Rob Hyodo

Director Greg MacGillivray offers “The Living Sea” as an Earth Day gift to us all.

Get the Free Movie Download at http://green.msn.com/ where you can select a download from your provider of choice (Amazon Unbox, Vudu, Movielink, CinemaNow or BitTorrent).

This offer is only available until April 25!

I think this is a great twofold offer, allowing the consumer to get high-quality content for free while simultaneously sending the message that online delivery of media is an Earth-friendly way to consume media as we advance towards this new medium:

“This event will expose thousands of consumers to the fast arriving future of digital video delivery where plastic discs and packaging is no longer necessary,” said Mitch Mallon, vice president of Digital Sales of Egami Media. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day than to make this film available to everyone in the world, and to do so in such an environmentally friendly way.”

A MediaPost article today (”What’s Popular Online In Video Isn’t What You’d Expect“) states that the most popular online videos reported by Veoh aren’t current popular shows in the likes of “The Office” or “CSI:Miami,” but rather classic TV shows such as “Star Trek.”

The article also states Veoh’s US audience is consists of 4.4 million viewers in contrast to YouTube’s 71.2 million viewers, however, Veoh’s viewers spend more time viewing content on their site with an average of 1:43 minutes for March. When was the last time you spent that much time on YouTube? (Ok, ok, I know some of you do!)

My initial take on this is that current popular shows are available via other channels, such as Xbox (albeit, not for free) or it may even be sitting on your DVR. But, where else do you go for a fix of old “Star Trek” episodes? I think it makes sense that sites such as Veoh that offer classic TV shows you just don’t have easy access to will draw large audiences.

Much of Veoh’s content, like Hulu, consists of “clips only” video, but there are enough full-episode shows to satisfy their viewers.

Actor Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment has just launched a high-definition online music video service — PluggedIn Media. Holding contracts with EMI Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, it is reported that the service currently consists of over ten thousand music videos! The high-definition content delivery network providing the delivery service is Move Networks.

Curious to see if some of my favorites are included in their catalog, I visited the site (apparently still in beta) and was greeted by a slick, black UI and the tagline, “The Best Music Videos, On Demand. Enjoy stunning, broadcast-quality music videos anytime from your browser!” Nice!

Surprisingly, one of my favs appeared under the list of five featured artists — Nine Inch Nails. Their video was a live verson of “Closer.” I checked out the video and quality was great when the video played, but it was a bit choppy the first time around. Played back much more smoothly the second time. Either way, it sure beats the version available on YouTube.

There’s also a “Download” option which I tried out and you’re presented with the option to “Download on iTunes” or “Buy from Amazon.” The Amazon option didn’t seem to be working at the time (Got a “The connection has timed out” message).

The social aspects of PluggedIn allows you to create a custom “channel” consisting of your favorite artists when you sign up as a “Fan” and I must say, it did a good job of filling My Player with the stuff I enjoy, even with the limited number of artists I like in their current catalog.

Overall, it seems like a very nice service. I’m glad to be able to watch high-definition music videos of my favorite artists.. I wonder though, how this, and other upcoming services, will ultimately stand up to existing services such as YouTube.

It’s official news now that my company is partnering with CinemaNow to offer end-to-end digital content delivery services to online retailers. Technicolor’s digital supply chain services will handle all of the encoding, encrypting, media ingest, hosting and ad management for streaming and download.

You can check out the press release here.

Update:

Here are a few other places where you can read about the partnership. I’m excited about the partnership!

• Video Business: CinemaNow, Technicolor open download business to all retailers
• Home Media Magazine: CinemaNow, Technicolor Bow Third-Party Movie Download Service
• SoCalTECH: CinemaNow Partners With Technicolor

I just posted this release on my company division’s website: Thomson Makes Key Hires in Technicolor’s Electronic Distribution Services Business

We’re welcoming two new members to our team.

Tom McDonough, Vice President of Operations and Jacco van der Kooij, Vice President of Worldwide Sales.

I wish them a warm welcome to Technicolor Electronic Distribution Services!