Online video sites and copyright infringement issues are concerning.  It’s a legitimate discussion.  We want to protect copyright owners and help promote their content.  Done well, online video does both.

Judge Howard Matz, Los Angeles, ruled online video site quality for “safe harbor” protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  The DMCA safe harbor provides immunity to sites accepting user-uploaded content provided infringing material is removed upon request.

The case brought by Veoh, a Michael Eisner backed web video site, as well as other cases with lo Group and YouTube speaks well for online video sites as long as they act promptly to protect copyright owners.  More here

CELLit moves into the Clouds

December 5, 2008 – CELLit successfully completed a full transition into the Amazon Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2).  Our hosted video application, full email/cell phone communications support,  and robust video processing tools now reside on the Amazon EC2 platform.   Hosted videos and pictures are stored on the Amazon Simple Storage System (S3) with full support of the Amazon Simple Queuing System (SQS).   For web managers that want to know more check out http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/

For media website program managers, promotion directors, sales managers, and leadership teams, the new CELLit support dynamically scales to deliver your audience’s most viral videos and pictures.

CELLit offers a complete suite of video and picture tools for media websites.  Media sites can start using the tools in as little as one-day.  The hosted pages include your logo and match your website’s look & feel.  Your audience videos carry your logo watermark.  Dynamic widgets present the most recent, most popular, and highest rated videos on your home page for continuously updated dynamic content.  CELLit Media Services provides contest tools that expand and manage the most engaging topics.  Shared advertising support helps build competitive sales programs for your sponsors.

CELLit Media Services are free to media websites and include shared advertising to support your clients, your company, and CELLit.  

Managing Trusted Senders

Media web managers already have a full-time job … perhaps two or three.  Managing user generated content doesn’t have to be another fulltime effort.  With CELLit Trusted Senders you can allow trusted individuals to post new video or pictures directly to the public site without your required moderation/approval.

One Button Approval

The first time you approve video for public viewing you can authorize he sender (computer, email or cell phone) as a trusted agent.  You can also delete the media and/or block the sender.

CELLit Trusted Sender Administration

Authorized administrators can add and remove Trusted Senders and Blocked computers, email, or cell phone numbers.

CELLit … moderation controls

Each client controls the moderation of audience generated video and pictures.  CELLit provides private administration controls for media, comment, and tag information.

Media Activation … setting for positive admin approval before public posting, option for trusted senders, and tools to delete video or picture postings and block future postings from this person.

Comment Activation … setting that allows immediate public commenting or comment posting only with admin approval.

Tag Activation … setting for immediat activation or posting only with admin approval.

Other Admin Settings … optional Welcome Page and Main Video Page content selection.

Moderation Settings

Radio Broadcasters … 2008 for Leadership

In general, radio ended last year badly.  I’m not feeling good about the revised ‘08 budgets now reaching the local radio operating teams.  I get that corporate has to pay their debt obligations and show some form of positive profit margin leadership; but, we need CEO and CFO leadership.  Changing formats,  shuffling on-air personalities/management teams, and playing the monopoly radio-property game just  doesn’t address broadcast radio’s fundamental problem … an iPod, iPhone, MP3 Player does a better job of delivering entertainment then a radio station.  Listeners are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for equipment and more for tracks instead of listening for free.

If broadcast radio is just about the music then it’s game over.  Internet radio over a coming Google/Android smart phone on the new 700 MHz wireless data spectrum … wins.  Radio can rebound on fundamental strengths … local connections, local content, community awareness, and incredible 24/7 personal reach.   An iPod, xBox, PSP, iPhone, doesn’t do local.  Google doesn’t do local … yet.    Radio teams are local.  They connect with important advertising sponsors every day.  Radio teams know what’s going on in the community.  They know who has budget to spend.  Radio has local content … they know the buzz, the concerts, events, contests.  When radio forgets to be local then away goes the difference that can save the business.  

We think the radio website is the most underappreciated media asset in the USA.  Radio management all but ignores this valuable tool.  They don’t understand it.  They don’t want to spend any money on it.  They might even be embarrassed by it.   How can everybody make money on the internet but radio station owners?  There are website tools from PromoSuite, CELLit, HipCricket, and others  that can make the radio website a hero.

Visit our business site www.CELLit.com and see how you can get started.

30% objective can lead to strong NTR performance

Non Traditional Revenues (NTR) can be a source of 2008 success.  How can you build the NTR business without major investments, new programs, and expensive graphics programs?  We suggest you look to the younger staff and help them apply their creativity.   Generally, one-in-three of your staff under 35 years old has a MySpace or FaceBook page.  Some might have more traffic to their social pages than your radio website.

We suggest you lead with an objective that 30% of your listening audience visit your website once a month. This may not seem like a large objective but it is way above the 5% of listeners we see visiting the average radio website.   Now, help your staff include information that attracts the listening audience.  The regular posting of contest information, special event schedules, concert lists, and program details will dramatically increase your web traffic.

You can help the team stay focused by asking for a daily report of site visitors and page views.  A simple report, everyday, will demonstrate your priority and help the team focus on the objective. 

Building site traffic is the sound basis for stronger advertising performance and business results.

$40 million for Video Camera

Let no market go un-served.  The same people that bring us “use and lose” drug store cameras got $40 million from Morgan Stanley Investment bankers to make a USB plug and play camcorder.  It’s now in stores near you for $110 to $150 depending on video storage.

With a 2x zoom, review screen, and easy USB connect to your computer you can post video by email or YouTube like internet site.  We perfer your local radio station using Cell-it hosted video. 

Our take … that’s a lot of money when you already have a camera phone that you don’t use.  Lets say don’t use all of its potential.  Our bet is still on camera phones.  Pictures will get better and file transfers longer.  Verizon Wireless 1st quarter reports indicated their cam owners sent 450-million pictures and videos over the Verizon network (and 22-billion text messages).  We think Verizon users likely shared another 2-billion pics/vids just by handing the phone to a friend and saying “watch this”.

Texting videos is coming soon.  You will be able to send videos with a short code and the entire category will change.  Make sure you listening, reading, watching audience has you in mind for the next video report.

Cell Phone Video … part of our lives

It’s a bad day at Virginia Tech but a telling day for our digital lives. Students have cell phone cameras and they use them. CNN has a pretty good video on the i-Reports section. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.witness/index.html

Amazing how much this shaky, poor sound quality clip takes us to the scene.

CNN i-Reports had been available for 6-months that I know. Up to now, some interesting weather events but nothing as dramatic as this college campus incident. It got there because CNN set the stage in student minds that they are the place to report news. They worked hard and the results indicate a good effort is well rewarded.

The real question is … how will your news organization use cell phone video?

The option to ignore cell phone video is even riskier now that CNN i-Reports can reach into any event, any city, any place and any time.

We can help you catch the news or CNN will take the stage in your market.