Krystian Woznicki on 9 Sep 2000 10:44:49 -0000 |
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[rohrpost] Pop.com's failure throws net broadcasting into doubt |
Hi, hier noch ein weiterer besorgter Artikel angesichts des Pop.com-Flops Gruss Krystian >Net broadcasting goes pop >By Christopher Grimes >Published: September 8 2000 18:31GMT | Last Updated: September 9 2000 00:32GMT > >The internet's potential to become the next visual entertainment medium >captured the imaginations of both Hollywood moguls and their would-be >counterparts in the dotcom world. >The new medium would offer cutting-edge films, hip animation and >irreverent broadcasting - all at the expense of the backwards-looking >establishment. And it would happen soon. >Such ideas have proved to be woefully premature, as shown by this week's >failure of Pop.com. The ambitious effort, backed by luminaries such as >Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, was formed in October with the aim of >producing original, internet-only programming. > >Less than a year later, Pop has decided to lay off most of its 80-strong >staff, having failed to strike a deal with rival iFilm last week. >Pop's failure has caused some to question the development of the internet >as a vehicle for visual narrative entertainment in the near future. After >all, if Mr Spielberg cannot make films on the web work, who can? >Pop was not the only online entertainment company to abandon efforts to >bring narrative video on to the web. Digital Entertainment Network, which >brazenly declared the end of the traditional TV business, went bust this >spring after spending about $50m. >Others are still trying, but with difficulty. Pseudo, a New York start-up, >laid off workers this year as part of a restructuring. More troubling, it >sent a large crew to Philadelphia to offer online coverage of the >Republican convention, but scaled back the effort at the Democratic >convention after failing to attract enough viewers. > >"The real issue with all of these sites is that the internet is not yet a >medium for narrative entertainment," says Michael Wolf, a media consultant >with Booz Allen & Hamilton in New York. "People are certainly going to >watch films and TV shows on the internet, but right now the quality of the >viewing experience is not great." >Pop may have also been crippled because it brought big-budget, Hollywood >ideals to a medium still in its home-movie infancy. "The skillset and the >budgets that are the norm in Hollywood don't translate to the internet," >Mr Wolf says. >Some young web companies that still believe in the medium's possibility >for delivering original film are taking a more scaled-back approach. Many >observers are betting that sites such as Icebox.com, Atomfilms and iFilm >ultimately will do more to define the medium than the Hollywood establishment. > >Icebox launched in June and has seen traffic double every month, thanks to >irreverent animated shows such as "Hard Drinkin' Lincoln", a series that >imagines the president as a bumbling boozehound. >Steve Stanford, Icebox's chief executive, says he is dismayed at the >market's impatience with the new medium. He says Dreamworks, the >mogul-backed company that launched Pop, did not have a hit film in its >first year. "Yet somehow people look at the web piece [of the company] and >they're inclined to pull the plug." >Mr Stanford has taken a bare-bones approach to entertainment on the web. >Realising that online video is jumpy, all of Icebox's shorts employ an >animation technique called Flash that is less taxing on a computer's >internet connection. Eventually, he sees using video on Icebox, but only >when technology improves. >In contrast to cash-burning ventures such as Digital Entertainment >Network, Icebox plans to "operate in a lean fashion", Mr Stanford says. >Still, the company has found the attention of the Showtime network, which >is expected to begin broadcasting an Icebox animated series called >"Starship Regulars" next year. > >Mr Stanford is hoping the slow-and-steady approach will lead to success. >"It's all about being able to be around long enough for this business to >evolve." Ausserdem: Mit Björk im Bitstream http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/musik/3569/1.html Pop goes Spielberg http://www.independent.co.uk/news/Digital/Update/2000-09/popcom080900.shtml ---------------------------------------------------------- # rohrpost -- deutschsprachige Mailingliste fuer Medien- und Netzkultur # Info: majordomo@mikrolisten.de; msg: info rohrpost # kommerzielle Verwertung nur mit Erlaubnis der AutorInnen # Entsubskribieren: majordomo@mikrolisten.de, msg: unsubscribe rohrpost # Kontakt: owner-rohrpost@mikrolisten.de -- http://www.mikro.org/rohrpost