Live Streaming

Live streaming video is an everyday occurrence on the Web these days, with lifecasting sites such as Justin.tv, UStream, and Livestream (formerly known as Mogulus) offering everyone the chance to air an event to the wider world.

Last month saw Livestream launch Livepack, which includes all the kit required to film and stream live events such as weddings, graduations, and concerts. And all in a compact enough size to fit in a backpack.

U2 On YouTube

While that is a brilliant innovation, live streaming of big events is still a relatively rare treat for Internet users. I’m talking about rock concerts from big, well-known bands. Like for instance, I don’t know, U2.

Which is exactly who is lined up for a live streaming event on YouTube this coming weekend. As the video below previews, YouTube will live stream U2’s sold-out gig at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in California this Sunday.

Details, Details

The live stream of the whole concert, with 90,000 people in attendance, will take place at YouTube.com/U2 at 8pm local time on Sunday. 16 countries will be able to view the stream, including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.

This signifies YouTube’s first streaming of a full-length concert. It has previously dabbled in live streaming, hosting its own event in November 2008, and streaming performances by several bands at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco recently. But this is a much bigger deal.

Conclusions

This has reportedly taken a great deal of time and effort to set up, with the live streaming of a concert complicated by the number of rights-holder involved (the artist, record label, publishers, venue, etc.).

But this will hopefully become a more regular occurrence as all those involved realize how much there is to gain from it. I’m guessing Vevo may make this kind of event a much more regular thing when it launches.

Michael Jackson died after suffering a cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. His death has prompted an outpouring of emotion not seen for many years, probably since Princess Diana died in 1997.

His death, and the reaction of people around the world to it, has been well documented by online video. First, there was the reaction videos, then tribute videos popped up, and continue to do so even now, ten days after his death. There was also the shockingly sad footage of Jacko rehearsing for his This Is It tour just two days before he died.

Michael Jackson’s Funeral Service

Now comes the next stage of Michael Jackson’s story – the public memorial service and funeral being held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7. The service will begin at 10am PT, but unfortunately, only 20,000 people are able to attend in person because that’s how many people the venue can hold. Tickets have been given out via a lottery to 17,500 members of the general public.

Online Streams of the Memorial Service

The majority of Michael Jackson fans around the world will be watching live coverage of the memorial service on television or via streaming video online. It’s already been announced there will be a free, live stream of the event, with Jacko’s promoter, AEG Live, which also owns the Staples Center, wanting as many people as possible to be able to watch the memorial service.

• A compilation of the live streams and videos are available on WebTVHub.

How to Watch on iPhone

Thanks to the uStream Viewing Application, iPhone users will be able to watch the live stream of Michael Jackson’s funeral in real-time.

The uStream iPhone app (video review below) was released at the beginning of this year just in time for Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, an event that became the biggest Web TV phenomenon ever seen, thanks in part to the multitude of people watching on their cell phones.

Where can I Find a uStream Live Feed of Funeral?

There will be a large variety of live video feeds available on Tuesday covering the funeral, e.g: CBS, but also check the comprehensive list of live streams on Web TV Hub.

Live Streams on SmartPhones?

Unfortunately watching Michael Jackson’s funeral with uStream is not possible on Smartphones (yet). However, most windows based cell phones should have a couple of options available to them.

SlingBox

Slingbox owners can set their slingbox up to stream a channel covering the memorial service over the internet on their private channel. Then using the Slingplayer mobile app it is possible to watch the event live on a cell phone.

The Slingplayer app is also available for the iPhone. Download it from the iTunes store or read about it here.

TVUPlayer – Live TV on Cell Phone

Another option for windows based smartphones is to use the TVUPlayer cell phone app. You can get it here. TVUPlayer is a P2P TV streaming service that has channels from all around the world, you can read about it here.

TVUPlayer has plenty of channels, simply look up a new channel and undoubtedly it will be broadcasting MJ’s historic funeral.

Any More?

If there are any more ways to watch Michael’s funeral on a cell phone then please leave a comment below to let us know.

The Links You Need (roundup)

• Comprehensive list of live internet streams on Web TV Hub. iPhone users using uStream check the uStream links on this page.

Windows SmartPhones:

• TVUPlayer Windows Smartphone App
• Slingplayer Windows Smartphone App

iPhone

• SlingPlayer App from the iTunes store
• uStream Viewing App from the iTunes store

Ringtones

• Get Michael Jackson Ringtones (U.S Only)

Share This Article (Link):

Unfortunately it isn’t free. The cost is £12.90 for UK residents or $24.99 for those elsewhere. This does however buy you an all access pass to every match and all the highlights for the duration of the tournament.

Windows Only Yet Again

Once again though, Apple Mac and Linux users miss out, with a computer running a Windows OS among the system requirements for the service. This is obviously down to the DRM issues involved.

Online video coverage of sports is becoming big business. Basketball, baseball and golf have all enjoyed a boost in the amount of viewers turning to the Web for live and on-demand coverage.

Free Vs Subscription

However, these sports were in the main offered for free, whereas Wimbledon is trying to make some money from the whole thing. So whether tennis enjoys the same lift in online viewer numbers remains to be seen.

It will be interesting in terms of looking forward to the forthcoming Olympics though. The NBC coverage will be free online, a move which John Malone thinks will fail spectacularly.

However, it should at least give a good indication of the potential viewing figures possible for a huge worldwide sporting event, and determine whether such events will be free or subscription only in the future.

Related Ad

If You Love Wimbledon: Get The Official Story Of The 2007 Championships On DVD Now

Unusual for such an occasion, but thanks to the courtesy from another trade show that was using the space and gave it to our group.

There were some obvious technical problems which were expected, and some that weren’t, including an out of control SMS projected board of “board participants” who started texting all sorts of crazy notes during the presentations. You had to feel bad for the presenters.

The line-up last night included the following companies, which each had about five minutes to give their pitch.

Presentation Line Up

1. Origin Digital – Curt Kendall, VP Product Dev
2. Redlasso – Hanan Gelbendorf, VP Products
3. Aditall – Rodger Wells, SVP Sales & BD
4. SportsBone.tv – Tony Delbusso, Founder & CEO
5. ModMyLife.com – Martin Codyre, Co-Founder

Origin Digital

1. Origin Digital – Curt Kendall, VP Product Dev

An interesting set of tools for producing and delivery mixed content the technology was overshadowed by a less then stellar presentation, which also coincided with people sending funny..and yes distruptive SMS messages to the large screen, such as;

- “MTV sucks, This guy’s next job…motivational speaker,. give me a job, and of course hot girls”.

Red Lasso

2. Redlasso – Hanan Gelbendorf, VP Products

The business model seemed rather familiar as Find Internet TV was deployed earlier this year with a robust aggregation engine. Redlasso believes ad sales will drive the company to profitability. If they plan to use video ads, the market is flat… sites are chasing a lack of inventory.

Aditall

3. Aditall - Rodger Wells, SVP Sales & BD 

Stock video footage you can clip. Mix and then purchase for your own online campaign. Interesting use of the technology and perhaps a way content creators could generate sushi money however, have been involved with stock photography many years ago it is a difficult proposition. 

On the content side, you have to have a lot of footage or just that right piece someone is looking for and there is a lot of competition. On the other side, having video ads on your site does not mean your campaign is going to be more successful…but I am interested to see where they take this.

Sports Bone

4. SportsBone.tv – Tony Delbusso, Founder & CEO 

Call this Uncle Floyd meets sports jocks with bobble heads. A bunch of college friends produce a show without the aid of NFL footage and get creative. 

There was no indication of their audience size however; it’s pretty well known (as stated last night) that unless you are streaming in the hundreds of thousands per months you are not going to get sufficient cpm to generate revenue.

Mod My Life

5. ModMyLife.com - Martin Codyre, Co-Founder

The most interesting presentation technology of the evening, and a start up that we have featured in depth already here on Web TV Wire.

Reality TV meets live user driven story lines. Volunteers, typically actors, according to the presenters, go out into the night with an EVDO enabled live video feed to the site (quality is what you would expect) and are driven to complete tasks set out by the online audience.

There is currently no business model and the site if it generated revenues would be open to copyright infringement, as people on the street become unwitting participants in their mod play. 

On the other hand, there could be interesting applications for advertisers conducting live focus groups as well as other possibilities.

NY Video 2.0 is the creating of Yaron Samid, Co-Founder and CMO of Pando Networks. Many thanks to him for the time and energy he has put into growing this silicon valley group.

[Content in whole or part adapted from IPTVe and is licensed under Creative Commons, no addition derivative works may be copied from this article without prior permission from IPTVe and Web TV Wire]

• NBCOlympics.com Will Stream Olympic Games but With Restrictions
• UK Users: Watch the Olympics Online at the BBC website
• U.S Users: Watch the Olympics Online at the NBC website
• NBC Olympics Live Online Coverage To Be Used As Research Lab For Future Multimedia Events
• Will NBC Free Olympic Coverage Be Successful? | Media Mogul John Malone Thinks It Is Absurd
• Pirate Olympics: Alternative Ways to Watch The Olympics
• Hot Olympic Girls: The 50 Most Beautiful Women of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

As most of you who have been dwelling on this planet for at least the last four years will already know, the next Olympic Games are being held in Beijing.

This time around however one of the main events seems to be broadband video as there will be blanket coverage of the entire event (yes the whole thing, even the Beach Volleyball) courtesy of NBC Universal.

Of the 3600 hours of coverage planned 2200 of them will be streaming live online over the internet. There are also plans currently being firmed up to provide some wireless coverage that will be unveiled officially some time before the event.

Because of the time differences, for many Olympic enthusiasts, these broadcasts will be in the middle of the night. Still, it’s nice to know that those of us in the western hemisphere will at least have the opportunity to catch our favorite events live.

2008 Olympic Games Sports that You Can Watch

• Archery
• Athletics
• Badminton
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoeing
• Cycling
• Diving
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Field hockey
• Football/Soccer
• Gymnastics
• Handball
• Judo
• Modern pentathlon
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Softball
• Swimming
• Synchronized swimming
• Table tennis
• Taekwondo
• Tennis
• Triathlon
• Volleyball
• Water polo
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

Related Ad

Get The Complete Book of the Olympics from Amazon

This argument has prevented legislation and regulation that would see telecom companies such as them be made to play fair with content providers.

Not to get too technical here, but they didn’t promise not to censor, did they? Let’s add that little crime against speech to the list of reasons why Internet Freedom/Net Neutrality is a good idea.

It seems as if AT&T was the sponsor of the Webcast of a Pearl Jam concert at Lollapalooza on Saturday night (Aug. 4). Soon after the performance ended, the band started getting word from its fans that part of a song had been cut out. 

• Fred McIntyre – Senior Vice President – AOL Video
• Sean Alexander- Director of Silverlight Media – Microsoft Corporation
• Dan Rayburn – Executive Vice President – StreamingMedia.com

[IPTV Evangelist Streaming Media East 2007 Interviews]

• TVWorldwide.com- LiveWebcast
• Beet.tv – Video blogging
• LostRemote.com – Live Blogging
• IPTVEvangelist.com – Video Interviews

Funding Galore

Running up to the event there has been a lot of funding announcements popping up:

• ScanScout Video Ad Broker Secures $7 Million
• Joost bags $45 million dollars in financing
• Roo Secures $25 Million More Funding
• CBS Acquires WallStrip for $5 million
• Mogulus | New Personal Internet TV Platform Raises $1.2 Million
• Black20 Gets Funding from Jeff Jarvis
• VatorTV | Entrepreneur Video Community Raises Funding