Two well-known corporate entities have this week delivered an official press release, making them the first big alliance to be formed in 2008.

Netflix and LG have teamed up together to form a sort of digital download alliance.

The arrangement the two partners in cinematic deliverance (don’t it just roll off the tongue?) have made is fairly straightforward. 

Netflix intends to handle the virtual storefront and download software (and likely the majority of the marketing effort, too), while LG does its magic manufacturing hardware in the form of set-top boxes.

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It was announced just before Christmas that the British royal family were getting their own YouTube channel, and a key part of it would be the annual Queen’s speech getting airedonline immediately after its terrestrial TV premiere.

After the wealth of publicity, both good and bad, that this move online for one of the UK’s most austere organisations garnered, it was bound to be copied, and surprise surprise, the church has been the first to imitate.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who is the leader of the Church of England, and the world’s Anglicans, delivers an annual new year’s message, and this year will be the first it will appear on YouTube as well as the more traditional outlets.

The message, which this year takes a look at the environment, and waste, was filmed in and around Cantebury cathedral, as well as a local recycling plant.

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It’s new year, which means it must be time for the ubiqutous year-end list? 

This best of 2007, which we hope captures the excitement and rapid change that the industry has experienced over the past 12 months, brings us the best and worst IPTV moments. 

If you think we missed anyone, probably your company, let us know. We’ll be happy to add it to our upcoming list of Notable Mentions. 

The Top Ten

10) Craziest Online Content Idea of the Year: ModMyLife

The Subservient Chicken meets reality TV. The SIMs in real-time. Second Life for the Non-Furry set. There are many ways to describe the not-quite-launched ModMyLife.com, which sets improvisational actors armed with Justin.TV-style minicams loose on the streets of NYC to do the bidding of their keyboard-bound masters. 

There’s no business plan we could possibly conceive of connected with this property, but for sheer madness and originality and pure interactivity, ModMyLife scores high on all accounts. Ladies and gentleman, this is the future of TV, assuming, of course, the writers’ strike ends sometime soon.

9) Product Launch: Wowza Media Server Pro

Launched in February of 2007, Wowza Media Server Pro has since racked up over 3,700 global licensees and won numerous kudos from the likes of Streaming Media Magazine, while going head-to-head with streaming Goliaths like Adobe and Windows Media Server. 

On the heels of a recent cost reduction, which prices the software at $995 for the Unlimited package, the Wowza team has not only built a great product, but they have brought it to the people in a way that makes it irresistible to anyone who wants to move into the arena of large-scale Flash streaming.

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