>From Yahoo news this morning....I "love" the last line "Out tag line is, 'We're the best content not on television," Felser said.
Makes me want to put all my videos there just so the tagline will be invalid.... ;) LOS ANGELES - The online video site Grouper, which Sony Corp. bought last year for $65 million, is exiting the crowded and risky user- generated video business and focusing on finding professional talent for Sony's film and TV studios. The site, which will change its name to Crackle, will serve as an online talent agency, grooming budding professionals, funding productions and connecting the best video writers, producers and directors with contacts at Sony Pictures and a variety of partners, including the Improv comedy clubs. The user-generated market is dominated by Google Inc.'s YouTube and News Corp.'s MySpace, with Yahoo Inc. and AOL, a unit of Time Warner, also gathering homemade videos. It is becoming increasingly hard for smaller players to stand out and deal with the many copyright issues that arise when users upload unauthorized clips of films or TV shows or use music in the videos without permission. "It's not a business for us," Grouper founder and co-president Josh Felser said of user-generated video. "The content is rarely exclusive and it's hard to monetize. Advertisers don't want their content next to a video of someone jumping off a roof and falling on their head." Crackle will fund episodic shows or short videos and winners will be chosen by a combination of editors and user votes. The creators of top-rated videos will be given funding, ranging from $2,000 to $20,000, for additional episodes and a chance to pitch feature film ideas to executives at Columbia Pictures, a Sony company. "The evolution of online video will bring viewers more professionally produced material," said Sean Carey, senior executive vice president of Sony Pictures. Creators will also vie for a chance to pitch TV ideas to Sony Pictures Television. Animators, too, will get a chance to turn their short video into feature-length Sony animated films. Each year, one animated video will be chosen to run theatrically, making it eligible for an Academy Award. "We're creating pathways to Hollywood and fame," Felser said. Crackle uses peer-to-peer technology to syndicate content across other platforms, including AOL and MySpace. The site also has a budget to promote the content. "Out tag line is, 'We're the best content not on television," Felser said. Heath http://batmangeek.com
