Now that professional writers are done protesting the Web, will they flock to it? In this quick video interview, Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America West, tells us which parts of the new WGA contract the Guild is happy about, what new Web ventures are coming down the pike (and whether they’ll stick around) and makes a case for the continuing value of writers.
Now that Revver has been sold to LiveUniverse, and LiveVideo has been officially launched, what’s the future for Revver’s business model? After all, it was just a few months ago that Revver revealed they’d paid $1 million to content creators since opening their doors to the public.
Troubled video site Revver was bought by Brad Greenspan’s LiveUniverse last night for a price “many multiples more” than the $500,000 to $1.5 million reported recently, according to a source close to the deal. Our source would not disclose the selling price, but said “I wouldn’t say anyone got rich, but everybody was happy.” Revver had raised $12.7 million from Comcast, Turner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Richards and William Randolph Hearst III. The Revver team will continue working under the new ownership.
Next year’s switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts could produce more noise than signal, disrupting service for millions of people even if they have the proper converter box, according to a new study from market research firm Centris.
Yahoo is close to acquiring enterprise video start-up Maven Networks for between $160 million and $170 million, according to sources familiar with the deal. Maven provides video hosting and distribution services for Gannett, Hearst, Fox News, Sony BMG, the Financial Times, Univision, TV Guide and others.
Out of work and newly wise to the state of content being distributed online, a group of professional writers is looking to start their own production and distribution company. Aaron Mendelsohn, writer of the Disney film Air Bud and an active Writers Guild of America member, is captaining the efforts, and says he has gotten a group of “A-list” film and TV writers on the team. He’s also partnering with online community experts from Silicon Valley and raising “north of $30 million” in venture capital, with the idea of launching a company called Virtual Artists later this year.
How was the first Republican CNN-YouTube debate? So exciting I fell asleep! I missed the last six questions and had to catch them in YouTube’s helpful playlist from the night. There’s also live-blogging coverage from the New York Times, ABC News and Mahalo.
There were no melting-snowman questions to trivialize Mitt Romney’s participation, but there was [...]
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