lower thirds

Automatic Duck Unveils Something Very New at IBC 09

My good friends at Automatic Duck have been churning out timeline translation tools for editors for many, many years now - in fact, any one who edits on multiple editing platforms knows very well what the Duck brings to the table.  If you need to move your content back and forth between Avid, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, you know the nightmare that can be.  And you also know by know the sanity-restoring qualities of Automatic Duck.

But at IBC 09, they're announcing something entirely new.  While this new app follows the Duck's heritage of saving you from pulling out your hair or shoving your fist through your monitor, it's NOT about timeline translation.  It's called ProDate DV!  And what it does is allow editors to "simply and quickly display on screen the time and date information recorded by DV cameras."  May sound simple, but anyone who's tried this knows it can't be done - and it's very frustrating.  But ProDate DV solves that - true to Automatic Duck form - with a click of the mouse.

So Wes Plate, president of Automatic Duck, will be in his IBC 09 Stand #7.K21 showing off his latest sanity-saving app.

Stop by, say hi and check out something entirely new and different from the Duck.

On2 On To Another CEO?!

It's been a long time since my last post; I've been heads down and slogging through.  But some news I came across today made me stop in my tracks.  On2 Technologies CEO, Bill Joll, stepped down somewhat unexpectedly and without reason!  

Disclosure: On2 Technologies was a client of mine a few years back; in the days of Doug McIntyre at the helm.  It wasn't until Bill Joll came on board and brought with him his own marketing team did I step aside and stop working for them.  So it's been at least 2 or 3 years since I've been in touch with these guys.

I could never understand why this company could not get off the launch pad in a big way; arguably and objectively speaking, On2 makes the industry's finest codecs -- they put high quality online video on the map with their codecs that went into the early Flash players.  But there seems to be some management curse that runs through this company that keeps them down; I don't get it -- never did, never will.

The news reported by Liz Gannes over at NewTeeVee sites that, while Joll stepped aside without notice or reasons, the company was under the microscope for allegedly falsifying sales reports and consequently restating earnings.  So you think maybe that had something to do with it?  Sarcasm....

I'll be watching again very closely now, interested to see who takes over.  Right now, Matt Frost is stepping up as interim COO/CEO -- Matt's a great guy, very smart and I wish only the best for him and the rest of the crew remaining. I just hope for their sake they get someone in there that can deliver the success this company really deserves.

Kino-Eye on KlickTab

I really enjoyed David's take on Open Television Network; of all the discussion about OTN since the launch, David captures it perfectly and clearly, truly gets it. I think OTN is offering such a compelling and timely proposition that will have quite an impact once the momentum gets going; but that's the key -- momentum.

Thanks, David, for a great post, and I'm really pleased to have discovered your blog. I'll be following very closely!

Online Video: Put it on my tab....

...my KlickTab, that is. About a month ago, I helped launch the Open Television Network -- Philip Hodgetts' newest venture that features a new RSS-driven micropayment technology called KlickTab. It's an ingenious vehicle for content producers and content owners to generate revenue (finally) for their hard-earned work. It's not targeted for the mainstream media -- it's not in competition with free content from the likes of Hulu.com, Joost or any of the other free sites out there. Open Television Network is helping to create an unmediated marketplace for online video, where consumers can purchase unique content and the producers can actually begin to make some money.

Why pay when so much out there is free? Well it's not really free. Much of the content is ad revenue driven. People hate that! No one wants to watch ads online -- before, during, or after a video. And besides, people pay for online content everyday -- when they find the specialized content they want and when the price is right. iTunes, podcasts -- people shell out millions everyday for content. Open Television Network is now providing an easy way to monetize it.

Since the launch, a slew of content providers have signed on to the Network, and I expect in the very near term, we'll see a significant spike.

From the press release last week:

Since the debut of Open Television Network (www.openTVnetwork.com) last month, content owners, online video producers and online news organizations have clearly embraced this new unmediated online video marketplace model and have been eagerly signing up to take advantage of the opportunity to begin generating revenue for their online video and audio content. In addition to the myriad enthusiast and hobbyist content providers signing up, Open Television Network has also attracted news organizations and influential bloggers looking to generate revenues for premium content.

The Open Television Network, which launched last month, provides content owners a compelling RSS-driven micro-payment technology called klickTab to generate revenue for their content, while also enabling consumers with the simplest and easiest online video commerce model for online programming.

"While existing video and content distribution download services have tried, the complexities of download services around paying and finding downloads, have limited the appeal of this form of distribution" said James Greer, President of 10Flicks.com. "With klickTab, we can create a destination site where viewers can download individual movies and shows to iTunes with a single click, or subscribe to a genre feed and browse, buy, manage and synchronize all within a single location."

"Although we've sold meeting videos on DVD for years, there's been a real push by our members to make meeting videos available online," said Michael Horton, Head Cutter at the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group. "klickTab has empowered us to provide our members with a way to obtain the latest meetings with the convenience of RSS delivery, while still getting their financial support for meeting videos."

Online Video and Audio Content Providers Lining Up
In less than a month since the launch of Open Television Network, a number of online video and video enthusiast, hobbyist, entertainment destination sites, as well as news organizations and bloggers, have begun signing up as partners with OTN, some of which include:

• Aviation Media/Wide World of Flying
• Intelligent Assistance, LA Final Cut Pro User Group videos
• 10Flicks.com
• Gala Factory
• Central Valley Business Times
• The Digital Media Dude Podcast Network
• Ask Yogi Marlon
• The Picture Company
• Incite Productions
• Duststorm Distribution
• Filmmaking Central Podcast
• Azure TV (Talmon Media, France)
• Tard Networks (Singapore)
• Torbis Films
• Online Stores Network, Inc
• Ridpath Creative Partners, LLC
• Quietwater Films