It was exciting to read the news that one of my favorite video websites, NextNewNetworks.com, has inked distribution deals designed to give a few of their channels wider distribution reach across the web, including YouTube, TiVo, blip.tv, Joost and Veoh. These initial web channels include IndyMogul, Channel Frederator; and Fast Lane Daily. On Indy Mogul, you can find BFX, Backyard Special Effects, with an inside look on how to recreate classic effects like staging a gun battle, making zombies or ripping off a limb. On Channel Frederator, you find great animation, like The Meth Minute 39, and Fast Lane Daily is the latest car news.
And while these and the other NextNewNetwork channels continue to work to find an audience, I am hopeful that either technology or a smart cable company considers ways to get this content off my little screen and onto my big TV. While FCC rules require satellite delivered networks to be sold to all distributors, cable, telco, Direct TV; these web channels could actually negotiate exclusivity deals with only one TV distributor as a unique differentiator in the fight for cable subscribers. And VOD would be a perfect place for these channels - with promotion to tout their availability. Rentrak just announced that VOD usage grew 44% during the first six months of 2007 to over 1.4 orders.
In fact, Comcast just announced its quarterly earnings and basic subscribers dropped by 65,000 homes, because of competition, primarily Verizon coming into their markets. And while pricing is always a differentiator, unique programming exclusively on a platform can be a big plus. So take a look at their shows and imagine watching them instead on a big screen TV.
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