The writers strike is now in its second month and shows no sign of ending. As we discussed when the strike began, this could become a catalyst for a shift from OTA/Cable to online/IPTV and here is why.

There has been a drain in advertising revenues for premium programming, and advertisers have been forced to compensate advertisers with cash (versus time). The trend has been one of declining viewership for OTA with a corresponding increase for cable.

In addition, revenue from OTA has been flat. Even if the strike were settled today, it would by some estimates take two or more months too ramp up production and inventory to offset the drain in revenues.

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It looks as though the BBC has listened to the criticisms levelled at it after it launched its iPlayer in July 2007.

Back then, although the corporation’s entry in to the digital television on demand market was applauded as a forward looking move, the fact that the downloads on offer were only available to people using Windows based operating systems was rightly condemned.

Forced To Offer Alternatives

Then in September, as the result of a 16,000 strong petition being compiled online, the British government stepped in, and told the BBC that they’d have to increase the options to other OS users.

They’ve now delivered on that original condition, and the iPlayer has just been relaunched with Adobe Flash support allowing users with non-Wndows based systems, and browsers to stream the programmes.

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When Hulu first launched in late October, it received praise from all quarters, and since then, everyone has either begged, borrowed or stolen for an invitation to use the service.

Hulu is a joint venture between NBC and News Corporation, currently in private beta, which offers network content from both of them, to anyone with an Internet connection.

Some of the shows featured on the site can be embedded elsewhere, which has prompted the aptly named OPENhulu, a new copycat site which offers some of the same content as Hulu, but without the need for an invite.

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Last night saw NY Video 2.0 meeting in the plush surroundings  of the Roosevelt Hotel’s Grand Ballroom.

Unusual for such an occasion, but thanks to the courtesy from another trade show that was using the space and gave it to our group.

There were some obvious technical problems which were expected, and some that weren’t, including an out of control SMS projected board of “board participants” who started texting all sorts of crazy notes during the presentations. You had to feel bad for the presenters.

The line-up last night included the following companies, which each had about five minutes to give their pitch.

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YouTube have been experimenting with advertising on videos for a good few months now, and by all accounts, it;s been quite successful.

The video sharing site has now decided to grow its pilot advertising revenue sharing program to encompass interested parties in the general public.

The company, owned by Google, was known for several months to operate a limited, roughly 100-user program to formulate a system by which registered site members would be given a percentage – presumably quite small – of advertising income generated via AdSense.

According to YouTube, however, the site “will now accept partner applications from users in the US and Canada.”

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Google’s time limit for user-submitted videos uploaded to YouTube is well established, and known by almost everyone these days. Ten minutes. That’s it. No more. 

Have twenty minutes or more of highlights from that Little League baseball game you want to share with the family via the video hosting website? It ain’t happening. 

At least not in one whole shot. Long-form podcasts? Nien!

And we all know why that cutoff point was established some time ago. To combat piracy and copyright violations and whatnot. 

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What is YouTube for? We all know it is there as a means for ordinary people to make and upload clips for other people to watch, but is the underlying motivation of the site?

Is it there purely as an entertainment portal for funny and viral video clips; or as a portal for media companies to upload clips from TV shows and music videos to draw consumers in to being fans of their product?

Or, as Wael Abbas was using the site for, is it a way of getting alleged civil rights abuse footage out to the wider world?

Suspended For Rights Abuse Videos

Last week, Wael claimed he had his account suspended by YouTube, and the graphic images, and video clips he had posted showing police brutality, purported voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations became inaccessible.

The suspension caused uproar amongst civil rights campaigners and activists who were upset that YouTube was seemingly banning the site from being used as a portal to expose abuse claims.

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