Stage6.com shuts down its high-quality video site due to the costs in providing bandwidth
DivX, Inc. has shut down this week its Stage6.com video site, eleven months after being launched. “The continued operation of Stage6 is a very expensive enterprise that requires an enormous amount of attention and resources that we are not in a position to provide,” they explain.
“In many ways, the service did succeed, beyond even our own initial expectations. Stage6 became very popular very quickly. We helped gain exposure for some talented filmmakers who brought great videos to the attention of an engaged community. We helped prove that it’s possible to distribute true high definition video on the Internet. And we helped broaden the Internet video experience by offering content that is compatible with DVD player, mobile devices and other products beyond the PC.”
Last summer DivX announced it was trying to market and sell a set-top box that would connect to your TV and tie into Stage6 content, but that effort didn’t take off. Another extra box in the living room had limited appeal.
DivX, Inc. will continue to offer services that will make it easy to find videos online in the DivX format.
Brand-experience environment in a Flash-driven site
Supersonics.com is the first Flash-driven site in major professional team sports. It took 2,000 hours and over $100k to build. Cypress Consulting, the Seattle based company that helped Sonics building the site, said that this is a much more immersive and high fidelity experience. The Sonics say the site is a whole new paradigm in how sport teams present their brands.
Is this site really useful? Some people consider that once viewed, there is no reason to return. This is not the best way to present score, schedules and news, and to give it interactivity. And what about counting page views?
Local TV stations demand more flexible content managements tools
Local TV stations are demanding more flexibility and faster product development online than Internet Broadcasting, WorldNow and other web service providers are offering. Analysts say that the days of having a one-size-fits-all business partner for the web are over. TV stations want more individual applications for the expected $12.6 billion local Web ad market.
The NBC station group and Cox Television have notified IB (Internet Broadcasting), which sells some of their ad space, that they need more flexibility than the IB platform currently affords and are exploring alternatives for content management and national ad sales.
CBS, Fox, Nexstar and Clear Channel (via directly owned subsidiary Inergize Digital Media ) have already built their own content management systems that are easy to use and that integrate into the station workflow.
WorldNow, whose client base went from 150 stations and newspapers to 320 after it unbundled its services, is now adopting an open source platform that will speed the integration of adding third-party applications such as the white label KickApps application used to power user-generated media sites.
