One day after Netflix made its debut in the UK and Ireland, Roku has announced that two of its streaming players, the Roku LT and the Roku 2 XS, are heading to Britain too and are already available for pre-order on Amazon.
The Roku LT, which is billed as the lowest-cost option for streaming video and music directly to a TV, over Wi-Fi and without a PC, retails at £49.99. The Roku 2 XS, which adds casual games like Angry Birds to the offering and also sports an Ethernet, a MicroSD and a USB port, costs £99.99. → Read More
One day after Netflix made its debut in the UK and Ireland, Roku has announced that two of its streaming players, the Roku LT and the Roku 2 XS, are heading to Britain too and are already available for pre-order on Amazon.
The Roku LT, which is billed as the lowest-cost option for streaming video and music directly to a TV, over Wi-Fi and without a PC, retails at £49.99. The Roku 2 XS, which adds casual games like Angry Birds to the offering and also sports an Ethernet, a MicroSD and a USB port, costs £99.99. → Read More
Sony is set to announce a re-launch of video entertainment network site Crackle today, with a roll-out of a number of new web shows including sketches by L.A. comedy troupe “The Groundlings”, a video game show called “The Jace Hall Show” and a five-minute talk show dubbed “Anytime with Bob Kushell” hosted by a Hollywood writer. Read more… → Read More
Sony is set to announce a re-launch of video entertainment network site Crackle today, with a roll-out of a number of new web shows including sketches by L.A. comedy troupe “The Groundlings”, a video game show called “The Jace Hall Show” and a five-minute talk show dubbed “Anytime with Bob Kushell” hosted by a Hollywood writer.
Sony’s media business, Sony Pictures Entertainment, will be using the types of production techniques that it puts into movies and TV to resemble other online programming by staying short, often no more than five minutes long, reports Reuters. Crackle’s season begins December 1. → Read More
Sony’s new HDTVs have another feature you’re not going to find on many other models: YouTube. Using the optional Internet Video Link, users can browse and view almost all of the content on YouTube with their remote. YouTube isn’t the only vieo content available, with other providers like AOL, Sports Illustrated, Comcast’s FEARnet and many others contributing. Another channel available is a custom version of Crackle, an internet video blogging portal Devin and I covered at CES, where we interviewed its number one charmer Penn from Penn and Teller. Even if your cable gets turned off, if you have Internet access, at least there’s always something on. Still want more info? → Read More
Penn Jillette, the long-haired half of Penn & Teller, is a quiet, sincere, restrained man. He’s known for his controversial thoughts on all manner of things, from politics to religion to the colorblind. Sony has launched a new video site called Crackle and has Jillette as a featured video blogger. The idea is that Jillette will “live blog” his life with the four HD camcorders Sony has provided him with, and he’ll post these clips, unedited, to the site. he’s got a handful up now, which you can check out at Penn Says, and his goal is four a week. We hope he can make it. After Sony’s announcement, where Penn swallowed a bean and then worked it into his nasal passages and then expunged it via his right eye socket (really), talked about Mormons and their “magical underwear”, and having sex with a nun while a prominent Democratic presidential nominee wathces, we were allowed a couple of minutes to sit with Penn and Crackle’s Senior VP of marketing, Jonathan Shambroom. They were gracious and friendly, and totally NSFW. He started by trashing that other site. It was awesome. → Read More
After being treated to an interminable 10-minute Sony ad, some guys from the original video site Crackle announced some new shows they were picking up, and then handed it over to Penn of Penn & Teller to explain his bit. It seems they’ve outfitted Penn with a bunch of HD camcorders which he’ll keep around his house and work, and pick one up basically whenever he feels the urge to expound on things he hates, things he loves, or just to do a weird trick like putting a bean in his mouth and snorting it out his nose. It’s called Penn Says and it’ll have “at least” four shows a week. Now, to be honest, the idea of the outspoken and frequently obscene star teaming up with a Sony media factory seems pretty weird, but we talked with Penn afterwards (look for the interview in a few minutes) and he thought it was a pretty good deal. I haven’t watched any episodes yet, but he’s an entertaining dude and I may just make a habit of checking his little vlog out. It just went live today, so go check it out and let us all know how it is. Penn Says @ Crackle → Read More
With the Hollywood writer’ strike in full swing, the TV networks are about to green light a lot more reality TV shows and other non-scripted programs. Wil Schroter, a serial entrepreneur in Columbus, Ohio wants to help fill those shows through GotCast (he is also CEO of GoBig Network, a Craigslist for startups and investors). GotCast launched quietly in beta on October 1, and is built specifically for online casting calls. Schroter estimates there are 15,000 roles being cast at any given time by about 400 studios and networks, and 85 percent of those are for non-scripted parts. Yet the casting industry today, says Schroter, “is built for scripted talent,” not the everyday Joes and Suzies required to make reality TV believable. “Casting directors are going to YouTube and MySpace to find this talent,” says Schroter, “but there is not an organized way to do it.” That’s why he built GotCast specifically to find and surface talent for shows, both on TV and in emerging mediums like cell phones and the Web. Casting directors and talent agents can set up casting calls, and aspiring actors can upload images and videos of themselves onto a profile page, along with a bio and crucial stats like age, height, and weight. Anyone who visits the site can sign up to vote other members up or down. The top ten for each casting then go to a group of judges made up of real talent agents and casting directors. The finalist is flown to Hollywood for a shot at the part. The site is all about self-promotion. You are encouraged to recruit your friends to vote for you through blast e-mails, and posting GotCast widgets on your MySpace or Facebook pages, or uploading your video to YouTube. Schroter’s business plan calls for 250 castings the first year, which he hopes will attract five million registered users (1.25 million contestants and 3.75 million voters). He thinks he can get that up to 750 castings by 2010 and attract 30 million registered users (7.5 million contestants and 22.5 million voters). He might have stars in his own eyes there. As I said, these are the numbers in the business plan, so they don’t mean anything. But it does illuminate the business logic behind the site, even if the actual numbers come in to be much less. The two casting calls on the site right now are → Read More
Mayfiled, General Catalyst Partners, and Atomico Investments have put $5 million into Deca.tv, a newly launched production house for mainstream digital entertainment. Deca was started by Michael Wayne and Chris Kimbell, both from Sony Pictures. The company will be putting the investment into finding and financing novel digital entertainment web properties. Deca, however, will not serve as a destination for these properties, but rather invest in them and distribute them through their partner’s channels. They’re being rather tight lipped about what properties they will focus their money on, but they will be announcing their first 3 projects soon. Web video shows are definitely in the cards, with non-video properties on the horizon as well. The model is indicative of how the web is changing the production of entertainment. As Allen Morgan of Mayfield notes, “The separation between content, the audience, and the advertiser has now completely disintegrated”. Studios now have the ability to access and filter through more talent better than ever before, case in point, Crackle’s user generated web shows. The internet’s “fame machine” is getting better, and we’re all sure to benefit. → Read More
Crackle’s eating some of their own dog food since launch to produce this corporate viral video. This is the second in their Kung Fu series where grouper takes on the competition, with a noticeably higher production value. I don’t know what it is about working at Grouper that breeds a love of kung fu films (see their previous video), but the ending may be more justified with Sony’s backing. There’s a more serious version available here. http://www.grouper.com/p/Funny/Crackle_Presents….swf From Crackle: Crackle Presents… → Read More
Grouper’s completely scrapping their old site and being reborn as Crackle. The new site aims to discover the top online video talent for their parent company, Sony, by offering producers the chance at fame and fortune. All the old Grouper accounts will be transferred to Crackle. The new property will be a destination video site, consisting of 12 branded channels for different show concepts such as comedy, music news, and animation. The site consists of a channel guide and high quality 16 x 9 embeddable video player. Advertisers will be able to place 5 to 15 second ads between the videos and banner units on the site. Crackle’s Branded Channels Crackle will seed the channels 1000 of their own professionally produced videos. They will add the top user generated content following the channel’s show concept (comedy, music, etc.) as selected by the community and their team of editors. In return, Crackle will reward the producers in varying degrees, ranging from revenue shares to mid seven figure production deals. All winners will recieve distribution across Sony’s network of hardware and film properties. Sony’s distribution network and 60 person advertising team really pushes this open studio model beyond anything other video startups can currently offer. The site is launching with 4 of the 12 user supported channels. Judgment Day is a channel where the hosts will “judge” other people in the public and then find out if their judgments are right. Scrambler is a video music magazine for indie rock. High Wire is a virtual stage for stand up comedy. Wet Paint is an animation channel. They also have a channel devoted to America’s Firehouses, whose content will be paired with Sony’s “Rescue Me” series. Finally, Moving Targets is a sketch variety channel coming soon. Rewarding Producers Crackle will allow users to climb the “fame pyramid” as pictured on the right. Anyone will be able to submit a video to the channels, which will be put into a general video library. Viewers will vote for the best videos and during contest periods for special deals, the two top user selected videos will join the editors picks to be chosen for production deals. The possible rewards for producers will vary based on the channel. All the chosen content will be distributed across their network of embedded video players, along with Sony PSP, Bravia, and Sony Vaio. Crackle claims an audience of 25 million → Read More
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