Big Media Gets Serious About LiveStreaming: Gannett Invests $10 Million In Mogulus

LiveStreaming video service Mogulus will announce a new round of financing later today. The size of the investment won’t be disclosed, although we’ve heard from a source that it is in the $10 million range. But far more important than the amount of capital raised is the investor. Gannett, a $4 billion company which owns USA Today and other news and media properties, funded the round.

Mogulus, like competitors Ustream and Justin.tv, allow anyone with a camera, computer and Internet connection to live stream to the Internet, reducing huge overhead costs for remote coverage (you don’t need things like satellite uplinks).

Mogulus allows upstart video bloggers like Sarah Austin to host live video shows on a shoestring budget. But it also facilitates serious journalism. In May, for example, controversial statements made by Hillary Clinton on a Mogulus stream led to nationwide media coverage.

Gannett gets this. And i assume they’ll find ways to enable their reporters around the world to start using Mogulus to get video footage to the web as fast as possible when news breaks.

Mogulus has now raised nearly $13 million in capital – about the same as Ustream. But even with Gannett behind them, Mogulus has no time to waste in growing their service – YouTube is said to be launching live video sometime this year.