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Sony Pictures in Talks With YouTube
CNet is reporting that Sony Pictures may be in talks with YouTube to license full length movies to the video sharing site. Set to post nearly a half a billion dollars in losses this year, YouTube could certainly use some juice to combat sites like NBC-owned Hulu which already has an array of movies for streaming. "Details about what a final agreement could look like are sparse, but any partnership between the two powerhouses would likely benefit both. Representatives from both companies declined to comment. Word of the negotiations comes a week after Disney announced it had licensed short-form content to YouTube. Those clips will come from a range of Disney brands, including ABC and ESPN. For YouTube, obtaining short-form clips from Disney is an important step but still doesn't provide what YouTube needs most."
...will make the most mediocre offerings on Netflix instant viewing seem absolutely stellar by comparison.
>>>Set to post nearly a half a billion dollars in losses this year
Youtube is the most-popular video site. It should be making hand-over-fist in dollars. How can this be?
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
I just had a look at Hulu and got this:
Google combating who? The only competition is torrent.
"we've got trenchcoats and bad attitudes" - John Constantine, HellBlazer
Let's be clear. YouTube isn't set to post anything, let alone a loss. Google as a whole will post huge profits again, albeit below last year, and that will be that.
Sony Playstation 3 firmware upgrade added the link-in to Youtube during the last upgrade. Anyone who DIDN'T see this coming was blind.
Sony and it's empire vs. Microsoft and Disney and ABC on the other. Paramount is on the Hulu/Xbox side, owning NBC which really started moving so much of its stuff to Hulu, all the SNL episodes and lots of its archive stuff.
This fight will expand to be a USA vs. the world thing. If I am over at Google/Youtube my strategy is to take licensing outside the states. Get international content exclusive to Youtube with the Playstation tie in. Get broadband deals done with the major providers in Europe. Isolate the Hulu guys to providing US content only.
Content is king, and it's like suddenly everyone realized the general public couldn't do it. There are only so many videos of your guild's Epic WoW raid or cats flushing toilets that will hold an ad revenue stream in place.
Sony can really break the Hulu grip if they eschew any embedded commercials in the video streams. Grab Fox Studios and maybe Lionsgate, get New Line Cinema and it's game over.
Should be interesting...
It would be more like hating the government in general. I believe they call themselves libertarians.
Yeah right.
It'd be in a .DLM wrapper (DownLoadMax) with the Super Downloaded Video codec for video and SDDS and ATRAC for the audio tracks.
Also, you'd need an SDVF (Super Downloaded Video File) player to play it. The logo would look neat but you'd never see it on any consumer device from anyone but Sony.
BluRay titles from Sony will feature a digital copy of the film in SDV format, but you will still have to download them to a super memory stick super. All you get is an authorization code. Some collector's editions may include the copy on a separate useless mini frisbee (umf) disc.
(Hint: I am referencing betamax, sdds, super audio cd, minidisc, umd, memory stick pro, and other sony abortions).
Isn't Sony being consumer friendly one of the signs of the coming apocalypse? I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to start hoarding food and weapons.
Vimeo's guidelines are even stricter than YouTube's. You can't upload public domain videos, and you can't upload videos on behalf of an author who is someone else. You can't upload videos to promote your business. You can't upload videos of video games at all because you aren't the game's author.
I am referencing betamax, sdds, super audio cd, minidisc, umd, memory stick pro, and other sony abortions).
Yes, that'll definitely get you some mod points around these parts.
(Hint: I am referencing the fact that you are making hyperbolic statements to get attention.)
I also prophesise that YouTube/Google will not understand broadcast timecodes and will require everything in simple seconds, to two decimal places. Why do they need timecodes? To know where to insert the advertising of course. Will users be able to skip the advertising mid-roll? Not a chance. And what problems will timecodes in seconds, with two decimal places, create? I believe we'll see adverts inserted at the incorrect places as different frame rates between PAL, NTSC and film content are not taken into account, or ad breaks that are placed in content at obvious points like fades/transitions/mixes (whatever you'd like to call them) will be a few frames incorrect, so the transition will happen slightly before or after the ad break.
I also predict that YouTube won't really understand about TV resolution and will request everything at 640x480 frame size, rather than say 720x576 for PAL. I predict they may also have problems dealing with Full Height Anamorphic content, but of course that's just a hunch.
Don't ask me how I know, just looking into my crystal ball you understand.......
Brought to you by the author of such childrens' classics as "Some Kittens can Fly!" and "All Dogs go to Hell."
Actually, it would be similar to hating Sony because they have repeatedly controlled media formats to death, installed malicious software secretly, and ignored the modern standards for many of their products. I mean c'mon, Bush, Obama, and Libertarian references!? Really?