Wednesday, November 07, 2007

To sell a format

Now, the television business is not an easy one. Lots of money moving around, for sure. But to break into that flow of money is more of a challenge.

When selling a television format, most buyers would like to see an episode, or even better, a whole series. They also like ratings and reviews - ratings (if high enough) a lot more than reviews, as a matter of fact.

That's why I lift my hat when reading todays news that Armoza Formats of Israel have sold their format "Revenge of the Geeks" to the US, UK, Holland, Poland and several other territorier, although the series have still to premiere in Israel (which it will do in November). Well done lads - you must've had a great format, and a helluva pitch :)

Now I just have to do that as well... :)

Monday, November 05, 2007

Miro challenging Joost, Babelgum et al

New kid on the block, Miro, is trying to challenge Joost, Babelgum and the rest of the bunch with its slightly different take on things. See. Miro is first of all an Open Source internet television app, formerly known by the much-less-savvy name "Democracy Player" (I mean, that's NOT a selling name, Miro ftw!). It also has some other nifty features, and a whole different look to it.

It's campaining with the actual tagline "Better than Joost" - pointing out that they have 2.500 unrestricted channels, loadsa HD material and are open source. Valid points, all of them.

The thing that makes Miro stand out in a positive (albeit probably fairly illegal) way from the rest of the pack is the possibility to subscribe to RSS-feeds of favourite tv shows. Just grab the RSS feed from somewhere, set up a channel on Miro and the app will take care of the rest, providing you with a new episode every time one is available. For a users guide, check out this CNet article.

My 2 cents would be that Miro will work as a good partner to Joost. It can get to stuff that Joost can't, and it can do it with a minimum of hassle. To just watch something - without really knowing what to be looking for, just killing time - Joost is still better. Also Miro crashed a couple of times on my laptop, whereas Joost has been running faultlessly for the past year - might just be me, but the feeling I get is a little bit unsteady.

Miro - try it out! Just don't get caught :)

This is where you would've seen a picture of a show on Miro, but alas! you only get to see the app itself. Oh joy, oh rapture.