Notes from Edinburgh TV Unfestival 2007

On the weekend I went to the TV Unfestival, an “unconference” about TV, which is a sort of Fringe even to the Media Guardian TV Festival. Although the event was typical of a tech/geek gathering in the unconference format – lots of healthy debate, discussion and networking – there was often a disparity between the ‘open rights’ and open source culture of the tech world and the locked-down, “copyrighted up

Interview: Jaman prepares European assault

Jaman, California-based company that offers full length movies for either downloads or rental via a P2P client is planning to launch a European arm. The move is prior to an expansion of its programme of buying up rights to “mid-tail” independent and niche films. Unlike Joost, which is really aimed at TV viewers, Jaman is going for audiences who want successful independent film (the kind of thing “Trainspotting” was once

Mashup TV 2.0 event live blog

Live blogging from Mashup, "TV 2.0" Introducing the event Simon Grice of etribes and Mashup says sites like TV-Links.co.uk and Joox.net are the reason he hasn't watched live TV for 6 months. And hasn't rented a video for 6 months… Tom Weiss, CEO of TV Genius, is Chair. John Varney Sturart Prebble, launch CEO of On Digital, said digital TV is about turning 1 audience of 20 million into 20m

Joost hunts down talent, avoids UGC

Joost is hiring talent scouts Creative Artists Agency to get Hollywood programming onto its service. Along with well known programming and a clutch of top advertisers Joost wants to offer shows from independent professional video makers rather than “wild” UGC/social media. Joost has $45 million from five backers and signed Viacom and sister company CBS for content recently.

League sues YouTube over copyright

The English Premier League will sue YouTube in the US for alleged copyright infringement and claims the site "knowingly misappropriated" its intellectual property by encouraging videos of matches to be viewed on its site. YouTube already faces a $1bn (£501m) lawsuit from Viacom over similar issues. US music publisher Bourne joins the League in the legal action launched in New York. Doe the League "get it"? It sounds like they

Cridland goes to the Beeb

James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, is leaving after six years to work for the BBC, as Head of Future Media & Technology, Audio & Music. "It’s a massive change for me, and a thrill to work with such a great team," he wrote on his blog today. Cridland has spearheaded Virgin's new media strategy and in many respects has enabled the radio station to use new