It’s fascinating how certain videos can explode on to the Internet, and then make their way around various media.

From emails and Twitter feeds to blog posts and then into newspapers and media websites, some videos get picked so fast, it’s often hard to get an actual grasp on what people really think of it.

I was talking with a colleague recently about the Barack Obama tribute video made by Will.i.am from the Black-Eyed Peas and Bob Dylan’s son Jesse, and how it had moved around the web, being judged as it went.

Yahoo! may be going through a rough patch at the moment (read understatement of the year), with Microsoft launching a hostile takeover bid worth $45 billion, and staff being culled left, right, and centre, but that hasn’t stopped it from carrying on business as normal.

Today, they have formally announced the acquisition of Maven Networks, an online video platform which offers video hosting and distribution services, as well as a targeted video advertising system.

The deal, which has been rumoured around the blogosphere for the last fortnight, right before Microsoft threw a spanner in the works with its bid, is worth an estimated $160 million, about $10 million higher than was first thought.

The online television market is growing daily, and new companies are entering the fray regularly, some of which are copycats, and some of which are more original and innovative.

Back in November I wrote about a service that at the time, I thought was set to redefine the way consumers purchase television shows over the Internet.

SyncTV President John Gildred explained:

“[SyncTV allows users to] download any episode of any show on that channel any time you want,”

“You will have a whole catalog of all the shows under that channel for a really small price of just a couple of dollars per month.”

This week, after receiving an invite into the private beta, I have been checking out the SyncTV player, which is a required download to access the service. 

Revver is one of the video start ups which suddenly became well known when the success of market leader YouTube took video sharing from the domain of the geek to a worldwide boom.

The site was launched in late 2005, and has since seen a good level of investment, securing $12.7 million in 2006 from investors that include Turner Broadcasting and the venture capital division of Comcast.

Up For Sale

Now, just over a year later, and the company seems to be up for sale, with News.com claiming an asking price of between $300,000 and $500,000, which includes taking on debts thought to total around $1 million.

Former employees are also claiming the company has shed about half of its total staff over the last 18 months. So what has gone wrong?

Video has become an all important part of breaking news coverage, with online readers almost expecting some sort of visual accompaniment to bolster their experience.

In today’s news environment there is a healthy competition between online media outlets to be the first to provide breaking news coverage with the supporting visual aids that consumers have come to expect.

Out Of Date Transcoding Technologies

However, using today’s legacy transcoding technologies, video updates are cumbersome, since they have to be pre-transcoded and stored in
to the appropriate file format for the site’s unique requirements. 

This becomes a barrier for providing timely, updated video news coverage.

The BBC iPlayer is seemingly proving more popular than anyone could have predicted, with its success even prompting estimates for total UK online viewing to be scaled dramatically upwards.

When the iPlayer was originally announced and released in a public beta last year, the BBC were criticised for only offering the service to people using Windows based operating systems.

Public Dissatisfaction Worked

As a public broadcaster, with a duty to provide content for all, this is a valid complaint as it immediately stopped anyone using an Apple Mac or Linux based computer from accessing the service.

The BBC listened to the arguments, and took on board the views of the 16,000 people who felt angry enough to sign an online petition, and the service was relaunched over Christmas with Mac and Linux support, albeit offering just streaming content rather than downloads.

This, coupled with a marketing campaign over the holiday season has seen the iPlayer grow vastly in popularity, and the service saw over 1 million downloads in the first 20 days out of beta.

CrossCast is an Online UI and tools platform for production professionals. 

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spoken with Mirco Pasqualini, lead designer for the system, and here he gives his insights on version 2.0.

Version 2.0 is slated for release sometime during the summer of ‘08,  and Mirco sent over some new screenshots and content about the platform, as featured below.

Two screens from CrossCast look very Joost like which Mirco concedes is the look in the current beta version but will change significantly over 2008.