BPN 1005 Dutch public broadcast videos available

The public broadcast companies NOS and a BNN offer now the opportunity to copy videos to the personal Hyves.nl pages. The NOS offers already feeds to sites and blogs. Copying NOS and BNN videos to a Hyves.nl profile, internet sites and blogs will be just as easy copying YouTube videos. The NOS now offers items from the news programs; the NOS has now applied micro-chunking to their news and broadcasts, so that specific items can be selected. Also BNN offers videos through the digital channel 101.tv.

Now users can add fragments to Hyves.nl pages concerned with specific programs from BNN or news or sports items to a Hyves.nl profile of a user. At the same time Hyves.nl users can start to broadcast with their mobile phone, as the site allows for example software from Livecastr.

The move of NOS was announced in November in an iMMovator cross-media café. It has some likeness with the move of the BBC, which offers also video fragments to users. But there are some differences with BBC and there are some unsolved questions.

The NOS offers actual news and sports items and items of the short term archive Program missed?. It does not offer any long term historical items. These video items are archived by the Institute of Image and Sound. In order to get a 3 minute item of 1980, the item can be retrieved by any internet user on a public database, but then a long way of negotiating starts. The item might still be on nitrate film and has then to be converted to a digital format. But before this is possible, permission is needed from the news staff. Once that is given and the conversion has been done, you will have to pay about 600 euro for the 3 minute item in order to show it on a site. It is not possible to make an embedded link to that particular video.

BBC has clearly limited the opportunity to use embedded video or a requested video to users in the UK. They have paid for the television license and can use it. I have not seen any country restrictions on the use of embedded video fragments. I will have to ask one of my tech savvy friends outside the Netherlands to try it out.

The public television allows now embedded video links. Of course the question rises again, whether money can be claimed by collecting societies for neighbouring rights or for art work rights. When a news item deals with a special concert like the Lohengrin concert opera a week ago, the collecting society for neighbouring rights can claim that embedded links are new publications. Or when someone gives an interview in front of a famous contemporary painting a collecting society for art work protection will send an invoice. I wonder when the first invoice will be on the doormat of a blogger, if only to start a test case.

At last NOS starts to experiment. It will be interesting to see how long it will take them to offer historical items.

Blog Posting Number: 1005

Tags: copyright, embedded link

Wegener part of Mecom now

The acquisition of the Dutch newspaper company Royal Wegener by the British Mecom Group Plc is definite. Mecom has picked up 86,56 percent of the Wegener shares. The parties have announced that Mecom declares its recommended public offer for all issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the share capital of Wegener unconditional. Mecom has decided not to announce a subsequent tender period for the outstanding shares. Mecom offered 800 million euro for Wegener. Mecom offered 17,70 euro per Wegenere share or 14,29 Mecom shares per Wegener share.

This ends the period for shareholders to hand in their shares and agree with the acquisition. As after the official period, there was more than 75 percent of the shares handed in, but not 95 percent, the period was extended. De facto Wegener is now part of the Mecom Group. Mecom has decided that there is no subsequent tender period for the shareholders who did not hand in their shares.

During the tender period Wegener shareholder Governance for Owners llp (GO) indicated that it did not agree with the offer. It looked for other parties of disgruntled shareholders. In September GO indicated that it was talking to those parties. But apparently they have been unable to convince them to withhold converting their shares. GO possessed a package of 13,3 percent of Wegener shares. Mecom will be able to smoke out GO.

In the meantime the acquisition has received the seal of approval from the Dutch monopoly watch dog NMa. The authority has agreed with the acquisition under the condition that Mecom will divest the majority of the free broadsheet newspapers group De Trompetter. These newspapers are delivered door to door in the South of the Netherlands. The NMa judged that especially in Limburg competition in the advertisement market was needed. Now a part of the Media Group Limburg will have to be sold, most likely to regional competitors such the German newspaper company Aachener Verlag or the Belgian publisher Concentra.

The acquisition has yielded unrest especially among the employees of the Brabant newspapers. Presently there are three newspapers (BN/DeStem, Brabants Dagblad en Eindhovens Dagblad) being produced in that province.. Mecom CEO David Montgomery is of the conviction that a regional newspaper can be produced by 75 employees. The Branbat newspapers exceed this norm.

Mecom sees this acquisition as another piece of the European continental puzzle. It has already regional newspapers in Germany, Poland, Denmark and Norway. By acquiring Wegener it covers a large part of the Netherlands.

Blog Posting Number: 909

Tags: newspapers

Second Life: a flight from First Life

I am a veteran in multimedia of 62 years and text oriented. When I see all the rumour around Second Life, I wonder whether I should study it better or even dive into it, like I did with blogs; but blogs are text-oriented and not part of the visual culture.

Today I read about the Dutch Protestant university, De Vrije Universiteit (VU), in Amsterdam having created a virtual department in Second Life. (The angel in the drawing below is - of course - not part of their site). The university researches the opportunities to teach and do research there. This looks logical as Second life unites students and teachers into a learning community.


Of course we had had companies toppling over each other in order be present in Second Life. The Dutch ABN Amro bank has a virtual branch in Second Life, while its competitor ING Bank will enter Second Life in the company of partners such as Rivers Run Red creating Our Virtual Holland (uncommon nationalism for Dutch people). Philips opened a concept store. Dutch Internet bureaus like Evident, IN10 and Tam Tam are present in Second Life and Evident went out to recruit new employees. Also media companies have created their virtual spot. The Dutch youth broadcaster BNN opened a hang-out. Talpa Digital opened Dropzone.

I am wondering about the hype. It is a very small group of people visiting Second Life and yet even stock quoted companies put a lot of money in a virtual space. ABN Amro bank said that they had every day some 80 people passing by. Endemol had in Big Brother only 6 people passing by. ABN Amro is getting realistic about Second Life as it notes that people passing by are disappointed when they notice that they can not bank in real time or with Linden dollars.

So is it only a hype? I am reminded of the son of a neighbour who created his own worlds. He drew maps, built houses, developed a language and designed a political system. Since he has become a nuclear scientist, he no longer is busy with the virtual world. Will we see the same thing happening in the development of Second Life. Will there be the next interesting thing overpowering this virtual world?

I see Second Life as part of the change in communication, from text into the visual culture of graphics, animation, photographs and movies. This means that veterans like me will have to get used to visuals. So Second Life is and island for the next generation. So do not trust companies like ABN Amro and ING Bank getting into this virtual world. They enter the virtual world to experiment with business; when they notice that there is no business, they will leave the virtual offices. Second Life has also good aspects too. It is a source for gaming, creativity and co-creation.

But also the aura around the hype site is tarnished by attitudes from First Life. A few days ago, the Dutch news broadcasts drew attention to the paedophile sites in Second Life. Paedophiles can design their own victims and take them; of course, for money.

I am still lurking at Second Life and questioning whether Second Life is a flight of First Life.

Blog Posting Number: 674

Tags: virtual world, second life