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.

Independent Web Property: Ask a Ninja

Sure, the Chocolate Rain kid landed a deal with Dr. Pepper and Comedy Central. And, yes, Chad Vader has propelled its creators down the same path of success as fellow Madisonians, The Onion. 

But, as far as we’re concerned, Ask a Ninja is the upstart Web property with all the answers. Creators Sarine and Nichols have not only inked a six-figure book deal, they’re currently working on a “Ninja” TV show and have been reportedly raking in over $100K a month in advertising and merch. 

So much for big budgets and product placements. (Bud TV, are you listening?)

7) Best and Worst Scripts for Digital Rights: Major League Baseball and the WGA

If you were a Major League Baseball owner, you would be wishing you could go to the instant replay right about now, because the deal owners made for Digital Rights back in 2000 is going down like a ballpark beer, flat and with an aftertaste. 

Owners thought that the Internet might be a good vehicle for promotion, but certainly not for watching a game online. OY! Today, the Major League Baseball Advance Media organization (MLBAM) will generate about $360 million from online viewership. Score one for the other team!

In the game-still-in-progress category, we have the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), who are so steadfast in their call to Studios that they share in the revenues from current and future online sales that they’ve held back our fix of junk TV. 

The Guild has also employed the very online technology they are fighting about in their Speechless campaign, this to scare the public about the consequences of a protracted strike. 

In addition, with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) President Alan Rosenberg piling on with his unions voice of solidarity, the whole mess does not bode well for a happy holiday season, or New Year for studio owners.

6) The Jury Is Still Out Award: Google, Joost, Slingbox, Etc.

The last mile gets longer by the day, and makes the Browser Wars of Web 1.0 look like a pleasant afternoon spent at Gate D of a Jets game. How will we get all the great content from the Web to our fancy new HDTV’s? 

The choices are endless and still endlessly confusing. At the moment, the battle is being fought between a host of proprietary technologies, none of whom have succeeded in capturing the excitement of the broader world the way the iPod has done with digital music. 

And perhaps that’s the problem right there: whether you’re talking about Joost, or Slingbox or Apple TV, or Microsoft’s dreadful LIVE service, it’s still too darn hard to get things going. Are we just a slick commercial away from Digital Entertainment Nirvana? Only time, and money, will tell.

5) Best Re-Birth of a Technology: P2P Pando Networks, Yaron Samid, Co-Founder & CMO

If you thought P2P had gone the way of the sock puppet from Pets.com you’d be wrong. 

Peer-to-peer is fast-becoming the darling for moving large online video SD and HD content with companies such as Pando Networks’ recent deal with a major network, rumored to be NBC as the engine behind Hulu. 

Let’s hear it for the Little Guy, while at the same time remaining cautiously optimistic that consumers will be able to take their eyes off YouTube long enough to seek out their favorite content elsewhere.

4) Most Old New Media of the New New Media and All-Around Swell Guy: Dan Rayburn, Streaming Media

Dan Rayburn has been in the streaming biz while most of us were debating the benefits of PointCast and getting gushy over blink tags and animated banner ads. 

A pioneer and a visionary and a dude who has been through it all and seen it all and somehow managed to maintain his integrity, Dan is one this industry’s best advocates and champions, no matter what coast you happen to be on or what platform you prefer. 

In a business environment that still seems to favor kids who just started shaving; it’s nice to see an old dog rock some new tricks.

3) Best Independent Web Video and Use of Online to Drive Sales: The Tribe, Tiffany Shlain

A priest and a rabbi walk into B&H Video. The priest says, “I’m going to make a movie and get it sold in Blockbuster video stores.” The rabbi, has a different idea. “I’m going to make a movie and sell it myself and not have to share any of it with anyone else.” 

Well, this is not exactly how it happened with Tiffany Shlain, and it’s just as good an excuse as any to attempt and priest-and-rabbi joke. But, all the same, Shlain deserves props for not just doing it her way, but also helping to bring the independent film market into the 21st century. 

iTunes – it’s not just for music anymore. Of course, it helps if your film is excellent and is something people want to watch in the first place. Our panel at Streaming Media West, with Tiffany

2) Analyst of the Year, Who Seems to be Familiar with Pop Culture and Has Recently Seen the Sunlight: James McQuivey, Forrester Research

In a field populated by people who get their jollies reading the latest page-turner from O’Reilly, or else so divorced from real-life™ that a two-ton anchor is required to keep them from floating away into the Ozonosphere, James McQuivey of Forrester Research is a guy who truly gets the proverbial BIG PICTURE. 

Anyone who has ever seen him in action, particularly in an interview he did with us back at Streaming Media East, knows that he can switch from the high to the low, from the micro to the macro, from the serious to the absurd, in a moment’s notice, while somehow tying it all to this crazy and exciting and sometimes too-geeky-for-words world of streaming content.

1. Best Imitation of a 14th-Century Monk, William of Ockham

The scientific precept known as Occam’s Razor is often paraphrased as “All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best.” The words of William of Ockham, a 14th century Franciscan friar, are not lost on the simplest of truths – namely that market forces coupled with a prudent hand from government will foster growth.

Companies such as Neuf in France have aggressive priced IPTV with a significant uptake in consumers singing up. 

Regulations have loosen restrictions on Telco’s and what services they can offer and concerns of Net Neutrality regulation have subsided for the time being, offering industry the opportunity to rollout services and content to as wide an audience using bundles and tiered pricing to bring people along such as with Verizon FIOS.

Lastly, consumers are beginning to employ different solutions then simply passive OTA/Cable in their homes with devices such as the Sandisk Sansa TakeTV player and platforms from companies like Ensequence, which recently teamed with Spike TV to offer interactive programming for the 2007 Video Game Awards. 

Let’s hear it for Choice, even if it’s a matter of figuring out our own choices!!!

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