Arrested Development moves to MSN

As strange as it does sound, Arrested Development has been picked up for syndication, by a web portal – not a television network. The distribution of the video will be bundled with vide and display advertising.

In what is MSN’s biggest content grab to date, the web portal has secured exclusive online syndication rights to Fox Entertainment Group’s canceled screwball comedy “Arrested Development.” By fall, MSN plans to add the complete three-season series — 53 episodes — to its cache of free, ad-supported video offerings.

Advertising Age – MediaWorks – Fox Sells Syndication Rights to Web Portal

There are several reasons why this is big news obviously because it marks the first syndicated distribution deal between a major television network and an online video distributor. Secondly it marks a big milestone for MSN Video, who without doing any research I can guess is trailing most online video distribution services. It will be interesting to see if the series is offered via RSS which I think would be very cool. It will also be interesting to see how ads are displayed in both the video and display, or in RSS.

Of all the problems with MSN Video, here is my deterrent:

I wonder if YouTube bid on syndication rights, and if not — why? I am guessing they have no proven monetization strategy, aside from display ads. It’s a wonder if they did spark an interest for Fox, being the leading online video distributor. I think it would have been a perfect match.

And then there’s Google Video, which would have been my second choice instead MSN Video.

We’ll see if the relationship is a success and it will be interesting to see syndication paralleled online. I for one don’t care about the inclusion of ads, because that is something we will have to live with for quite some time until the advertising industry gets back in shape. All I want is to choose which television programs I watch, have them delivered via any subscription program to my Media Center where I can watch them on my own time. The versioning posssiblities alone for syndication via the Internet is overwhelming. More on that in another post…

technorati tags:msn, arrested development, IPTV, vido, youtube, google video, tv

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

On my way to a super smart home

Generally these posts go on my personal site, but I thought people may be interested. Since moving into my house, this is what I have been constructing (and why I haven’t posted as much). I am moving in the direction of a completely wired and smart home. My goal: everything connected to my Gigabit backbone so I can control it from anywhere. Also the media streaming all over the place is cool too. More pictures to come of the actual hardware being used. It’s a fun project, so I thought I would share.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

A breath of fresh customer service

Awhile ago I wrote, ‘What’s the deal with customer service?‘ about my recent experiences dealing with various customer service departments in different industries. Usually I give customer service reps the benefit of the doubt. But because I worked as one in college for an ISP I feel I have the right to form criticisms.

So after all but one horrible customer service experience (again, thanks to Joe’s Heating and Cooling – note that’s his second free advertisement) from home insurance, appliance insurance to Qwest Small Business department I finally had a great experience.

AllPosters.com, whom I have hired by way of buying posters as my interior decorator, surprised me by their level of service. Kudos to them to managing the edge effectively and efficiently and saving a repeat customer.

I ordered a couple movie posters from them (Dr. Strangelove and Chinatown) pre-framed and matted. The prices were not bad relative to buying the poster and having it framed locally.

Long story short the Chinatown poster arrived in its giant box with a broken frame.

The conversation (yes, a conversation) went as follows (slightly edited):

Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

How do you read Get A New Browser?

I have thought of implementing a more readable design, which will most likely include implementing a white background and black text, while leaving the rest of the design in place.

Leave us a comment on what you think. Here’s a poll to see where the majority of our readers are come from. If you all subscribe to the RSS than a site redesign will be put on my lowest priority list.

So, here’s a poll:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

PodBuffet

iTunes + iPod + kiosk = music anywhere

Australian company 22Moo (ugly website) is releasing an iTunes kiosk for the iPod that will be placed in several high traffic areas such as airports and malls.

This is a great idea of which I am surprised has not been implemented yet.

What’s wrong with the idea? They are restricting usage to only iPods thus creating a brand around a single piece of technology rather than an idea. The idea of providing the delivery of MP3’s anywhere is an awesome idea. I have friends without computers who own iPods and use my music library to stock up. There is also the market for impulse buys if you heard a song on the way to the mall, you can buy that song when you get there.

Granted the iPod is by far the most popular consumer MP3 player but in the everchanging world of technology and the even more changing sector of consumer electronics how long can this dominance last?

So the question is — if you are going to lengths of implementing this technology why not create one that works with all MP3 units? There’s no word yet on how 22Moo will make money off of this deal. I imagine they will charge a few extra cents on top of the iTunes charge. Understandably it would be much more difficult and require far more capital expenditure to create their own delivery model to disintermediate iTunes thus increasing their profitability.

This is a very promising and young niche for which I can see many entrants over the next several years. Someone will get it right eventually, but I do not think it will be 22Moo.

22Moo Press Release

New iTunes kiosk in development – Engadget

technorati tags:22Moo, iPod, PodBuffet, Kiosk, MP3, business, music

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Next Page »