Video: 'Heroes' creator Tim King talks about transmedia storytelling

While in LA last month, I had a chance to sit down with "Heroes" creator Tim Kring in the show's production offices. Kring is part of a session I'm hosting on October 24th at the Boston Book Festival.

We talked for about a half-hour. I asked Kring about the ukelele made of mango wood that was sitting on a stand in his office, and he played a couple chords for me. We talked about George Lucas as the original transmedia storyteller, introducing characters like Boba Fett on television first (and in a parade!), and then later weaving them into the narrative of the Star Wars films, books, and of course, toy lines.

The part of the conversation I captured on video covers Kring's approach to transmedia storytelling... some of the books that have spun off from the "Heroes" TV show...how he thinks about the audience's desire to participate in the "Heroes" universe...and a little bit about "Flag of Orpheus," the trilogy of books (unrelated to "Heroes") that Kring is working on with the novelist Dale Peck. (I mistakenly call it "Gate of Orpheus" in the interview...the perils of shooting and asking questions at the same time...)

Monday Links: New Movie Review Aggregator, Mark Cuban @ D7, New Distribution Venture, and the Ransom Model of Fundraising

- The NY Times ran a story on Saturday about a new site aggregating movie reviews, started by David A. Gross, a former marketing exec at 20th Century Fox. It's called Movie Review Intelligence. I found it pretty useful...

- There are a bunch of great videos from the Wall Street Journal's D7 conference earlier this month, including interviews with NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, the founders of Twitter, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, and Mark Cuban. (There's also a video interview and several performances by Jill Sobule, one of the stars of Fans, Friends & Followers.) Definitely worth checking out...

- The Times writes today about a new distribution venture for movies with budgets up to $10 million, called DF Indie Studios. Behind the launch are Mary Dickinson and Charlene Fisher.

From the Times' piece:

Ms. Dickinson and Ms. Fisher — the D and the F in DF Studios — think independent productions are ripe for reinvention. “There is going to be a dearth of quality product in the marketplace because financing has dried up for so many people, and that means we can move into that open spot,” Ms. Dickinson said.

The two would not discuss the company’s financing and had no film projects to announce. They are still seeking investors.

“We are happily on the way with our financing, which will allow us to start making films in the fall,” said Ms. Fisher, whose background is in entertainment business development and restructuring. Ms. Dickinson’s experience includes reorganizing an extreme sports film company, Teton Gravity Research

- Ross Payton is a designer of role-playing games who also hosts the video podcast Raillery. He read Fans, Friend & Followers, and wrote in to share the story of his success in raising money via the "ransom" model. More about that here.

NBC Looking for Sponsors: Here are the Shows They're Developing

I hardly ever (never?) post press releases in their entirety, but this one is worth it.

NBC Universal's Digital Studio is cultivating a new crop of online shows, and they're putting out a call for sponsors. If you're NBC, people will likely pay attention... and the ideas for shows are interesting. What do you think -- will they work as online series?

NBC UNIVERSAL DIGITAL STUDIO BRINGS FIRST SLATE OF ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS TO MARKET

Innovative Business Model Brings Unprecedented Connection Between Advertisers and Content Producers

BURBANK, Calif. – October 7, 2008 – The NBC Universal Digital Studio today announced its first slate of original productions, which is currently being presented to sponsors. The innovative new business model being employed by the Studio brings advertisers and content producers together from the start and allows a much higher-quality production value than what is normally associated with digital production. The show creators are among the most talented writers and producers in entertainment, with the slate featuring projects from Scott Z. Burns ("The Bourne Ultimatum"), Tom Fontana ("OZ," "Homicide") and John August ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Big Fish"). The Studio has partnered with 60Frames Entertainment on the slate. The announcement was made by Cameron Death, Vice President, NBC Universal Digital Studio.

"NBC Universal is uniquely positioned to be able to bring top-tier talent together with world-class distribution for brands in new and unique ways," said Death. "This first slate of programming provides a unique outlet for our top-tier creative partners to marry their ability to tell great stories with brands' desires to align with world-class content in new and innovative ways."

The Studio slate is currently being presented to brands for integration and sponsorship opportunities. With partners on board, series will be put into production and distributed across a wide number of NBC Universal properties as well as third party online, mobile sites, VOD and electronic sell-thru platforms.

The NBC Universal Digital Studio has partnered with 60Frames Entertainment, a leading online entertainment financing and syndication company. 60Frames works with top Hollywood talent to create professionally produced short-form digital entertainment and creates unique, highly effective online advertising opportunities for national brands. With Over 50 series in active distribution, development or production, 60Frames produces across every genre including comedy, sci-fi, drama, thriller, reality and instructional.

More detailed descriptions of a selection of the series follow:

"Loving Larry" – A determined group of twenty-something misfits seek to change their luck with the ladies by creating a fake Bachelor-style reality show. When their phony casting call results in scores of gorgeous women lined up down the block, the lovable losers ignore their lack of resources, money and know-how, and actually try to pull it off. But when Larry, the fake "Bachelor," legitimately falls for a contestant, he must untangle himself from his web of lies and try to win her heart, this time with the truth. This series is a 60Frames Entertainment Production.

"Love At First Sight & Other Dangers" – Writer/Director Scott Burns ("The Bourne Ultimatum") brings to life a double-sided look at love in these modern-day vignettes that demonstrate how love can be comedic, dramatic and sometimes even surreal. Whether it's catching up with an old flame or sparking up a new one, desire, pain and pleasure are all bound together in the mystery we call love. 60Frames financed and released two original episodes, and is working with the NBC Universal Digital Studio to extend the series.

Creator/Director/Writer/Producer: Scott Z. Burns

"Mr. Miss Teen U.S.A." – An inexperienced, yet sexually obsessed 18 year-old wins a sexual discrimination lawsuit, allowing him to enter the Miss Teen USA Pageant, with one thing on his mind. But with angry stage parents, jealous contestants and an evil host who's conspiring against him, getting lucky with the ladies won't be as easy as he thought. This series is a 60Frames Entertainment Production.

"Four Corners" – Scattered to the extreme corners of the country, four teams of four compete in challenges, decipher clues and engage in a battle of wits as they race to the center of the United States. Teams travel through small towns and big cities, engaging with colorful locals and enlisting the help of 'virtual' teammates who have signed up online. The first team to arrive at the final destination, having completed all of their tasks and challenges, wins a coveted prize package and bragging rights. This series is an NBC Universal Digital Studio production.

"True Story" – A documentary series featuring eccentric individuals and their unconventional lifestyles. From an 80 year-old punk rocker to a tango-dancing witch, these unique characters let us explore worlds we have never known and inspire us to embrace our own individuality. This series is an NBC Universal Digital Studio production.

"Men With Guns: The Assassins" – A virtuous assassin plays by his own rules while setting his sights on the villains of society. Writer/Producer Tom Fontana (creator, "OZ," "Homicide") brings to life the gritty story of a high-end, principled assassin amidst a backdrop of glamour, money and power. In this corrupt world of fraudulent politicians, dirty cops and compromised businessmen ...nobody is what they seem. This series is a 60Frames Entertainment Production.

Creator/Writer/Producer: Tom Fontana

"The Remnants" – From Writer/Director/Producer John August ("Big Fish," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Charlie's Angels") comes the quirky and comedic story of a group of friends who search for answers and survival, upon realizing they are some of society's last living inhabitants in post-something Los Angeles. This series is a 60Frames Entertainment Production.

Notes and News from the HBS Entertainment & Media Conference

Spent the afternoon and evening yesterday at Harvard Business School's annual Entertainment & Media Conference.

I filed a short piece for Variety about the opening Jeff Zucker keynote, which felt pretty news-y to me. Liz Gannes from NewTeeVee was there, too -- and has some video and notes on the Zucker talk.

Some other notes:

- Marshall Herskovitz was on a panel, bemoaning the low ratings for the first NBC broadcast of his made-for-the-Web series 'quarterlife' this week. Herskovitz told me afterward that he was pretty sure NBC would kill the show, but that he hoped it'd find another home on cable, where it could have a few months to build up an audience.

Herskovitz also acknowledged that the production costs were too expensive for something that would only exist online; 'quarterlife' needs the broadcast component to it to make it financially viable. (I was always skeptical that Herskovitz and Ed Zwick started their venture by boasting that they were going to create Internet content with extremely high production values.)

But Herskovitz, later in the panel, was also very hopeful about the future of paid downloads (versus ad-supported streaming) for content creators. "Apple has shown us something," he said. But he acknowledged that most creators haven't figured out how to take advantage of it.

- Fresh from negotiating the truce between the WGA and the AMPTP, WGA West President Patric Verrone said the definition of what constitutes a paid download and what constitutes ad-supported streaming are becoming muddier by the minute. Verrone said he'd heard earlier in the week about free downloadable videos that could have ad blocks inserted in them, which would be updated by a server whenever the viewer decided to watch the video. I guess we'd call that an ad-supported free download ... and it's probably not covered by the new WGA contract.

- We're all still waiting for the mobile device that has high-bandwidth, always-on connectivity. (The iPhone isn't it -- unless you're sitting in a WiFi hotspot, and there aren't too many other people around.) Tim Westergren from Pandora predicted that once that happens, wireless delivery of music and video -- targeted to the tastes of the recipient -- will start to clobber traditional broadcasting.

- At dinner, I was talking with an HBS student who formerly worked in corporate strategic planning at Disney... we wondered what Walt would be doing right now, in terms of creating original content for iPods, cell phones, PCs, etc.

Lo and behold, today Disney announces Stage 9 Digital Media, a studio to create original content for the Net. From the LA Times story:

ighty years after the 7 1/2 -minute cartoon "Steamboat Willie" helped launch the career of a certain iconic mouse, Walt Disney Co. has returned to its short-form roots with the debut of a digital studio that will develop original content for the Internet.

Stage 9 Digital Media, quietly in the works for two years, will be unveiled today with the premiere of "Squeegees," a comedy series about window-washer slackers, on ABC.com and YouTube. It is the first of a planned 20 online programs currently in development.

...[ABC Studios president Mark] Pedowitz said Stage 9 would make it possible to experiment with new forms of storytelling, cultivate young talent and incubate franchises that might someday graduate to the bigger screen, namely TV. And because the financial risks are lower, there is greater creative freedom. The goal is to bridge the gap between the irregular quality of amateur video and traditional television show

Thursday links: Rentals on iTunes? ... Viral video picks ... Predictions

- Reuters and The Wall Street Journal say Apple may bring Fox movies into the iTunes universe -- as rentals only. This is likely something that'd be announced at Macworld next month in San Francisco. From the Journal's story:

Apple has for months been trying to persuade the Hollywood studios to agree to a digital rental model, in which consumers would be able to download movies through iTunes that could be played for a limited time. Until now, no studio has agreed to such a deal with Apple, and some companies have continued to resist Apple's pitch.

What do you think the pricing will be? I'm guessing $2.99. And hopefully Apple will make the other terms less frustrating than they've been on other online rental sites... as far as how much time you've got to start and finish watching the movie.

- The LA Times has put together a list (this is what journalists do at the end of the year, when no one is around the be interviewed) of 2007's best viral videos.

- The Hollywood Reporter makes eight predictions for 2008. The most interesting to CinemaTech readers:

1. NBC will return to iTunes with its content priced slightly higher than before.
2. A major studio will try releasing one of its movies simultaneously in theaters and on pay-per-view TV.
3. Blu-ray wins the high-definition disc wars.

Netflix Users Will Get Fresh NBC Content, On DVD or Online

Pretty cool.... NBC will make some of its most popular shows available on Netflix the day after they air. Netflix subscribers will be able to stream them on the Web site (with no commercials), or get a DVD sent through the mail.

Here's the Netflix announcement and a story from Silicon Alley insider.

This is part of NBC's strategy to build an Internet distribution business without Apple, with whom it has been feuding.

Note to NBC: Putting Video on the Net is Not Enough ... It Actually Has to Work

NBC's spat with iTunes has been well-publicized. The result is that new NBC shows are no longer available for purchase on iTunes.

Having missed a few recent episodes of 'The Office,' I first visited iTunes ... before remembering that they weren't for sale there. (I've bought two or three episodes of the show from iTunes in the past.)

Then I went to NBC.com, which offers recent episodes for free, supported by advertising.

The only problem is that they are utterly unwatchable. After four attempts on two different days, I couldn't get the videos to play at anything better than what looked like one frame per second.

I noticed today on the NBC Web site that others have the same problem. "I can't get the full episodes working either. Tried IE and Firefox to no avail. :(" wrote a user named Matt. "NBC.com has been totally lame all day. nothing's working," wrote another user.

Someone who seems to be an NBC employee posted the helpful advice, "To get the full episodes to work you have to refresh the page tben you have to close the page or try getting the video back. NBC is very sorry for you difficulties and wishes you the best."

Hmmm... is it better to sell episodes for $1.99 on iTunes, or offer them with advertising in a way that no one can actually watch them?

U2's 3-D Concert Film Has a Release Date ... Hulu, Almost

- I'm looking forward to the release of U2's 3-D concert movie, just set for late January, according to Variety. National Geographic is handling the distribution. No word yet on the number of screens.

- This Wall Street Journal piece makes it sound like Hulu.com, the NBC/Fox joint venture, just launched. But the site is very obviously still in a limited beta. Rebecca Dana and Kevin Delaney write:

Late Friday, Hulu closed deals with Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Television and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. to distribute some of their content as well. The venture's flagship site, Hulu, will initially be open only to users who request an early glimpse of the site.

Some of these shows had been available already on network Web sites or via video-download services. Neither of NBC and Fox's two main network rivals, CBS Corp.'s CBS and Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, has gone as far in making their content available online. That could change, however, as CBS has held talks with Hulu about providing the network's TV shows to the venture, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Monday News: Internet Video, High-Def Formats, Hulu Lawsuit, and More

The NY Times has a bunch of Internet video stories today...

- Warner Bros. is creating original Web video series, and hopes to sell advertising around them.

- A profile of the attorney who cut the lucrative new 'South Park' deal

- The self-publishing site Lulu.com is suing Hulu, the new Web video site created by News Corp. and NBC, because its name is too similar.

The LA Times says there's no end in sight to the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war, which some had predicted would be over by Christmas. From the piece:

The brinkmanship is intensifying. Another major studio, Warner Bros., is being courted by both camps and believed to be mulling over a lucrative offer that could bring such popular titles as "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" into the HD DVD camp, according to Hollywood insiders who requested anonymity because the talks were confidential.

"Any movement by one of the studios tilts the playing field in one direction or the other," said David Sanderson, head of the global media practice at consulting firm Bain & Co. "It's a bit of jump ball right now."

What's more, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the dominant seller of DVDs, has been contemplating whether to boot stand-alone HD DVD players from its shelves in favor of Blu-ray. Wal-Mart executives would not talk about the company's conversations with suppliers, but said it would continue to carry hardware and software in both formats until consumers indicate a clear preference.

- IFC and a tech start-up called B Side are working together to get home video and online distribution for movies that garner good buzz at film festivals, but don't get distribution deals, according to Variety.

In-theater Movie Commentary ... Apple & NBC ... Miller and Levinsohn unite ... Dolby digital cinema demo

- Screenwriter, director, and blogger John August has created a director's commentary for his new movie 'The Nines,' which is in limited release now. The idea is that you'd download it to your iPod and listen to it in the theater...the second time you go to see the movie. Kevin Smith apparently did the same thing for 'Clerks II.' (But Smith's commentary was never released, though, because theater owners worried it would be disruptive to other audience members.)

Peter Debruge has some thoughts on this strategy at Anne Thompson's blog. (IE, how loud will your iPod have to be to compete with the volume in the theater?)

- Apple's response to NBC's decision to pull its shows from iTunes is well worth a read. (Thanks, Andy.) Apple says it doesn't want to stop selling NBC shows in mid-season (one feature of iTunes is the ability to buy an entire season of shows as a package), so it is dropping new NBC content before the September season begins. The Wall Street Journal has a report that suggests that Apple is hoping NBC will change its mind; NBC is accusing Apple of caring more about iPod sales than the money it generates for content creators.

- Jonathan Miller, formerly CEO of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, formerly president of Fox Interactive Media, have started a new firm to buy Internet companies, the Journal reports. (OK, now that the roll-ups are starting, this really feels like Bubble 2.0) From the piece:

The new entity, called Velocity Investment Group, is already actively scouting for acquisitions and has signed letters of intent with a few consumer-oriented Internet companies. Velocity aims to purchase start-ups in related content areas and boost their online ad revenue by selling across multiple properties. Velocity is also considering buying out companies that broker ads for other Web sites. It is being advised by the investment bank Allen & Co.

- News.com has some video from a digital cinema demo night that Dolby Labs held in San Francisco late last month. Two reactions: it's pretty funny to see film shown side-by-side with digital projection in a low-rez Internet video (obviously, you can't see the difference), and the reporter makes some broad comments about theatrical woes which don't feel all that relevant right now. (Regal Entertainment, the biggest chain of theaters, had net income of $52 million in the second quarter.)

Attention iTunes Users: Please Visit Hulu

At the end of 2007, NBC will yank its TV shows off of iTunes, according to the NY Times. From Brooks Barnes' piece:

...The decision by NBC Universal highlights the escalating tension between Apple and media companies, which are unhappy that Apple will not give them more control over the pricing of songs and videos that are sold on iTunes.

NBC Universal is also seeking better piracy controls and wants Apple to allow it to bundle videos to increase revenue, the person familiar with the matter said.

NBC Universal is the second major iTunes supplier recently to have a rift with Apple over pricing and packaging matters. In July, the Universal Music Group of Vivendi, the world’s biggest music corporation, said it would not renew its long-term contract with iTunes. Instead, Universal Music said it would market music to Apple at will, which would allow it to remove its songs from iTunes on short notice.

Better piracy controls? You mean you want a tougher DRM than FairPlay? That's smart.

Of course, by December, we'll all have forgotten entirely about iTunes and will be slurping up digital content from Hulu.com, the NBC/Fox joint venture.

NBC and Fox take just ten months to come up with a name: Hulu

The Fox/NBC joint venture to create a video site that will rival YouTube may actually launch before everyone forgets what YouTube was.

They picked a name today -- Hulu -- only ten months after the joint venture talks began. A trial will begin in October, but you can sign up now.

I predict this will be every bit as successful as Movielink.com, the site we all download movies from.

I'll certainly remember the name Hulu, because it rhymes with Sulu, as in Lieutenant. (Unfortunately, Viacom, which owns 'Star Trek,' isn't participating in the joint venture.)

Google Video Abandons the Cash Register ... While 'NewCo' Raises Coin

- Google is admitting that its strategy for selling and renting videos was a flop, closing down the cash register at Google Video.

The three biggest problems: Google never had a wide range of content for purchase. Google invented its own DRM system, so videos wouldn't play anywhere but Google's site. Google didn't let independent creators sell their content - only big media companies. And Google didn't promote the paid content; it was extremely tough to find.

And for some dumb reason, consumers will no longer be able to play purchased videos. You're telling me that Google, which spends about $1 billion on employee lunches every day, couldn't keep the necessary software up and running - to do right by the people who supported this service while it existed?

I still believe that people will pay for excellent content online. Google just made too many mistakes with this initiative.

- The NY Times reports that Providence Equity Partners is investing $100 million to buy 10 percent of the Fox/NBC video site that hasn't yet been named or launched yet. This values a company with no Web site, no viewers, and no revenue (but access to content from Fox and NBC) at $1 billion.

- And here's a bonus link, from yesterday's Times: a great piece on how comedians are using Web video to build an audience and generate interest among agents, networks, and studios.

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to Media Co's: Enough with the copyright warnings

Interesting new front in the copyright wars...

A group of tech and communication companies say that media companies are using copyright warnings to scare consumers, and they've just filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, according to the NY Times. From the piece:

...[T[he group, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said that the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NBC and Universal Studios, DreamWorks, Harcourt and Penguin Group display copyright warnings that are a “systematic misrepresentation of consumers’ rights to use legally acquired content.”

The complaint alleges that the warnings may intimidate consumers from making legal use of copyrighted material, like photocopying a page from a book to use in class.

“It is an attempt to convince Americans that they don’t have rights that they do in fact have,” said Ed Black, the association’s president and chief executive. “This is part of the larger context of what should be and what are proper rules for copyright in an Internet age.”

Original Content for the Web: The Big Questions

I had a conversation earlier this week with a very well-known TV writer who is working to develop a new video series for the Web. And I've gotten e-mails from a number of producers (and publicists) this month plugging new episodic projects.

I think we're seeing the emergence of professional content online that will challenge user-generated content -- something I started talking about late last year. This doesn't mean user-gen video is going to disappear, or that we won't see user-generated viral clips continue to circulate -- just that the professionals are now serious about trying to reach viewers, build long-term relationships, and make money on the Web.

Earlier this month, Brett Weinstein of UTA announced 60Frames Entertainment. You've also got Michael Eisner's Vuguru and Next New Networks, founded by Herb Scannell of MTV. Plus:

- Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo and Zachary Lieberman just launched an "urban western" called "The West Side."

- Nerve Video has a sexy new series called "Tight Shots."

- AmericaFree.TV is doing a series called "Custody."

- Nickelodeon debuts its first original Web series, "Nick Cannon's Star Camp," on July 22nd at www.turbonick.com. There are five 15-minute episodes, culminating in a televised finale on August 26th.

Some of the big questions that haven't yet been answered:

- How much advertising will viewers tolerate? How "interruptive" will it be (IE, will it be small logos in the corner of the frame, or 15-second commercials that run before, during, and after the video)?

- How much can you spend on production and still expect to earn a profit? Will a new aesthetic emerge?

- We know that good writing will be important. But how important will recognizable stars be?

- How will creators make their stuff "appointment viewing"? It's one thing to get a viewer to subscribe to a stream of videos by e-mail, or some form of RSS, but actually keeping them engaged and getting them to watch is a tougher challenge.

If you compared the development of professional Web video to television, we'd still be pre-Uncle Miltie.

Some history:

In 1948, NBC moved Milton Berle's "Texaco Star Theater" from radio to television. By 1949, Berle had become television's first big-name star, and was credited with causing the sale of television sets to double that year.

While there have been lots of original shows created for the Web, we don't yet know who the Texacos will be (the sponsors for this new kind of content) or the Uncle Milties. I don't think we've hit an inflection point yet for professional video content online.

But it could be close.

CEO Hired for NBC/News Corp. 'YouTube Killer' ... and More on NBC's Future Plans

I hate to keep using the term 'YouTube Killer' to describe this venture, since it really sets it up to fail... but you probably know the project I'm talking about: the joint venture between News Corp. and NBC to create a new video site, in partnership with AOL, Comcast, MSN, and CNET.

They've just hired a CEO: Jason Kilar, a veteran of Amazon.com and Disney.

The upside: he is young (36). The potential downside: the venture will be based in LA, and it won't launch until "later this year," according to the release. That's sorta vague. (Update: the internal goal for launch is September.) And Kilar's experience is mostly in e-commerce: selling actual physical goods like DVDs and CDs. Clearly, though, he must know how to manage software developers after almost a decade at Amazon.

We'll see how this goes. I'm sure it will be, uh, fun to report to a board of directors that includes Peter Chernin of News Corp. and Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal.

More from PaidContent. Om Malik reported yesterday that the joint venture is trying to raise $100 million, and not having much luck so far.

From the release:

"As a team, we have a unique opportunity to create great customer experience through the combination of innovative technology and high quality content," commented Mr. Kilar. "In the process, I believe we can play a significant role influencing how consumers find, discover, and participate in premium content over the web. This is a big, inherently fun mission with which I'm proud and very excited to be associated."

Mr. Kilar began his career at the Walt Disney Company, where he spent two years with Disney Development Corporation (1993-95).

He received his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in 1997...

Update: Coincidentally, just after I posted this, I had a chance to sit down for a quick coffee with a PR exec from NBC Universal. She mentioned that NBC is getting ready to open a "product lab" out here in Silicon Valley, with the goal of developing relationships with interesting tech companies. It'll be staffed by just one person to start with. NBC also may take a minority stake in some companies through its Peacock Equity Fund; one early investment was the ad serving network Adify.

She noted that the NBC/News Corp. joint venture site, which is yet to be named, will eventually sell shows (a la iTunes), but probably not at the launch. Right now, iTunes is the only place where NBC sells its content.

Another interesting tidbit from our conversation: while NBC is the fourth-ranked network right now according to Nielsen, it occupies half of the spots on the iTunes list of top 100 TV shows. ('The Office,' and 'Heroes' are well represented.)

An Emerging Issue: Capturing and Storing Flash Video

Think back to the 1970s (if you're old enough): there was no way to capture and replay anything that aired on TV. When Sony's Betamax videocassette recorder was introduced, media companies got a little upset. Two of them, Universal and Disney, sued Sony all the way to the US Supreme court to keep people from recording shows and movies off the air. (They lost.)

A new version of RealNetworks' RealPlayer software is beginning to spark a similar conflict: it allows you to store and later play back any of the Flash video you encounter on the Web. (Flash is the format used on YouTube, Brightcove, and many other sites, intended to stream content to your computer temporarily -- but not allow you to store it. Flash is most likely the dominant format in which video is delivered online today.) RealPlayer allows you to create a personal playlist made up of any of the video you encounter on the Web, whether it's in the Flash, Windows Media, QuickTime, or Real formats. The tagline is: "Find the Web video you want -- and Real it in." (Of course, there is already software like Tubesock that allows you to store Flash...it's just not marketed by a company as big as RealNetworks.)

Some of the debate over capturing Flash (and the other formats) has been playing out on Andy Plesser's Beet.TV site. Here's a post headlined, 'It's War: Brightcove's Jeremy Allaire Says New ReadlNetworks Video Player is Illegal Piracy.'

Adobe, which developed the Flash video format, and is working on a software program of its own to allow Flash video to be stored and managed, isn't wild about the new RealNetworks player, either.

And here's an Information Week article on some of the legal implications.

Two of the big issues media companies worry about: if users can store and replay Flash and other formats, how can we keep tabs on how many times our content is being played? And, secondarily, if that's content that we're hoping to support by integrating advertising, how can we insert new advertising every time it is played if the content is being stored and played back with software we don't control?

This is going to be a hotly-debated area for the next couple years, but something tells me that media companies might have to concede that with digital video, not every play is going to be trackable, and not every play is going to present a fresh opportunity to insert ads ..... just as was the case with the VCR when you recorded that episode of "Diff'rent Strokes" and watched it over and over again.

When I hear Jeremy Allaire of Brightcove using the words "illegal piracy" to describe what the new RealPlayer is doing, I hear echoes of the way that Universal execs Lew Wasserman and Sid Sheinberg (and later, MPAA chief Jack Valenti) responded to the VCR.

Your thoughts?

The site with no name: NBC and News Corp. announce new video joint venture

So NBC and News Corp. are getting together to develop a video site.

Here's the coverage from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and LA Times.

Listening now to the live conference call with Peter Chernin of News Corp. and Jeff Zucker from NBC Universal.

The joint venture, or the site that it will launch sometime this summer, has no name yet. They refer to it as "NewCo."

Why is that a big deal?

Because it hints at how difficult it is for two or more big companies to decide on anything (like a name), let alone actually build anything.

Chernin and Zucker make all the right noises: Web 2.0 functionality, consumer control, mash-ups are OK, embedding in personal pages, etc. Also, the site will protect copyright and help content owners earn money from advertising. They want to make it the "biggest video destination on the Web," Chernin says, and "we are in discussion with other content owners right now," who want to be "treated fairly" and have their content protection. There will also be movies for sale on this site, most as electronic sell-through (paid downloads), but perhaps some older titles studded with advertising. Some full episode TV shows may also be paid downloads, likely the same stuff you pay for on iTunes. Pricing will be similar to sites like Movielink, CinemaNow, and iTunes.

Importantly, there is some key content you won't see on this site -- like 'American Idol.' Fox doesn't control the Internet rights for its biggest hit.

Six factors that would make this venture successful:

1. Launching sooner rather than later
2. Lots of content
3. Inobtrusive advertising (IE, not the 15 second pre-roll ad that takes 30 seconds to start playing and then segue into the clip you want)
4. Copious promotion
5. More content partners (and that includes welcoming in independent content producers, not just the Viacoms, Time-Warners, or Disneys)
6. Really sharp software developers

Will this unnamed joint venture be able to hit all six of those marks? I'm skeptical, but we'll see in a few months.

Media Biggies Still Scheming Over YouTube ... Remembering Peter Ellenshaw ... Bob's Basement

- Richard Siklos has a piece in today's NY Times about the continuing discussions among the CEOs of NBC Universal, Viacom, and News Corp. about whether they ought to create a competitor to YouTube (or perhaps ally with Yahoo.) The opening:

JEFF ZUCKER, the newly minted chief executive of NBC Universal, ventured to the Times Square headquarters of Viacom two Wednesdays ago with Peter A. Chernin, president of the News Corporation. It was not a social call as much as a social-networking call, to see Philippe P. Dauman, Viacom’s chief executive. After all, Viacom had rather publicly ordered YouTube, the Internet’s most popular video-sharing site, to remove thousands of clips of MTV material.

A few weeks earlier, Viacom had also bowed out of a partnership with NBC and the News Corporation to set up their own alternative to YouTube, which was recently acquired by the search juggernaut Google. Not to be dissuaded, their idea is that a Web start-up featuring the broadcasters’ most Web-friendly fare (comedy clips and even whole episodes of their popular shows) could gather a crowd on its own and also be a powerful consortium for licensing content to other destinations around the Web — including, of course, “GoogTube.”

According to people briefed on the visit, Mr. Zucker and Mr. Chernin ran through a presentation on why they thought Viacom ought to rejoin their group. So far, Viacom has not rejoined the venture, and the project’s fate remains unclear. (No love is lost between Viacom and the News Corporation, since the latter snatched MySpace.com from under Viacom’s nose.)

- Peter Ellenshaw, a great matte painter who worked with Walt Disney on movies like 'Treasure Island' and '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,' has died at age 93. He shared in the Oscar for visual effects awarded to 'Mary Poppins,' in 1965. Here is the AP obituary. The Wall Street Journal has a longer remembrance. Stephen Miller writes:

A master of a now-dying art called matte painting, he helped usher Walt Disney Corp. into live-action films by painting miniature scenery that was combined through technical wizardry with frames depicting actors. He reached his apogee with "Mary Poppins," which won the Oscar for special visual effects in 1965. Mr. Ellenshaw, who died Feb. 12 at age 93, was nominated three other times and worked on 30 Disney films.

"He helped define the Disney look," says Roy E. Disney, nephew of the founder and a former vice chairman. "He created a kind of faux-realism which you believed in. It didn't look like something pasted onto the frame. ...Walt loved him."

Mr. Ellenshaw's handiwork can be viewed in films from "Treasure Island" (1950) -- his first for Disney -- "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954) and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971). He also left his mark on several Disney television programs, including "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier," where actor Fess Parker as Crockett -- on his way to Washington to serve a spell in Congress -- journeyed down a dirt road that was an Ellenshaw painting.

Also a nice piece about Ellenshaw's work on Jim Hill Media, a Disney fan site.

- Fun piece in the NY Times about Bob's Basement, a collection of famous Hollywood props.