The BBC continues to be at the forefront of delivering television online. The catch-up, on-demand iPlayer has been a huge success, and while YouView may end up being a turkey, at least it’s an attempt at forging the future. As is a new Facebook app from BBC Sport.

Wimbledon Beta

The BBC Sports app went live on Facebook a few days into the Wimbledon tennis championships, with up to six simultaneous streams from the All-England Club at any one time. At the time of writing only the finals remain, with Andy Murray exceeding expectations by making it to the men’s singles final.

However, the app will really come into its own when the London 2012 Olympics begins on Friday July 27. For the fortnight of the Games the BBC Sports app will play host to 24 streams showing live coverage of individual events.

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YouView has been delayed once more, and this latest missed target means the set-top box and related platform won’t be out by the time the London 2012 Olympics begins. The question is whether this actually matters or not.

YouView

YouView, which grew out of Project Canvas, has taken far too long to come together. With Alan Sugar added to the process the set-top box technology finally began being tested in the wild last month, but it’s still not going to be commercially available in time for the Olympic Games.

This wouldn’t ordinarily be an issue, but when we’re in the midst of huge companies testing the streaming waters a delay of any length could prove fatal.

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Amazon Studios has selected the first four shows it wants to develop further as part of its quest to create original content. If successful as pilots these shows will end up on Amazon Instant Video or even on mainstream TV.

Amazon Studios

The likes of YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and Yahoo are all now in the business of producing original content, whether it be films, television shows, animated shorts, or documentaries. And now Amazon has officially joined that burgeoning list of online production houses for streaming media.

Just last month Amazon Studios put the call out for submissions in the comedy and kids television genres. Anyone was invited to submit an idea for an original television show, with the best of the best promised a chance to actually get their idea made with additional funding from Amazon.

The first four shows have been selected, and have now been moved to the Development Slate. From here the writers will be assisted in getting their ideas turned into pilots which will then be subject to testing by audiences.

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A site that was once competition to the now-ubiquitous YouTube has been acquired by a Hollywood management company with plenty of YouTube stars under its name. Which is rather fitting.

A Little Metacafe Background

YouTube may now be ubiquitous and the one video site everybody on the Internet has heard of, but that wasn’t always the case. As hard as it is to imagine as things stand now, there was once a time when YouTube was just one of a host of sites that people headed to in order to upload videos.

Metacafe was one such site. Founded in 2003 with similar intentions to YouTube, it eventually ceded the UGC market to the Google-owned site and began focusing instead on professionally-produced content.

This has worked out to a point, but Metacafe is very much a niche site now. Traffic appears to be steadily falling, with the site claiming 12 million unique visitors a month at the last count.

The last time I wrote about Metacafe on WebTVWire was back in September 2010 when I noted that it has “now conceded defeat to YouTube,” but added that it’s “building vertical channels and nurturing content.”

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Although online television companies have been primarily purveyors of traditional TV content to this point, that is changing. original programming is becoming a legitimate proposition, and Hulu is leading the way.

Original Programming

The Internet is changing the way we all consumer content, be it music, movies, games, or television. The networks and cable companies aren’t too happy about this, but it’s happening with or without them.

Not only are there now a multitude of online options for those looking to cut the cord, the companies serving up these new ways of viewing are expanding their remits to include original programming.

Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube are responsible for original content, from Web shorts to professional, network-quality shows. And it’s a trend that is showing no sign of slowing down or disappearing.

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YouTube racks up over 19,000 episodes of Indian television shows, all available for free on the site. Which begs the question, if Indian media companies can offer content for free on YouTube, why not media companies from the rest of the world?

YouTube India

YouTube has announced its local Indian offerings has grown to encompass more than 19,000 separate episodes of more than 300 different shows. And the YouTube Shows page for those in India has been updated to make sorting this content easier.

Six different India-based languages are now supported on YouTube – Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, and Punjabi – with content available in all. Broadcasters supplying the content include Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Colors, ImagineTV, Star India, and VikatanTV.

Those living outside India can still access this content by visiting youtube.com/shows/other-languages. This link also opens up possibilities for watching content in a range of languages foreign from your own.

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You can now watch full-length episodes of various Disney shows on YouTube, and even embed them on other sites around the Web. Assuming you’re in America and can actually find the content you are looking for.

Google and Disney

Google and Disney struck a deal at the end of last year which saw the two teaming up to create original programming for YouTube. Disney is one of the 100 partners bringing original content to the site via dedicated channels.

However, the deal also saw Disney movies being made available to rent through YouTube, and now full-length episodes of classic shows have also found their way on to the market-leading online video destination.

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