30 November 2006

Internet videos broadcast on British TV

Sumo.tv, a video site which lets users create their own TV channel and upload content, began broadcasting in the UK on Sky channel 146 earlier this year. If you haven't made it up that high on your remote recently, you'll have missed such delights as old newsreels, film trailers and sporting events like the "1936 All-American Soapbox Derby".

It all sounds exciting, but now Sumo.tv is starting to do something different. They are planning to begin broadcasting a three hour compilation of the best videos submitted to their website on their mainstream TV channel, and will pay the contributors a percentage of the revenue generated. Just think of it as YouTube meets "You've Been Framed".

























Andrew Wilson, chief executive of Cellcast (Sumo.tv's parent company), said:

"It is the first service to integrate user-generated online content into a dedicated television channel, and provides users with new ways of finding that '15 minutes of fame', new ways of making money, and new ways of expressing themselves and making friends."

What is most interesting about this development is that Sumo.tv is the first channel to broadcast internet content on a traditional television set. Recently, we have seen many traditional media formats - such as television, music and film - combining with the internet. Most of the crossovers have involved giving a tried-and-tested idea a new shine via the tools of the web.

Examples of this include YouTube's latest agreement to broadcast on mobile phones and the BBC's iPlayer project, which is designed to let people watch BBC TV shows up to seven days after they are broadcast. There are very few examples of companies moving from the internet back towards traditional media, though these include both Google's and Yahoo!'s recent advertising agreements with US newspapers, Google buying advertisement slots on American radio - and now Sumo.tv's latest plan.

The rising proliferation of the internet has, up to now, seemed to be at the detriment of the conventional media. Recent research conducted by the telecoms regulator Ofcom suggests that a third of British internet users watch less television after they get broadband, and that 27 per cent will read fewer newspapers once they obtain high speed internet access.

This certainly suggests that, with people using the web in ever increasingly quantities, the larger internet brands - including the leading search engines and internet media companies - are in a stronger position than traditional media firms.

However, with the launch of these crossover projects, it is becoming harder to make the distinction between types of traditional and new media, and more difficult to see where new technology will lead us. What is certain is that, whatever happens next, it is sure to be fascinating.

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