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Brightcove releases new video platform

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Brightcove Inc. has unveiled Brightcove 3 online video platform. Built from the ground up, the new platform empowers website producers to be successful in the era of pervasive video.

Brightcove 3 has four major new areas of functionality that provide tremendous flexibility to online publishers:

Workflow – New media management and publishing tools that can be used by everyone from small businesses to the largest media companies in the world to vastly accelerate the publishing workflow

Player Framework – Breakthrough new way to create and publish Flash-based online video players that are easily customized and tailored to the needs of a website and brand and are further extended through third party technology and services

Media APIs – Rich suite of APIs that enable a new contextual publishing model, allowing producers to tightly integrate video with other editorial content and social media for improved SEO and increased viewer engagement and ad inventory

Dynamic Delivery – Powerful new way of dynamically adjusting the bit rate of the video streams to ensure the highest quality video given the user’s bandwidth conditions

Brightcove 3 is an open platform designed to ease integration with third-party web technologies. The company plans to fuel further innovation in online video and rich media publishing through its fast-growing ecosystem of development partners and services. These companies add to the flexibility of Brightcove 3 by giving customers more ways to address their unique challenges and needs.

Originally posted on October 15, 2008 @ 7:32 pm

YouTube, PBS is asking you to “Video Your Vote”

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YouTube has partnered with PBS to empower American voters to upload their Election Day voting experiences to YouTube.

Starting today, registered United States voters can share their voting experiences via the Video Your Vote YouTube Channel. On November 4, the Channel will serve as the premier online destination for up-to-the-minute coverage from voters contributing videos straight from thousands of precincts across the country.

The initiative educates voters on the entire process and a wide array of issues associated with voting in America, while enabling the world to watch pivotal moments as they unfold. In the first presidential election since YouTube’s inception, this program aims to gather massive amounts of polling place video, with the Channel serving as an online library for Election Day footage.

Some of the best videos will be showcased on PBS television, as part of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer’s Election Day broadcast. They may also be used throughout PBS’ election coverage, both on-air and online. YouTube users are asked to tag all of their Election Day videos “videoyourvote”. Events, for instance, that hinder the voting process should be tagged, “pollproblem”. These videos, as well as those documenting the spectrum of the entire voting process, will be easy to find on the Channel and analysts from PBS’ political team will then review some of them and offer commentary on how the election played out.

Originally posted on October 15, 2008 @ 10:49 am

Dailymotion expands DIY web video category with Howcast

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Video sharing site Dailymotion has forged an agreement with Howcast that will bring its collection of high quality, engaging how-to videos to the global entertainment website. The deal expands Dailymotion’s growing collection of do-it-yourself videos, which combines licensed DIY content with some of the most popular DIY content from individual creative contributors.

Following Dailymotion’s curated approach to content, videos from Howcast will be programmed alongside other premium licensed and Motionmaker creative content into channels representing the interest areas of the range of subjects from Howcast’s collection of useful how-to videos including Sex & Dating, Home & Family, Health & Beauty, Food & Drink as well as topical “Hot How-To’s.” With this partnership, Dailymotion is reinforcing its commitment to delivering the highest-quality online video entertainment experience, with premium-level programming and superior video streaming and viewing technology.

Originally posted on October 14, 2008 @ 12:07 pm

DailyMotion, Warner Bros. Television bring jPod to the web

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Dailymotion and Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) inked a content distribution agreement to bring all 13 episodes of the Canadian cult-hit television series jPod to Dailymotion.

jPod is available to Dailymotion users for free streaming, with all 13 episodes posted. jPod can also be seen at TheWB.com, WBTVG’s new premium, ad-supported, video-on-demand, interactive and personalized network.

Based on author Douglas Coupland’s cult bestseller of the same name, “jPod” is a one-hour drama series (13 episodes) which aired originally on Canada’s CBC Television. With amusing twists and turns, the show chronicled the often amoral, lighthearted and even shocking lives of Ethan Jarlewski (David W. Kopp – “Psych,” “Blade: The Series”) and his four coworkers bureaucratically marooned in the bowels of a massive video game company, as well as Ethan’s parents, Jim (Alan Thicke – “Growing Pains”) and Carol (Sherry Miller – “Queer as Folk”).

Originally posted on October 7, 2008 @ 12:13 pm

HealthiNation raises $7.5 million in funding for expansion

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Digital health video network HealthiNation has raised $7.5 million in Series B funding led by Intel Capital. The new funding will support the company’s growth in programming, ad sales and operations for its core media network along with new offerings for health literacy environments such as employer health programs, hospitals, and health clinics.

Previous investor MK Capital also invested in the round. In addition, HealthiNation announced an expansion in its online video network, including partnerships with LifeScript, UCompare Healthcare, Parade Magazine, Lee Enterprises, and Guideposts Magazine.

HealthiNation’s premium quality video programs are created for consumer audiences, delivering unbiased, medically-reviewed content delivered in short entertaining episodes. HealthiNation’s experts are featured in each episode, covering a wide variety of diseases and conditions like diabetes and heart disease, along with everyday health topics like nutrition, first aid, and family health.

Originally posted on September 30, 2008 @ 1:58 pm