An internet start-up from Slovakia may have figured out how to get people to pay for news online. The full story at The Columbia Journalism Review.
Watch an interview with the company’s founder and CEO, Tomas Bella:
Interview with Tomas Bella, CEO of Piano Media from Bill Baker Blog on Vimeo.
A thing of the past? (credit: Susan Lesch)
In five years–though maybe not four months, as the Atlantic proposes–print editions of even the most venerable papers could join phone booths, video store late fees and Saturday mail delivery as quaint relics of the past.
As major media and entertainment sites invest in original content, the cloud of niche programming and new shows available exclusively online is growing. While prominent sites like the Huffington Post, and the Daily Beast are all featuring new video content on their sites in a bid to establish themselves as serious players in the convergent media space, Netflix, Hulu, and others are making deals which will see exclusive, high-budget shows incorporated with their other offerings, almost all of which have to this point been sourced from studios or other independent content creators.
With these new investments comes not only an experiment, but a deluge of original scripted and non-scripted programming – and this isn’t only happening online. Throughout 2011 the cable industry saw an upsurge in original programming as channels sought to keep themselves relevant in an era when running re-runs is slowly becoming a less popular practice.
What does this mean for viewers? While it may become trickier to navigate the video and entertainment ecosystem, competition is greater than ever, and this means viewers may end up with more high quality programming that’s relevant to them.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Youtube’s Robert Kyncl spoke on the company’s new approach to premium content. The future of premium internet video, a distribution pipeline which Kyncl says will take a 75% share of the total video market by 2020, Read More …
Broadcast television is (finally) coming to a phone near you. MetroPCS, a mobile service provider, has announced that it has partnered with Mobile Content Venture (MCV) to broadcast digital tv to phones equipped with digital tuners. MCV is a joint venture of 12 major US broadcast groups, whose aim since 2010 has been to leverage the power of broadcast tv through cell phone and other digital delivery. Although a number of manufacturers, including mobile phone and pc companies, previously adopted tuners as a part of their products, they have yet to become popularized. Read More …
