CANNES – Mohanad Yaqubi, a filmmaker with Idioms Film based in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, says he is trying to train young generations to use new technology like Canon 5D cameras and Final Cut Pro. Yaqubi says he tries to present stories that are different from those on the news. "We think we have a different story to tell, more than only the [...]

CANNES – Stevie is using social media to create a TV experience. Pulling content from Facebook, Twitter and online video, Stevie creates television about the user and his or her friends. Users log in to Facebook and Stevie pulls relevant information from social media feeds and turns it into a lineup of shows. Beet.TV spoke with Gil Rimon, founder of [...]

CANNES – Portal Entertainment, a UK-based digital entertainment company  focused on creating immersive content , launched Thrill Me, a discovery service for finding horror, thriller, mystery and suspense content based on users' facial expressions, this year at MIPTV. Beet.TV spoke with Julian McCrea, CEO and founder of Portal Entertainment in this video interview. In the UK alone, the average person spends [...]

CANNES – Zolmo, an entertainment company that focuses on emerging media and devices, has paired with Jamie Oliver to create a recipe-based app and with Canadian athlete Georges St-Pierre to create a fitness app. Beet.TV spoke with Ian Wharton, creative director of Zolmo, in this video interview at MIPTV. "We are absolutely just a mobile company," Wharton says. "It's just that we [...]

LAS VEGAS – Brightcove, a global provider of cloud content services, is trying to remove some of the complexity inherent in providing content to the breadth of devices available today, says Chris Johnston, VP of Digital Media at Brightcove, in an interview with Beet.TV "Seven years ago, the question was, 'How do I get video on the Internet at all?' That [...]

LAS VEGAS – KIT digital, a leading video software and services company, debuted 2Si, a suite of products for second screen, at NAB 2013. Beet.TV spoke with Alan Wolk, global lead analyst for KIT digital, in this video interview about the new app. At NAB, KIT digital showcased their social program guide which developed from two products already in the marketplace: [...]

With a global television network operation in place, Bloomberg News is using video clips from its  shows as well as Web-only videos to produce some 200 clips per day,  signaling a new "digital first" approach, says Chris Berend, executive producer and head of digital video at Bloomberg, in a video interview at Bloomberg headquarters with Beet.TV Berend says the digital desk aims [...]

The much anticipated convergence of television and digital video ad buying agencies is becoming the norm in the U.K. where media agencies have consolidated video and television buying operations — and where as much as 30 percent of television advertising is now being bought for digital devices.  These are some of the stories and trends we will discuss on Wednesday (4.24) [...]

LAS VEGAS – MPEG-DASH, an adaptive bitrate streaming technology that enables high-quality streaming via the Internet, received support from industry leaders such as Adobe, Microsoft and Qualcomm  at the DASH Industry Forum at NAB 2013. There, Beet.TV spoke with seven industry leaders for their take on what MPEG-DASH is doing for the industry and why they support it. "There have been [...]

Digitas, the global digital agency unit of Paris-based Publicis Groupe, is readying its annual  NewFront event on May 2.  The overarching theme this year is around "real-time marketing," says John McCarus, SVP, Practice Lead, Brand Content, in this interview with Beet.TV He says as video content and social media have come together there is an emerging opportunity for brands to become [...]

CANNES –  A comprehensive branded program involving digital video and events created for Intel by Vice won the "Brand of the Year" award at the MIPTV conference earlier this month.  For an overview on the program, called the "The Creators Project," we spoke with Vice's President Andrew Creighton.  In the interview, he speaks about the value of the campaign for Intel [...]

LAS VEGAS – To take advantage of the skyrocketing growth in Android devices, online video technology provider Ooyala recently launched a new video tool tailored for Android, says Sean Knapp, Chief Technology Officer at Ooyala during an interview with Beet.TV at NAB. Hook is a new video app that  brings premium video to Android devices. Hook relies on adaptive bitrate and live streaming [...]

CANNES – The greatest value in second-screen interactivity and TV Everywhere services lies in customer retention says Fabienne Fourquet, Director of Digital Content at Canal + in an interview with Beet.TV at MIPTV 2013. The French premium TV service offers second-screen services for its soccer games, for instance, and regularly draws more than 100,000 users each weekend, she tells us. "Second screen is important [...]

LAS VEGAS – Microsoft inked a deal with NBC Sports for its Windows Azure Media Services to handle live and on-demand streaming for NBC Sports' digital platforms as part of the tech giant's efforts to build out its content management platform. At the recent NAB show, Beet.TV caught up with Taras Bugir, Worldwide Managing Director, Media & Cable at Microsoft, for [...]

LAS VEGAS – The big news at NAB is about HEVC, a new compression format and successor to H.264, says Rovi's Thomas Kramer, VP of product management, in an interview with Beet. TV at NAB. This new video compression standard will improve the online video streaming by providing a better experience with the same internet connection. Already, there are HEVC services [...]

CANNES – Magine promises TV delivery without cable, over the Internet. The Stockholm-based company gives subscribers access to cloud-based TV service. Beet.TV interviewed Michael Werner, chairman of Magine, at MIPTV. "We have developed Magine into a fully-integrated TV service," Werner says. "We're meaning to replace your cable network." With Magine, watching television becomes a dynamic experience. In addition to watching live broadcasts, [...]

CANNES – Gruvi aims to develop tools that drive sales of entertainment content through social media, says Ben Johnson, founder of the social technology agency in this interview with Beet.TV. Today the Copenhagen-based company is working internationally with Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. along with smaller production companies throughout Europe to create more fiscally effective Facebook campaigns. Through a social widget that [...]

CANNES – Whether it be via cell phones, radio, Facebook or other websites, Melvin Alusa, director of Well Told Story, a multimedia communications project based in Kenya, says he found it effective to deliver his message to young people on platforms and devices where they already spend their time. "The way I perceive transmedia is just basically using different types of media to [...]

LAS VEGAS – HEVC technology, a successor to the H.264 video compression standard, will soon be available on DivX.com. Rovi's tri-fold plan aims to bring HEVC into the mainstream market. By making this compression standard readily available on DivX.com, consumers will be able access technology once reserved for professionals. Users can encode, decode and playback content in Rovi's DivX player. Professionals will be able [...]

CANNES — Second screen applications and technologies are becoming increasingly popular. ExMachina CEO Jeroen Elfferich says statistics are showing that up to 20 percent of television viewers will "gladly pick up a device and participate" if they are prompted to.  Beet.TV spoke with Elfferich at the MIPTV Conference in Cannes to find out more about the second screen arena and [...]