Video Sharing websites roundup

Fingerprint Tech Waits for a Grand Entrance

Video sites such as Microsoft’s (MSFT) Soapbox and MySpace already employ fingerprinting technology from provider Audible Magic, and Veoh has said it will implement fingerprinting this month. A Dailymotion spokesperson clarified that the site will continue to use Audible Magic for audio fingerprinting, but is adding in Ina for video fingerprinting. He emphasized that the initial Ina rollout on Dailymotion is only in France, though the company expects it to be implemented across all versions of its sites by 2008.

$15 Million For VideoEgg

San Francisco-based VideoEgg has raised $15 million in additional funding in a Series D round from existing investors WPP, Maveron, and August Capital, and led by Focus Ventures.
The video distribution and advertising company in April said it had raised an undisclosed amount from WPP. That was on top of a $12 million round raised last September from Maveron, August Capital, and First Round Partners, and nearly $5 million from the latter two firms nine months before that — which means that VideoEgg, since it was founded in 2005, has raised more than $32 million.

ProSiebenSat Buys Remaining Stake In German Video Sharing Site MyVideo For $26 Million

ProSiebenSat.1 Media, Germany’s largest commercial TV broadcaster, has bought 70 percent of MyVideo.de, a German video sharing site that it already had a 30 percent stake in, thereby buying out the site completely. The 70 percent stake cost the company about $26 million...this follows the initial investment it did last year.

Video Funding: Dailymotion Gets $34M

PARIS -- Dailymotion SA has secured $34 million in venture-capital funding that will allow the French start-up to expand its video-sharing Web site as it competes against larger rival YouTube, owned by Google Inc.
The company's new funds come from venture-capital firms Advent Venture Partners LLP of London and AGF Private Equity of Paris, a division of Allianz AG. Dailymotion already had raised about $9.5 million in October from venture firms Atlas Venture and Paris-based Partech International.

In April, Dailymotion had 4.7 million unique video streamers in the U.S., while Metacafe had 3.7 million. By contrast, Google sites (including YouTube) had 131.9 million unique video streamers in May.

News Corp. and NBC Universal name joint venture

News Corp. and NBC Universal have revealed the name of their new online video venture — the so-called YouTube killer, which Google had already dubbed Clown Co., will officially be called “Hulu“.
“Hulu” will launch as a private beta in October 2007, however, interested users are able to sign-up for invitation from today.

Top 10 Video Search Engines

Here is a top 10 Video Search engines:

blinkx
clipblast!
dabble
everyzing
exalead
Fooooo
metacafe
pixsy
PureVideo
VidSea

Bolt is dead

Video sharing site Bolt has filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations.

Bolt.com was sued by Universal Music in October 2006 and owes Universal $10 million from that suit; the funds from the GoFish acquisition were to have been used to settle the $10 million with Universal.

French court slaps poor man's YouTube ; Dailymotion guilty of copyright infringement

France's answer to YouTube has been found guilty of copyright infringement. A French high court has ruled against the Paris-based video-sharing site Dailymotion, holding it liable for a copyrighted film posted by its users. Earlier this summer, after a high-profile suit from a man called The Buttock, the same court laid down a similar ruling against MySpace, but its latest order goes a few steps further.

Last month, the President of the High Court of the First Instance of Paris - whose title reads much better in French - issued a "summary order" that classified MySpace as a publisher, arguing that the so-called social-networker is more than just a hosting service and should be held liable for infringing content posted to its site. Well-known French comedian The Buttock - whose title reads about the same in French - sued MySpace after several of his films turned up on its pages. Issued by a separate arm of the court, the new Dailymotion order carries a little more weight - and poses a greater threat to other sharing services. After a film called Joyeux Noel popped up on the site, Dailymotion was sued by the film's producers, and on July 13, a separate arm of the High Court held the site liable for copyright infringement - without calling it a publisher.

In its "proceeding on the merits" - a ruling backed by more legal rigor than a quick-and-dirty summary order - the court ruled that Dailymotion is liable simply because it was aware that the film was on its server.

As the court noted, Dailymotion did not take the film down even after it received a letter of complaint from the producers. The court ordered the site to pay the film's producers 23,000 euros in damages and fork over a 1500 euro fine for each day the movie stays online - though Dailymotion can appeal.

GoFish will not acquire Bolt - copyright infringements too risky

On August 1, 2007, GoFish Corporation (“GoFish”) terminated the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 11, 2007, as amended, by and among GoFish, BM Acquisition Corp. Inc., Bolt, Inc. and John Davis.

As previously disclosed, under the Merger Agreement, a condition to the obligation of GoFish and the Merger Subsidiary to consummate the merger was that Bolt shall have entered into a definitive settlement of the pending copyright infringement lawsuit filed by UMG Recordings, Inc. and definitive settlement agreements covering substantially comparable potential claims, if any, by Sony, BMG Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Recorded Music and the major publishers that provide for initial cash payments not exceeding an aggregate of $1,000,000 and for additional cash payments to be made no sooner than July 1, 2008 not exceeding an aggregate of $3,000,000 and 2.5 million shares of GoFish common stock, exclusive of any advertising credits or other in kind consideration. The foregoing condition had not been satisfied on or prior to the Termination Date under the Merger Agreement and, as a result, GoFish elected to terminate the Merger Agreement. No termination or other fee was incurred as a result of such termination.

Zudeo launches as high-definition video sharing site

File-sharing company Azureus have launched a new video sharing website that it hopes will become the high-def equivalent of YouTube.

Using BitTorrent to make the downloading of large files much more manageable, the Zudeo (beta) web site looks set to promise 'better than DVD' quality films, up to high definition quality.

The Palo Alto, US, based service has already done deals with 12 TV, film and media companies, with full details being announced in a couple of weeks' time. As with most video sharing sites, any clips which infringe upon copyright and are flagged up by the owner will be removed.

There's no exact details as to exactly how high def these offerings are - full 1080p would seem to be pushing it at present.

The whole system is supposed to hold together because, as a user downloads a file on a BitTorrent network, they're also simultaneously uploading bits of that file to other users. However, that only decentralises bandwidth costs, not download times.

Videos will come in either H.264 or VC-1 format. DVD quality videos may also be available for live streaming for anyone with a fast enough connection: 300Kbps minimum according to the company.

Veoh Raises $26M in Series C Funding

Veoh has raised another $26 million in Series C funding, granting the video sharing company more money raised than any other video-sharing site. The round was led by Goldman Sachs, and Pete Perrone has joined Veoh’s board. Also included in this latest round are existing shareholders Spark Capital and Shelter Capital Partners.

While Veoh doesn’t gain as much traffic as MetaCafe, YouTube or DailyMotion, it still remains the company that has gained the most in venture capital. Veoh is a good application and has had a long standing when it comes to the surge of video-sharing sites. In 2005, Veoh raised $2.75 million in a Series A round, and got an additional $12.5 million in its second round of funding last year.

Unlike its larger counterpart YouTube, Veoh has dealt with the problem of finding copyrighted content on the site, which no doubt fares well when Veoh seeks out large amounts of funding. With the ante raised, other video-sharing sites may be able to raise more funding for their own services as well.

Azureus Facing Lawsuit in France

Azureus, Shareaza and Morpheus are being sued by the music industry group Société des Producteurs de Phonogrammes en France (SPPF) under the new provisions of copyright law passed by the French Parliament last year, according to French blog Ratatium (English translation).

The software creators could face criminal penalties including up to three years in prison and a €300,000 fine if the case is successfully prosecuted in French courts.

Morpheus has declined in popularity since being successfully sued already, and Shareaza is entirely non-commercial. But Azureus is leveraging the popular BitTorrent client for its Vuze network which delivers authorized downloads of video and audio. Though that fact could potentially be used in its defense as proof that the software is not exclusively for illegitimate distribution.

The new copyright provisions, abbreviated to DADVSI, is similar to the DMCA in that the intention was to update laws in order to address issues surrounding digital technology, as well as bring France in line with the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty.

Amendments to the DADVSI, sponsored by then Minister of the Interior and now current President Nicolas Sarkozy and dubbed “The Vivendi Amendments,” added the criminal penalties of imprisonment and fines for makers of software that are meant to transmit copyrighted material illegally. Though the suit could become a forum for DADVSI detractors to challenge the constitutionality of these provisions.

So the SPPF can expect the full support of Sarkozy and his UMP party in their suit. As an indication of the change in the climate surrounding copyright in France, during a recent hunt for Sopranos video I discovered even the somewhat notorious Dailymotion appears to be getting more thorough in policing their site for unauthorized clips (and may soon be competing with YouTube for Francophonic users).

French sports groups join suit against YouTube

France's top soccer league and its national tennis organization are the latest to join legal action against video-sharing site YouTube.

The Federation Francaise de Tennis and Ligue de Football Professionnel, as well as New York-based Cherry Lane Music Publishing, have joined a class action lawsuit that accuses YouTube and parent company Google of copyright violations, according to Louis Solomon, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the suit.

The suit was initially filed last month on behalf of the lead plaintiffs in the case: Bourne, a music publishing company and the Premier League, England's most prestigious soccer league.

Another executive shakeup at Revver

Video-sharing site Revver said Thursday that CEO Steven Starr has stepped down, in the company's second executive shakeup in the past six months.

One of the sector's pioneers in sharing revenue with videographers, Revver said in a statement that Kevin Wells, the company's chief operating officer takes over for Starr, who will now serve as Revver's chairman.

Revver competes in a crowded video-sharing market by billing itself as a friend to artists. But what many performers prize most is an audience. Revver's has never come close to the size of YouTube's, the sector's frontrunner.

In the last few months, privately held Revver has seen the departure of much of its staff. Under Starr, the Los Angeles-based company also launched an effort to sign content-licensing deals with Hollywood studios but abruptly abandoned the plan after only a few months, according to former employees.

In December, Revver saw cofounders Ian Clarke and Oliver Luckett leave, as well as David Tenzer, a veteran Hollywood agent hired to help find licensing deals.

GooTube strikes deal with EMI, after label shuns DRM with Apple

EMI Music, the world’s third largest music label company, said it has reached a deal with Google and its YouTube property to allow YouTube users to exploit EMI music while creating videos.

The move follows Apple’s move yesterday to start selling EMI songs without copy protection (digital rights management, or DRM) through its iTunes store.

Warner to put ad-supported video archive online

Warner Music, the world's fourth-largest music group, is putting its archive of music video online and making it available for free to fans.

Revenue will be driven by advertising but music fans will be able to download the videos for an additional fee and Warner will also examine syndicating the content to a third party. The deal includes plans to develop subscription-based services and a version to be used on mobile platforms.

AOL To Launch YouTube Competitor in June

New York, NY - AOL is set to bring user-generated video upload service UnCut out of beta and officially launch it in June. The new service will be implemented on many of AOL's platforms including AIM and the new social network service, Fred McIntyre, AOL's chief online video executive told Beet.TV.

Video search company, Blinkx, blows bubble with IPO

Blinkx the San Francisco video search engine, has taken us into new bubble territory, going public on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and being valued at $355 million.
It raised about $50 million.

Its IPO is perfectly timed, because it hits all the hype buttons: Blinkx is search, it is video, and best of all, it is online advertising — an industry where the merger activity is at its most frantic levels since Cisco, Nortel and Lucent binged on billion-dollar infrastructure companies at the height of the last bubble.

Blinkx’s technology takes a video’s content — the spoken words within them - and translates it into searchable text, which is something different from what most sites do. Pluggd and others translation services are making headway in this area. It is powering video search for a Lycos, Looksmart and a division AOL.

Blinkx, meanwhile, tell they’re in this for the long haul, and they think they can make money by serving targeted advertisements.

VideoEgg Names Adam Klein President

VIDEOEGG, which runs a video ad network over more than 70 online communities, named digital media veteran Adam Klein as president. Klein was most recently executive vice president of strategy and business development at EMI Music. Previously, he was an advisor to the chairman at MTV Networks, and before that president and COO of Ask Jeeves.