In the battle to capitalize on the growing mobile content market, and the trend toward original online video, Amazon has commissioned a series of big-budget, Web-only shows — starring actors such as John Goodman and Bill Murray — in order to compete with Netflix and others for attention on smartphones, tablets and connected TVs. The company is producing at least 11 pilots to be made available starting this spring. Continue reading Viewers to Determine the Fate of Amazon Original Pilots

Live broadcasting site YouNow, which uses social media in order to control live streaming content, has combined with a similar counterpart. The company recently acquired blogTV to increase views on its real-time platform. Will the combined effort increase traffic to the site, or will it continue to operate in the shadows of more established video sites like YouTube? Continue reading YouNow and blogTV Combine for Live Social Broadcasting

Comedian Ricky Gervais has negotiated a deal to create new original content for his own channel on YouTube. The deal is a co-production of Derek Productions and Channel Flip, which currently runs approximately 140 YouTube channels. Gervais has expressed excitement about creating the new content and plans to resurrect popular character David Brent form the BBC mockumentary “The Office.” Continue reading Ricky Gervais Produces New Content for YouTube Channel

AMC introduced its new streaming movie service Yeah! this week at South by Southwest. The online streaming service features supplementary content for iconic movies such as “Superman,” “Reservoir Dogs,” “Clerks” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Content is comprised of bonus materials including interviews with directors, interactive polls, film facts and quizzes. According to AMC, there are 400-500 new pieces of content per film. Continue reading AMC Launches Streaming Movie Site with Bonus Features

Acclaimed film director Ridley Scott has partnered with video entertainment network Machinima to produce 12 short science fiction films. Scott will serve as executive producer, while directors will be tapped from his commercial production company RSA. Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Kathryn Bigelow and Neill Blomkamp are on the list of possible directors. Gaming and streaming site Machinima reaches 262 million unique viewers. Continue reading Ridley Scott Teams with Machinima to Produce Sci-Fi Shorts

At South by Southwest this week, BitTorrent officially launched the open beta for its BitTorrent Live streaming service, which allows anyone with a camera to stream live video to an unlimited number of viewers. Those broadcasting can either stream with a webcam or use an app such as Flash Media Encoder to stream their content. Users will need to download the BitTorrent Live plugin to view others’ streams. Continue reading BitTorrent Launches Live P2P Streaming Service at SXSW

At South by Southwest, executives and talent from Maker Studios participated in a panel discussion about the business challenges for those creating original content for YouTube. The Culver City-based studio boasts more than 2.5 billion page views a month. The talk was moderated by company COO Courtney Holt and featured co-founders and comedic talent KassemG and Shaycarl and co-founder/CEO Danny Zappin. Continue reading Maker Studios Discusses the Business of YouTube at SXSW

YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley has plans to launch a collaborative online video startup within the next month, he announced at South by Southwest over the weekend. The new service will allow people to work together to create content. This is a clear sign of the direction of video distribution, suggests Wired. It demonstrates how video networks are becoming increasingly more like social networks. Continue reading YouTube Founder to Launch Social Online Video Service

Google’s Roppongi Hills studio in Tokyo, Japan is making efforts to increase the amount of original international content on YouTube. The site is currently recruiting talent in order to launch international based channels. YouTube said that it has also created deals with other media companies in Asia and India, and has even agreed to host a channel in China with “state-owned” CNTV. Continue reading YouTube Makes Push to Launch More International Content

After being in development for about five years, video streaming service HitBliss is finally launching in beta this week. Aimed at users with more time than money, it offers viewers the chance to sit through targeted ads in exchange for virtual funds they can redeem to access new streaming movies and TV shows. The service is launching with content from The CW, Universal, Paramount, Starz Media and the Weinstein Company. Continue reading HitBliss Service Offers Free Streaming if You Watch Ads

Thalmic Labs is providing a vision of computing’s possible future — a wrist cuff that can control computers, smartphones, gaming consoles, and other devices with simple hand gestures. The Myo armband reads forearm muscles for cues regarding what the user wants, providing an alternative to both voice and camera-based computing controls. Myo will initially be offered for $149 for the one-size-fits-all model. Continue reading Myo Armband May Be the Next Generation of Gesture Control

Samsung’s new TV Discovery service will enable viewers to search for and watch live TV, on-demand video and online videos from outlets such as YouTube. The company plans to unveil the new platform at Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona. TV Discovery will work on Samsung’s line of smart TVs and its mobile devices. The service will learn user preferences and give recommendations based on each user’s viewing history and interests. Continue reading Samsung to Launch TV Discovery for Video, Live Television

After a crash and flying debris injured at least 28 fans at a Daytona NASCAR race over the weekend, NASCAR’s video copyright policy came into question. NASCAR claims to own any “images, sounds and data” from NASCAR events. Fans began posting videos of the crash to YouTube, but NASCAR, claiming to own the videos, had the videos removed. But later in the day YouTube reinstated some videos after ruling NASCAR did not have the right to remove the videos. Continue reading NASCAR Crash and YouTube Vids Raise Copyright Questions

Twitter-owned video-sharing app Vine is designed for shooting and sharing short, looping clips with your friends. But what happens when those six-second snippets are delivered in succession to create a larger product? Film production company Oscilloscope is testing this approach by releasing its full-length feature film “It’s A Disaster” in short segments through the app. Continue reading New Film Premieres in Clips on Vine Video Sharing Service

SoShare is a new tool from BitTorrent designed for sending large files from person to person, allowing users to send bundles of up to 1TB for free. The app combines BitTorrent file transfer technology with cloud caching, so users can access files even when the sender is offline. The SoShare software — which targets media creators such as musicians, photographers and filmmakers — keeps files available for up to 30 days. Continue reading BitTorrent Launches SoShare App for Sharing Media Files