If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Major US broadcasters are lining up their digital offerings for consumers, whether they like it or not.

"Television networks increasingly need to make content available to fans no matter where those fans are and what devices they are using," said Greg Ireland, IDC research manager.

Disney-owned ABC is the first major broadcaster to live-stream programming to iPhones and iPads starting this summer for residents of New York City and Philadelphia via WATCH ABC, including local news, daytime talk shows and prime-time dramas. Plans include expansion to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago and eventually, buy-in from all ABC affiliates.

"Many people are starting to wonder if cable is worth keeping, and they're thinking of cutting the cord and going online only since they can get content from Netflix, Amazon and other places,” notes NPR. “Live streaming is a way the broadcast industry is trying to cement the system they've had in place for a long time, even as more people are watching TV and video online. So, they're going where the viewers are going, but they're scared that people are going to cancel their cable subscriptions."Continue reading...

Continuing its aggressive push to convince the world that YouTube video content is better than TV, the online video giant is rumored to be launching paid subscriptions for specialist video channels as soon as this week, the Financial Times reports.

YouTube has said it was “looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer.” 

The preeminent global video site has long-since evolved from its user-generated roots into a platform that every major company and marketer is looking to leverage with professional-grade content. With an audience of one billion, YouTube and its content partners are looking to create another revenue stream besides the site's burgeoning ad platform. "This is a whole new form of content, content delivery and content consumption," said DreamWorks CEO Jeffery Katzenberg in Business Insider. "It's the medium of the future and the future has already arrived. Video is becoming the global shared experience."Continue reading...

Just when you think the final story has been written about Netflix — the story begins again.

The high-flying video subscription service, largely credited with driving Blockbuster into bankruptcy, has had business issues of its own in the past year. Now it's looking to a new partner — cable operators — who traditionally view streaming in general, and Netflix in particular, as the enemy.Continue reading...

"Anyone has access and the audience defines the popularity," said YouTube Trends manager Kevin Allocca, explaining the secret sauce that goes into viral videos. Find out more in Allocca's talk, above, during the Youth portion of the TED2012 conference this week in Long Beach, CA, which ranged from Rebecca Black's Friday to Justin Bieber to cats watching cats watching the 65 million-viewed Nyan Cat phenom. 

America's online video portals — AOL, Google and YouTube, Hulu, Microsoft Advertising including MSN, and Yahoo! — are once again locking arms to muscle in on the U.S. TV upfront marketplace by touting their web video programming in a collaborative series of presentations orchestrated by Digitas.

The brands are taking turns in a roundrobin pitch to ad agencies, media buyers and brand marketers during the fourth annual Digital Content NewFronts, taking place in New York over two weeks, from April 19th to May 2nd.

The objective: woo a bigger slice of marketing dollars from TV to their respective online video and digital content hubs.Continue reading...

Verizon is joining forces with Coinstar, the parent company of 35,400-kiosk movie rental service, Redbox, in a bid to grab a piece of the streaming video market away from Netflix, Hulu and Amazon — not to mention Facebook and YouTube.

The still-to-be-named Verizon/Redbox joint venture — a hybrid video download and streaming service offering rental of DVDs, Blu-ray titles and video games — is scheduled to launch in the third quarter. Verizon takes 65% of the limited liability company and Coinstar, 35%. 

Verizon will handle digital streaming and video downloads on demand, and Redbox will handle physical kiosk-disc distribution. The multi-platform service will leverage Verizon’s suite of video-enabled devices already delivered via FiOs for phones, tablets, smart TVs, PC’s and consoles.Continue reading...

“Netflix will be sold by Easter,” Porter Bibb, managing partner at Mediatech Capital Partners, told Bloomberg News. "I am hearing very serious rumblings from inside Verizon that they are very serious about either Netflix or something similar."

A deal with Verizon would put sorely needed cash in Netflix’s pocket as international expansion is on hold while the company staggers to regain profitability, reeling from a disastrous 2011, which saw a number of mishaps for the video rental/streaming brand.

After hiking subscription rates 60% in July, a customer revolt led to an ill-fated attempt at restructuring their DVD and streaming plans with the planned (then abandoned) launch of Qwikster, which sent nearly one million subscribers into exile; so they un-restructured but still lost close to 800,000 customers.Continue reading...

As fans obsess over Justin Bieber's new haircut and Christmas single, the Canadian pop star has quietly set another record. The video for said holiday single — Mistletoe, above — has been averaging more than one million views on YouTube per day since hitting the web on October 18th. According to YouTube's trendspotting blog, the word "Mistletoe" was one of its top rising searches globally over the past 30 days.

He also now boasts more than 2 billion YouTube views, a record he set on Sunday when his channel (a partnership with Vevo) crossed the 2 billion view threshold. Lady Gaga may have beat him to 1 billion views a year ago, but he has now beat her YouTube/Vevo channel (now at 1.85 billion views) to 2 billion views. Her collective YouTube footprint, where she maintains a Vevo channel and an 'official' channel, passed the 2 billion mark last month.

As for the single that made Bieber's name, Baby holds the record for the most-viewed music video of 2010 "and still averages hundreds of thousands of views per day" in 2011, according to YouTube.