Anyone left in any doubts as to the value of Web video can argue no longer, as we now have a full length movie being released on DVD, all based on what started as a five minute viral YouTube hit.

Last year saw 300 released, a movie detailing the brave souls of the legendary Spartan army who fought against the Persian army until death or glory became their saviour.

Inspiration For Spoofs

When 300 came out, a huge amount of spoofs were made and put on YouTube, Yahoo Video, Metacafe and the like. Most of these were mash-ups mixing 300 with other films, and pop culture references such as Monty Python.

However, there was one which stood out against all the others, being a well made, brilliantly produced original piece detailing the Spartans who didn’t quite make the movie. Named 305, it was viewed by almost 4 million people, and became a true viral hit.

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Blinkx is currently the largest and most advanced Internet video search engine in the world. Something that seems to be of interest to both Google and media conglomerate News Corp.

The company, which is based in Cambridge and San Francisco, was launched in 2004 by Suranga Chandratillake. It is currently listed on the London Alternative Investment Market.

Intense Speculation

There is speculation that both Google and News Corp are interested in buying the company out, which has seen its shares rise by 50% in light of the talk.

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FORA.tv is a video sharing site which describes itself as YouTube for thinkers. The San Francisco start-up company concentrates on intellectual content.

This content varies from politics, science, culture and business, but it all has a heavy bias towards intelligent, and cogent debate, rather than the more fun and frivolous content you may find at other video sharing sites such as YouTube.

New Venture Funding

The site also organizes videos from think-tanks and symposiums at universities and other highbrow organisations. And now, despite being a very young company, it has secured $4 million in venture funding.

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Yesterday I reported how NBC has decided to get in to bed with Microsoft and offer individual episodes of its shows through the online Zune Store.

When NBC pulled all of its programming from Apple iTunes late last year after an argument with the iPod manufacturer, the two reasons cited for the falling out were pricing, and a lack of stringent filtering measures for pirated material.

The Coupling Becomes Clear

It didn’t immediately seem clear why NBC had now agreed to similar conditions from Microsoft when they wouldn’t accept them from Apple. However, after the New York Times spoke to J. B. Perrette, the president of digital distribution for NBC Universal, things may have become a little clearer.

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Last September saw NBC programming pulled off the Apple iTunes Store after a dispute between the two companies over tougher anti-piracy measures and a refusal to raise prices.

Just last month, NBC opened up the lines of communication again, and seemed to want back in, so long as their original complaints were dealt with. Apple didn’t budge, so it looks as though NBC has gone looking for a new distributor.

Microsoft Better Than Apple?

It has now found it in the form of Microsoft, who as part of an announcement about new Zune features, let it slip that NBC programmes will now be available through the online store.

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Just two days I spoke about StartYourTube, a website which allows you to start your own video sharing service, however niche, to cater for people similar to you.

StartYourTube uses the popularity of YouTube in a number of ways, by mimicking the name, and using the sale of YouTube to Google for $1.6 billion to entice people to sign up.

It’s not the only site to use YouTube to increase its own profile, and one which has done it brilliantly successfully is GodTube, a Christian video sharing site which has just obtained funding to the tune of $30 million. We first spotted this site about a year ago.

$30 Million Investment

Rafat Ali at Paid Content reveals the news of the $30 million injection of cash from investors, on top of the $2.5 million which the site had already secured earlier in its life.

What’s amazing about this level of funding is that the site only launched last summer in Dallas, Texas, but has seen itself become one of the fastest growing websites on the Internet.

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Since it’s limited launch last year, and then it’s full public launch over Christmas, the BBC iPlayer has proved massively popular, dragging thousands of UK viewers over to Web TV.

The service has since been added to the Apple iPlayer, and Nintendo Wii, proving the BBC’s commitment to the cause. And now it has added old TV to it’s distribution line-up.

Virgin Media Join The Fray

The BBC iPlayer will now be available on Virgin Media, the biggest cable television provider in the UK, and rival of BSkyB, whose chairman James Murdoch criticised the service just last week.

Virgin Media’s customers will now be able to access the last seven days of BBC programming, which adds up to about 350 hours of content each and every week.

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