[rant on]
SuperMediaMegaCorp (and local media corp) doesn’t get it. At some point, even aggregators like Hulu will need an API-like functionality allowing developers and creators to add their content ( …or tap their ad network(s)). And BTW, via Bloomberg:
June 25 (Bloomberg) — Television programs such as “The Simpsons” and “CSI” are for the first time commanding higher advertising rates at Web sites including Hulu.com and TV.com than on prime-time TV.
KCRW, the Los Angeles Public Radio station, “gets it.” In addition to widgetized distribution via it’s well thought-out media player widgets, they just released a very nice iPhone app (iTunes link) that has just about all the functionality you’d possibly want—live streaming, on-demand streaming and even an event calendar.
The only additions/weaknesses I see here is a failure to integrate the playlist functionality from the KCRW website directly into the widget (User has to click through to the site—maybe that’s on purpose), and a lack of direct download(s) (may be licensing issues). Well done, and the “viral” distribution of persistent donate/join links can only help the Listener-supported Radio cause.
iPhone app screens. Straightforward, simple interface.
Apps and widgets also allow media creators to distribute and monetize long-tail library/archive content that’s sitting in their vaults. In addition to the business angle, it also frees these cultural and historical artifacts for public/educational use. Local TV and radio stations are essentially “punting” on great cultural and business opportunities (and community building). It’s kinda sad.
JD Lasica on the social implications of Boxee.
As internet video matures, we face a crossroads: will technology and public policy support a more participatory culture — one that encourages and enables free expression and broader cultural engagement? Or will online video become a glorified TV-on-demand service, a central part of a permissions-based culture?
Warren Lieberfarb, the visionary former head of Warner Home Video, thinks it won’t be long before we’ll be able to purchase and store our own personal collection of movies and transport it from device to device, anywhere within an extended home domain.
“I see a very, very, very big transformation that’s going to change the balance of power in media,” he says, choosing his words with care. “It will step away from the broadcast and cable networks to specialized niche programming that will be accessible through on-demand services. That is the revolution. And nothing is going to stop this.” …
“All this is going to bypass the broadcast and cable networks,” he says. “The whole notion that you sit at a television at a designated time and you tune in to watch what they say you watch—it’s over. It’s going to take a while, but it’s over.”
Your radio stations will be mobile apps, or apps/plugins for Boxee or other media-center software. So will your newspapers and TV stations. Films and shows will be widgetized, and mobile/settop apps will not only distribute the media, but alternative/supporting content (Data!) as well—perhaps they’ll even allow you to interact with the content in realtime. Those that don’t embrace user/viewer control and Open-ness will die. Good times.
(Highly Recommended), which contains an absolutely stunning short, The Red Door, by 
