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Justin.tv Shuts Down Amid Reports Google Is Acquiring Twitch

Posted by Unknown on from the there-can-be-only-one dept.

An anonymous reader writes Twitch today announced that the Justin.tv website, mobile apps, and APIs are no longer in service. A very simple explanation is given for the shutdown: since rebranding the company to Twitch Interactive in February 2014, all resources are now focused on Twitch.tv. The news today will almost certainly further fuel the rumors that Google is acquiring, or has already acquired, Twitch. Purchases are often followed by consolidation, as well as cutting off any excess limbs.

56 comments

  1. Noooooooooo! by genner · · Score: 1

    Nooooooooo! First they stop private channels now this.

    1. Re:Noooooooooo! by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3

      Not to worry, as soon as google cements their monopoly, you'll be free to watch any advertisement video you want. You can choose to watch the ads your friends share, or the ones that are merely placement ads in popular video series.

    2. Re:Noooooooooo! by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      Just relax and let the ads do their work. Resistance will only make it hurt more.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    3. Re:Noooooooooo! by i+kan+reed · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Who's sick of Jewish influence in this country?

      Neo-nazi shitheads.

    4. Re:Noooooooooo! by Dishevel · · Score: 0
      Umm. Yeah. Not that I like establishment pubs much but ...

      As far as I know the republicans are very much for the protection of Israel. The Democrats less so, but still for them more or less.

      The Jews themselves seem to vote mostly Democrat though. The left more or less likes nothing that Israel does.

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      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    5. Re:Noooooooooo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Who controls the British crown?
      Who keeps the metric system down?
      We do, we do!

      Who keeps Atlantis off the maps?
      Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
      We do, we do!

      Who holds back the electric car?
      Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star?
      We do, we do!

      Who robs cavefish of their sight?
      Who rigs every Oscar night?
      We do, we do, we do!

    6. Re:Noooooooooo! by ProfBooty · · Score: 0

      Those who are culturally jewish or not strict adherents tend to be more liberal. Orthodox jews vote far more conservatively.

      The american left is a pretty strange coalition. Many of the subgroups within the coalition have opposing interests and are only united by the fact that they are anti-republican. If the republican party is disolved, it will be interesting to see how if the democrats can stay unitied.

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      Bring back the old version of slashdot.
    7. Re:Noooooooooo! by Dishevel · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      It will not be a problem. The left can always find people to hate. It is pretty much what they do.

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      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    8. Re:Noooooooooo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm actually glad they've done this. (if they have indeed bought them)

      Google generally have less annoying ads than the crap Twitch had.
      I'd love to have hover ads over the typical load or mid-stream ads you see around the place.

      I'd still likely block them because I am completely against video ads, flash ads and hover-anything ads.
      Text and static picture ads or go home!

    9. Re:Noooooooooo! by Dishevel · · Score: 1

      Check out how they must mod me down out of hate to hide the fact that their ideology is based on not accepting those who do not accept what they tell them to.

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      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
  2. Soon, a few companies will own all your base by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Headline "Five Corporations Now Own Entire Internet," coming soon.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    1. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by CaptainStumpy · · Score: 0

      http://www.theonion.com/articl...

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      It will be better to purchase from an owner who is a good farmer and a good builder.
    2. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by JustOK · · Score: 1

      It's cute how you think there is more than one.

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      rewriting history since 2109
    3. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by shadowknot · · Score: 1

      Sorry, reply to undo moderation mistake.

    4. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by i+kan+reed · · Score: 1

      Of course there will be. But they'll be in not-quite enforced back room trust agreements about salaries and pricing. You know, like already happens.

    5. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by hobarrera · · Score: 2

      Which are the other two new companies?

    6. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by synthparadox · · Score: 2

      I wouldn't be surprised considering 10 corporations own practically all of the common consumer brands.

    7. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by ArhcAngel · · Score: 1

      In other news Google has today announce they are rebranding Twitch.TV to Network XXIII (23 for the Roman Numeral illiterate)

      --
      "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    8. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by GrumpySteen · · Score: 2

      That's not really true. Look at the women's makeup, for example. There are hundreds of brands available, yet the infographic shows only three.

      Pick any category of product there and you'll find the same thing; lots of alternative brands exist but aren't show.

      All the infographic does offer is an idea of how diverse those ten companies' products are. It doesn't show anything about what's actually available in the marketplace.

    9. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by Noah+Haders · · Score: 3, Informative

      Meme mishmash. Should be all your base are belong to five companies.'

    10. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here all along I thought it was the FiveEyes countries. Who knew it was the FiveEyes Companies?

    11. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm glad you liked the show, not sure what point you're trying to make...

    12. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by Grizzley9 · · Score: 2

      That's not really true. Look at the women's makeup, for example. There are hundreds of brands available, yet the infographic shows only three.

      Pick any category of product there and you'll find the same thing; lots of alternative brands exist but aren't show.

      All the infographic does offer is an idea of how diverse those ten companies' products are. It doesn't show anything about what's actually available in the marketplace.

      I don't think you are seeing the whole graphic then. There are numerous owned by P&G and many owned by L'Oreal (Nestle). There will always be smaller, even regional brands but they make up such a small part of the market to not be significant.

    13. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, because if you showed all the products from every line the graphic would end up 15GB. These are the top products and runners up in those lines. The ones you are talking about are either owned by smaller non-important subsidiaries or some might even be independent, but when they "enjoy" 0.0001% of the marketplace, they are not terribly important.

    14. Re:Soon, a few companies will own all your base by ArhcAngel · · Score: 2

      Then you are not familiar with the show. In it the world is run by a few mega corps that basically stay in power by keeping their media ratings higher than their competitors thus reaping the highest ad revenue. Network XXIII being the one of the biggest. The first episode has one of their own reporters investigating why a guy spontaneously combusts only to learn its because Network XXIII's latest ad technology (Blipverts, which are 30 seconds ads compressed to 3 seconds so the viewer will not be tempted to change the channel) short circuits the victims nervous system. All pretty well spelled out in my OP and relevant to the GP headline.

      --
      "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  3. So, it has come to this... by HideyoshiJP · · Score: 1

    I fully expected plenty of ass-hattery to come from this acquisition. I wasn't aware, however, that justin.tv would have any outcome from this. I don't know why I didn't see it coming, with them being under the same corporate entity. I can't wait to see what other crap comes down the pipe.

  4. Oh crap by Cidtek · · Score: 1

    Where am I going to get college football without having to go to some dodgy site that want me to download some software first?

    1. Re:Oh crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wiziwig+adblock+common sense

    2. Re:Oh crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ustream?

  5. Hasn't this been planned for months? by Fencepost · · Score: 1

    I was never a user of justin.tv (and don't use Twitch either), but the impression I've gotten was that this has been coming for a long time - basically anything with more than 10 views was archived off elsewhere, and they killed a bunch of background stuff back in June I think.

    Shouldn't this be titled "Justin.tv completes its scheduled shutdown on schedule"?

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    fencepost
    just a little off
  6. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who the hell used Justin.tv anyway?

    1. Re:Good by bhcompy · · Score: 1

      People like Jacksonville Jaguar fans who were blacked out in their local market for home games and wanted to see the football game?

    2. Re:Good by lennier1 · · Score: 1

      It had its uses back in the day, but when they started the whole "This channel has reached the maximum number of free viewers for your country" bullshit to badger people into signing up for a paid account that stopped as well.

  7. Sounds like ABC / NBC / FOX and others by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    There they start buying up TV channels and owning a big lot of them.

    also look at what happened to tech tv

    1. Re:Sounds like ABC / NBC / FOX and others by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      Tech TV was Leo Laporte, and Leo took his game to TWIT and has the largest internet TV empire out there right now.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  8. What is/was it anyway? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    Twitch today announced that the Justin.tv website, mobile apps, and APIs are no longer in service.

    Oh, dear. What was that when it was at home, then?

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    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:What is/was it anyway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Justin.tv was the "real" streaming service that never saw as much popularity as its younger gaming-oriented sibling Twitch. Now that Twitch allows non-gaming videos, Justin.tv became redundant.

  9. What ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That sucks, but you know with ghostery + adblock I don't see ads on youtube or twitch.

  10. Short notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was this another short notice? or were users warned so they could backup their shit?

  11. A bloo bloo bloo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where will I, as a NEET entitled millennial, get my free video now?

  12. Do I get a refund for the $5 I spent on their app? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Releasing a premium-priced app in the last few months before shutting everything down is pretty scummy.

  13. what will microsoft do by stimpleton · · Score: 1

    Quite a few games and systems use the twitch api to stream games. Minecraft is one. Xbox is another. Microsoft will be forced to start their own "windows 8 mobile" version of a twitch.tv.

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    In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
    1. Re:what will microsoft do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quite a few games and systems use the twitch api to stream games. Minecraft is one. Xbox is another. Microsoft will be forced to start their own "windows 8 mobile" version of a twitch.tv.

      They'll probably continue using the twitch.tv API since that's not going anywhere (yet).

  14. Where to go now? Livestream, UStream? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LiveStream and UStream - I like neither as much as Justin.tv. What other completing sites are there for personal broadcasters?

  15. No suprise.... by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    Youtube has a larger user base and now has live available to most users.

    Justin.tv has no chance of fighting that.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  16. www.yoimlive.com - an alternative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out a cool alternative http://www.yoimlive.com

    It even has full mobile support too, which I think is awesome.

  17. Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is what they call "killing the goose that laid the golden egg."

  18. What are we going to do for futurama 24/7??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good news everyone! Oh wait... I mean horrible, dreadful news. =(

  19. Re:Where to go now? Livestream, UStream? by BitterOak · · Score: 1

    vaughnlive.tv and ivlog.tv are better than either of those. Vaughnlive.tv has an interface most like Justin.tv, while ivlog.tv is more like the now defunct blogtv.

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    If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
  20. Re:Where to go now? Livestream, UStream? by k6mfw · · Score: 1

    I first used Justin but then later all I would get is a freeze frame with a cartoon of a dinosaur on top of image, "our monkeys are working as hard as they can to get it fixed" or something like that. So I then went to Ustream which seems to work fine except I never could get audio along with video, though I'm using the free version (maybe they don't send sound?). Livestream looks pretty good but for people to see it you have to get paid version. ParadigmDVD has nice Livestream streaming videos from dance competitions, nothing special on their end (I forget if they use PC or Mac) simply connect and use software from Livestream. They feed SDI from the cameras.

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    mfwright@batnet.com
  21. Google has already trampled all over twitch... by buckfeta2014 · · Score: 0

    Google has implemented content id on twitch. The damage is already being done. I suspect twitch will become irrelevant as gamers find a new place to stream/upload their videos.

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    Buck Feta. You know what to do.
    1. Re:Google has already trampled all over twitch... by buckfeta2014 · · Score: 2

      relevant source: http://boingboing.net/2014/08/...

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      Buck Feta. You know what to do.