's blessing. He has been executing a roll-up strategy ever since and he is smart enough to wait until he has a proven revenue model before getting outside funding (at a good valuation). As a fellow entrepreneur and listener, I wrote up my observation a few weeks ago … http://buzz.dennykmiu.com/integrity-is-what-we-do

Totally makes sense. Content so far is really good. Jason is great at pulling in talent. How long til Miller writes a check for this one?

There's a few major differences between how Weblogs Inc. sites were created and consumed and video content like This Week In is producing though.

It's easy enough to try out a bunch of bloggers when you don't have to worry about getting them in a studio (or at the very least in front of a camera) and they all have to have a on air persona that is pleasing to look at and listen to. A blogger has the benefit of being able to carefully compose and revise a post, but if the mic is on and you're on camera, you need to be able to work at a quicker pace and make less mistakes. That's a separate skill set that not everyone has.

Video content in particular is consumed very different from text. You can't skim through it easily (other than ignoring an episode entirely when you don't like the show notes for it, but then you've lost eyeballs). This means people are going to be more picky about watching a 30-60 minute show, unless it has some serious start and brainpower behind it to justify their time.

Leo had Jason on TWiT this weekend and they were joking about Jason's naming convention. Right now at least, they seem to be getting along and don't harbor any ill feelings.

I haven’t seen Calacanis produce anything original in recent years. He’s egotistical and his comments always have a certain smugness about them. We know how Laporte felt when Twitter first showed up. ‘This Week In’ seems like a slap in the face. Shame on you.

It's not whether this is the first. It's whether anything other than a niche business can be built around a live streaming network. Still TBD.

When will Calacanis admit that Mahalo was a complete failure? And that ThisWeekIn is a ripoff of somebody else's (Leo's) idea?

Jason is a one hit wonder. Nothing else he's produced has been either a success or original.

When will Calacanis admit that Mahalo was a complete failure? And that ThisWeekIn is a ripoff of somebody else's (Leo's) idea?

Jason, you really are a scumbucket, backstabbing slim. I hope you can look yourself in the mirror.I;m sure your kids will be real proud of their dad some day. Good luck you loser. Remember, Instant Karma.

Mark Suster's "This Week in Venture Capital" (TWiVC) is very informative… Recommended for entrepreneurs who are raising financing (or will be down the road). Good information and commentary about deals that were raised during the week, I watched it originally without realizing it was part of a bigger network brand. Mark's a good host.

Well… I believe that the consumer is essentially ready for this, although is definitely not something new by all means. Leo with Twit and Kevin with Revision3 (although the latter does not qualifies as Live per se) are the best two predeccesors on this market. Bottom line is that the business model is not yet completely clear, although Leo seems to be doing enough money to to hire a team and invest on equipment and stuff. Still let’s go down memory lane for a bit and remember the guys at the Pseudo.com network back in the dotcom days, who were able to make people think for a long time that they were doing quite good until some day they dissapeared from the face of the earth.

Everyone:

Appreciate the comments … all of them ;)

No, clearly we are not the first online video network. But our belief is that the timing is finally right for this kind of thing. We also believe we have learned a lot about how to do this economically over the last year.

As for Leo: Personally a big fan, Leo is the trailblazer in just about every way I can think of in this space. If I did not firmly believe in my heart of hearts that Jason went out of his way to clear this with Leo ahead of time, I would not have agreed to be involved with the company. Yes, there were a few weeks were words were said. But if you watch the latest TWiT from last Sunday, Jason is a guest, and Leo brings up our site and network and wishes us well.

All that having been said: I hope you'll have a look at our shows and make up your own mind, we've worked pretty hard on them. And if you think you should be a guest (i.e. — you have an Android app to plug or an iPad app or a Cloud Computing app, etc.) email us at pitch at thisweekin dot com.

And it's a big Internet. Certainly there's room for lots of shows.

live streaming is nothing new. and even it it were, who cares? who really needs/wants to watch anything other than a sporting event live? people want to watch on their time, not according to someone else's schedule. so the live element to it is pointless. looking at the site though, all the videos are available for non-live streaming after they've aired. and they're simply embedded YouTube videos. this cost $300k?

agree. it is one of my favorite podcasts there as well.

I'm sure jason gave leolaporte some equity in this new startup. Leo isn't stupid!

I've been watching This Week in Startups for several months now, and it's really good. The one they just started, This Week in Venture Capital, also has a lot of potential. I think it's clearly time for this to happen.

The problem is the production values. Black curtains, hosts that aren't TV savy. This is hard to watch. Many other live streaming networks are doing much more with much better product.

Agree, what a jerk Jason is. Especially with LEO starting that new live network and bringing Tom Merritt on board.

Agreed

When does Lovey Howell appear?

this is just bad manners, he should just name them something else other than rip leo off. I wonder if this will end up in court at some point.

how is this different from Revision3?

Totally agree.

Producing 30 minutes of quality "TV" takes a lot longer than 30 minutes. Even 'live' broadcast requires a lot of preparation, and competent vision mixing.

and to convince people to regularly spend 30 minutes to watch it – well, there's got to be something really good in there, not just an interviewer who can barely interview, or an interviewee who rambles on and has nothing useful to contribute.

all the old is new. pseudo 2.0!

Jason did get lucky with weblogs. Blogs were just exploding and the idea of doing a network of blogs on subjects that were so obvious (cars, gadgets etc) was hardly groundbreaking. Just lucky in the timing. This network is the same, he's seen Leo doing this with success and has gone into it very aggressively. Nothing he ever does will be groundbreaking. You just have to look at Mahalo to know this. That site started as one thing and now just adds features in the hope of becoming popular (like basically going from a search company to a Q&A type company). I do think Mark Suster is a very good host, though. Sometimes I feel he is biting his lip at some of the things Manbaby says while guesting on his 'This week in Venture capital' show.

Maybe if he fires himself from ever presenting and works behind the scenes more people will watch/listen.

because? he owns the video podcast market and we all need his permission in order to turn on our webcams?

Leo is a pro, but (most of) his follower lemmings are the worst of the mainstream.

Actually, the world has a right to competition. Only then, we can break away from moronic communities built around selfproclaimed monopolies.

surely you havent been following TWIST for over a YEAR…

it's a strategy to devour all your souls.

…Have you looked at the iTunes store at the podcasts? This is nothing new at all, nor is it a "niche business". Its a video podcast. That is all.

Who are you supposed to be?

TAURUS.

GET HIM!

Speaking of good host. Ashley Esqueda. This Week in Android. Fast pace, bright, humourful, engaged with audience and multitasking. Pacewise, the best show of the network.

This Week In
I've been a fan of TWiST ever since the show got started. I've seen them all and I've seen it grow.
It's getting better and better.
I never missed a TWi Venture Capital show as well. I like the format, the speed, the host.
I'm gonna stay loyal to anyone who stands behind the entrepreneurs and pushes them forward, so I want this to succeed.
TWi Cloud Computing and Android are shows I sometimes watch and recommend.

About twit.tv
To me, Leo's show This Week in Google is the best one on twit.tv but to me that's more like a radio show. That could easily be changed though.
The host and the guests are what make a show great.
I like Maxwell's House on twit.tv as well.
That's a show about all things in the air, very niche so yes, I think this could get as big as blogs, but Leo's doing a podcast / radioshow if you ask me.

I like Mixergy.com as well.
But that's not a show. That's like a video book. Something you pick up when you need it.
I would love it if Andrew turned that into a show.
Either that or he needs to make his videos searchable.

The Gillmor Gang
I like this one as well, but it's a chatshow. This could get a lot better.
The guests make it good, but the more it looks like a chatshow the less I like it.
I want information, and I want it fast.
I like it when Doc Searls and Kevin Marks are on the show.
And we don't get to hear Steve's insights enough, imo.

Techcrunch.
Michael started doing a show with VCs, why did he stop? Or didn't he stop?

Rebooting The News
Not a video show but Dave's very insightful. I like his blog. This could get a lot bigger.

The hosts and the guests are what make the shows great, guess what's next when it becomes more competitive. And it will become more competitive because I ain't got the time to watch them all.

this will do fantastically well if jason and the other hosts can keep a tight agenda. 2 and 3 hour shows are just not feasible. the best show on TV right now is the McLaughlin Group and it's so good because it's kept so tight. All video podcasts should learn from McLaughlin. All the blather has to go, because at it's core, all of these are great shows with great content.

– Leo himself pointed out that he took the naming convention from a long standing radio show (This week in astronomy or something).
– Jason offered the copyright to Leo, who refused.
– Leo & Jason are still friends. Jason was on TWIT.
– What really bothered Leo was that he was surprised at how fast Jason was putting things together.

The point of doing something like this live is twofold:

- Live is exciting, you're not sure what will happen next. Most of the time, nothing beyond the typical materializes. Sometimes, it's magic.

- You essentially front-load the production – it's live, so when it's done, you're done. You do most of the production work prior to the event – but with smart hosts and a good technical setup you can get into a rhythm and crank out a lot of stuff quickly and easily.

Riiiiight. Like when you hook up with your best friend's ex-wife (who he's still in love with). He's a nice guy so he wishes you well, but it's still a sleazy move and you know he's hurting.

Conscience fail.

It's a big dictionary. There are certainly a lot of names in there. Dig up a fresh concept while you're there. The guile of you two…

I think the Mahalo deadpool watch has officially begun.

the difference is that Leo Laporte's shows all begin with "This Week In" … oh wait.

Why thank you for that Ethan.

Leo and I are cool. He gave me his blessing, I cleared all this with him in advance and you can be sure we will be working TOGETHER on things in the future.

There are 300 This Week In shows to be built out and we will only get to 30… if leo gets to 30 we will have covered 20% of the space…. there is room for EVERYONE in this model.
http://www.twitter.com/jason

This is very intelligent comment. I wish I could say the same for many of the CommenTrolls in this thread.

The answer to you very intelligent remarks, we are in Los Angeles where there are an unlimited number of talented on-air personalities. Our only issue is finding the ones who also have knowledge and passion in a vertical. It will take time to sort through the masses, but we will get there.

Our first "open casting call" is this weekend. Wish us luck.

Note: To the Jayters in this thread posting garbage hate, I have only one comment for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfB-YUlQi3w

While you hate, I create…. with my Jayters I couldn't be as great as I am. You complete me bitches!

1. Mahalo 11-15M uniques, millions in revenue and operational breakeven with the killer team. Top 200 site and we'll hit top 100 in the next year.
2. Open Angel Forum on fire in 10 cities this year with national sponsors and 15 cities in 2010.
3. This Week in Startups over 100k downloads a show and sold out for two years.
4. JasonNation.com email newsletter broke 23k subs yesterday.
5. 10 angel investments in the past year in amazing startups.
6. TechCrunch50 made millions in three years and I will launch The Launch Conference in Winter 2011.
7. I got some nice dresses for you.
8. Your mom just called, she wants you put the Xbox down, come up from the basement and take out the trash. Oh yeah, your hot pockets are ready.

In the words of Steve Jobs: what have you done?

Bury yourself! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfB-YUlQi3w

Wonder what the vcs think of this? Seems like a distraction for the entire mahalo team. That being said, there are some really good shows on the network. I hope they figure out how to get more shows like twist and twia and twivc.

Jason has always been a bit slimy but then again welcome to the valley. If Leo wants to play ball, he should do a round of funding, build out a NYC office, get 24 hour broadcasting, and get a few major syndication deals. He could do that and be the leader by far…to the point where no one will really talk of thisweekin.

That means nothing. Leo is a nice guy but he can also be arrogant. I’m sure there is some level of deep seeded resentment.

As for Calacanis, is anyone really surprised that he would follow the same naming convention?

mahalo is a failure? huh..

and ideas mean nothing. it’s the execution!

also for those who think that the naming covention was a douche move, go back before TWI and on twit you’ll notice that Jason asked Leo for permission..

drama drama drama. this guy needs to grow up. enough said.

You're such a little weasel and; just like Steve Jobs does, go suck a dick.

lol well not all of them. My point was, Leo has been doing live streaming since 2008. Jason's getting into that after selling off his weblog thing.

How long before Jason does it with this as well?

Arrington Leo was right. Your such a Troll.

Ooh ooh, I want to answer!

What have I done? Avoided being a total douchebag most of my life.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=do...

Here's the irony. Jason was on TWIT (This Week in Tech) on Sunday which was live streamed. Then this article proposes that Jason wants to be the first to do it. Hello it's been done and it currently BEING DONE!

Also lets come up with something original for shows. This is like bad writing with all these "This Week in…." Diversify and create something new for yourself. Enough of the This Week in Android, This Week in Ipad, This Week in Startups. I can't wait for This Week in Toothpaste…

Lame!! . jason is slime. can not talk about the facebook dude ever again. no one should ever watch his shows. i have seen one and i think its lame bad video. bad host it looks like a self gratifing program. i think he has no class. this artical has to be a "Good old boy write up". has the writer been sleeping? Leo has been there done that. be inovative come up with your own name. GIVE "THIS WEEK IN" BACK TO LEO bad start up. no one should ever invest in this . it will fail. be a man not a slime change the name. Live Video cast . is the way of the future true but come up with your own stuff , come on! there is plenty of room to be creative …. google/ yahoo/ twitter/ have you ever heard of those names before the internet ? put your money in inovation not leacherville there is so much idea stealing in the world you are not making it a better place.
this was not a news story of inovation but of stealing

That's what you do if you don't even come up with an idea for a new name….just cheap. LEO FTW!

Leo Laporte got Zucked by Calacanis! :S

So..TWiT is not a "niche business" ?

I dont believe those viewership stats.

Brutal. This is an obvious "screw you" to Leo Laporte. We all know Calacanis is aggressively ripping off Leo. Everyone go to live.twit.tv to see how its really done! Jason, please try to get an orignal thought.

Boycott of all things "Jason" starting….NOW!

All because Leo is a stand-up guy. It doesn't excuse the sleazy move on Jason part. Its clearly a sleazy move, no excuses. All Jason has to do is change the name.

BOYCOTT.

To answer the question that the title of this article proposes, yes i do. Its a great network and I have been following it closely for months now. Something of a loyal watcher of the This week in network I think it has tremendous potential moving forward as another evolution of the weblogs format although that association is only made due to Calacanis being present.

Why would this be a "screw you" to Leo Laporte? Why don't you think for a second? There's absolutely no reason for Jason to have bad blood with Leo. If you've listened to a single interaction between them, you'd notice that they have a rapport that's not practiced for public image. The amount of logical leaps and bounds in many of these comments is just staggering.

Despite whatever any of you think about Jason personally, arguing his success is a pointless. To whoever commented that Weblogs is a ripoff of Gawker, look back in the history books. There's simply not enough time between the founding of the two companies to say that anyone was copying anyone else. And the fact that Weblogs is still doing great under the burning ship of AOL speaks a hell of a lot more for the foundation that Jason paved.

And don't even get me started on the pissing match that Scoble is trying to start with Jason on Twitter. Par for the course.

Sadly Mark you have been suckered in by that poker playing scammer Jason. What if you had named the shows Techcrunch TV would it have been more acceptable. @leolaporte has work f^&king hard to build a brand called Twit and Jason came along and just blatantly copied the idea i.e Twit, Twil, Twig do any of these leo shows mean anything to you.

I bet leo didn't think to object whilst he thought Mahalo was still a viable project and that Jason was just playing with Twist.

What's worse Jason, Arrington and Steve Gilmor are all scum. They all pretended to friend Leo in order to imply see how he does the show (tricaster etc) and then blatantly copied his format – Gilmor Gang, Techcrunch TV and TWin.

I personally hope Jason/Arrington lose millions … and crawl back under the rock they first came from.

WTF the matter with you??!!! Have you ever even heard of Leo Laporte you AHole!!! Maybe you can stop blowing Calacanis' dick long enough to do a little homework. That's not likely to happen.

Lame…Viva la TWiT and Leo!!!

This Week In… the use of acronyms starting with TWI. Seriously? Seriously? No imagination. No qualms stepping over friends toes to glom onto and extending THEIR brands. Starting a live streaming network is no biggie. That's competition. That's fine. Using TWI? Big deal.

I also lost respect for Arrington with this article, and I rather liked him.

i will never listen or watch jason's "this week in" unless he re-brands it… Leo FTW

Jason Calacanis is an annoying, boorish twat, but there is no doubt that he 'borrowed' a great idea and ran with it. He has these things up and running very quickly. Not sure they will last. Most of the hosts are amateur hour (the worst being that Valley Girl bubblehead on This Week in Twitter) with the exception of the excellent and entertaining Lon Harris. I'll watch when he's associated.

Leo was pissed again at Calacanis today on MacBreak Weekly, specifically this story on Tech Crunch. The fued continues…

Has anyone actually watched any of these shows….it's This Week In ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…so boring…sitting in a black room, talking back and forth in monotone fashion. If your going to steal something and call it innovative….at least be creative.

I really feel like buying you a nice big bath towel so you can hang it over the mirror and you won't have to look at a sawed off little backstabbing prick!

Jason was on TWiT /the day before/ this BS article was posted. I'm not sure their standing as friends is the same today.

Calacanis is one of the most annoying people out there. Im gonna stick to TWIT.

I cannot believe how this Leo stole This Week concept from ABC's This Week with ____. It is a show that has been running for over 30 years. And this guy steals the naming convention, the idea to use a camera, and record people talking, and then distribute the video. It's crazy.

Calacanis knows what he is talking about. I'm just curious to see how this would affect his commitment to Mahalo. I'm sure that he can juggle both as he is an incredible multi-tasker, but I am just wondering how much of a commitment the Mahalo investors expect from him as they gave him alot of money to back Mahalo.

Jason, was this a shot at Leo after appearing on twit Sunday. Leo has already revolutionized live streaming, this week in is nothing new.

Also Jason, Leo uses “this week in” on only a few shows and slowly expanding his network. I think he doesn’t want to expand rabidly.

People are already confused with jasons network, and are thinking twit is part of this week in.

I have been wondering that for a while since he seems far more interested and focused on ThisWeekIn, and Mahalo doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Starting this new project makes me question his loyalty to mahalo and if I worked at mahalo this would be sign that I should start/looking for another gig.

Hasn't Jason recently been talking all this trash about Zuckerberg, accusing him of stealing ideas and technologies? He was even talking about people getting zucked…. What he is doing to Leo and the twit network is pretty similar to what he is calling Zuck out for.
I have been a Calacanis for a long time but I'm not sure this can be overlooked. Leo is getting Calacanised !

I am in two minds on Calacanis.

There is commentary on various issues and I think these are insightful and interesting. He is a tech commentator, one of the few, who genuinely knows what he is talking about and doesn't exist within a bubble. On This Week in Tech and I am always pleased when he is a guest, a lot of their guests are people who see themselves as being tech commentators without doing much to deserve that title. They just exist in the tech bubble and recycle opinions about tech fads which get nowhere. So Jason is a refreshing change from that and understands the difference between a geniune tool that would be used by the wider public and some tech hype which is used only by tech commentators, and not by the wider IT community (you know, people who work on these things).

On the other hand he is prone to those bursts of Personality plays. Name Dropping, creating rivalries with people who don't seem to care, he seemed to think he gives Steve Jobs grief. His Gen Y rant was rather pathetic, it seems members of an older generation always complain about the next generation and there was little substance to his claims. Of course some people are pampered and protected from failure, of course some people are over entitled, but they exist across all generations. The difference being that when it is somebody of his age, it's because of their personality. When it is somebody of Gen Y, it's because they are a member of Gen Y.

Rant Over.

Also the constant uses of meaningless phrases like 'Bitch Train', I expect this kind of talk at a self-help seminar at the back of a sleazy motel. Not from professionals. Successes speak with actions, not cliches, catchphrases, or made up jargon. If your more in love with that aspect of the job rather than the creation part. Something is wrong.

The best guest on TWiST was the co-founder of 37 signals. Someone who let's his success speak for itself and talked sense rather than talking himself up with words and no actions

how about mahalo this week? oh, nobody wants to watch

I'm really disappointed with Jason now. I remember he originally claimed that Leo gave him his blessing for This Week in Startups and now he's launching a bunch of them which will get confused with the TWIT network. Then he brings Kevin Pollak onto TWIT who rudely imposes Keven Rose and Leo to launch his show and which they didn't want to be a part of. What the hell?

Jason change the name. Not that big of a deal.

Calicanis asked Laporte for permission before he used the TWi moniker

This whole thing reminds me of the "McDowell's" restaurant in "Coming to America." Instead of the Golden Arches, they had the Golden Arcs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUiWWMbbQ8E

Or you are just a cheap ripoff who’ll go down in flames.