UK ISPs, including Tiscali, BT and Carphone Warehouse, are warning that they may “pull the plug” on the BBC’s new iPlayer, a new Windows Internet video player, because of its potential to eat up Internet bandwidth. They’re threatening to block the player or throttle bandwidth for users unless the BBC gives the ISPs a cut of the revenue.

The iPlayer is designed to let users watch BBC programming from the last seven days, without charge.

“The potential for iPlayer to suck up capacity is a concern and we need a better dialogue with the BBC about that,” said a spokeswoman for Tiscali.

“It is certainly a live debate between ISPs [internet service providers] and the BBC,” according to a senior insider at BT. “If the BBC gets the numbers it wants for iPlayer then network capacity could become an issue.”

via The Independent

There’s been a lot of blog discussion, recently, about podcasting startup PodTech and its struggles to become profitable. The company is burning through cash to support 38 employees and high-rent office space in Palo Alto, but has failed to create any breakout Internet TV franchises.

CenterNetworks’ Allen Stern offers Five Suggestions to Improve PodTech:

• Update The Web Site Design/Layout
• Use Big Names From Blogging To Brand Shows
• Upgrade The PodTech Player
• Bring the Corporate Shows to Life
• Ignore the Haters

While Allen’s suggestions may have some merit, they miss the bottom line: PodTech is betting its future on Jason Calacanis’ over Cali Lewis.

Here’s an example of the type of content that PodTech that PodTech is burning through millions creating, the current episode of Calacanis’ show CalacanisCast:

Meanwhile, PodShow, another podcasting network startup, is betting on content like GeekBrief with Cali Lewis, below. GeekBrief covers some of the same area as PodTech’s shows, but features a vivacious host, fast pacing and production that focuses on the meat of stories, letting you get the details from links in the show notes.

PodTech’s shows, like CalacanisCast, are niche content featuring blog-writing talent, presented with rudimentary production values. Should they be betting their company on this type of stuff?

“The network has about 20 shows they list on their website. Have you heard of any of them?” asks RocketBoom creator Andrew Baron. “They are mostly missing that important role of creating compelling content that will resonate with enough people to sustain and grow.”

The Financial Aid Podcast’s Christopher Penn has released a free .php script, the Podcaster iPhone Kit, that can be used to generate an iPhone-friendly page for your podcast.

Here’s how Penn describes the script:

This simple little web page parses your podcast’s XML feed and slaps it into a nice page designed to render well in Safari, which is the browser on which the iPhone operates. It also grabs your feed’s image and displays it as the icons.

Here’s an example, an iPhone-friendly page for the Financial Aid Podcast.

Podango’s¬†Scott Bourne has announced plans to form a new podcaster’s group, the Association of Podcasters & Online Media Producers (APOMP). The nascent group is a response to the recently announced¬†Association for Downloadable Media (ADM),¬†which some podcasters feel is too focused on commercial podcasting. ¬†

Bourne’s group¬†would like your input, and are asking podcasters to fill out an online survey.

“Our objective,” notes Bourne,¬†”is to gather information leading to the emergence of an industry association that is truly representational and inclusive of the blogging, podcasting and new media communities.”¬†

APOMP plans to publish the results of their survey next week.

MSNBC has announced that, after the live AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum has concluded, non-NBC media, blogs and Internet media may make unlimited use of the debate and excerpts, with appropriate credit to MSNBC, for the purpose of analyzing, reporting on, or commenting on the Forum.  While many would consider this fair use, MSNBC is making its position on reuse of this content clear.

Video of “The AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum” will stream live at MSNBC.com, and the full video of this and all MSNBC debates and forums will remain accessible free and on-demand at MSNBC.com through the end of the 2008 election cycle.

Earlier in the year, free-culture expert Lawrence Lessig called on the RNC & DNC to eliminate unnecessary regulation of political speech, encouraging them to ensure that debate footage could be used freely, with attribution. MSNBC has not gone as far as Lessig requested, limiting commercial reuse of the content.

MSNBC’s¬†announcement¬†helps level the playing field for bloggers and podcasters. If you’re a podcaster and want to include audio or video from the Candidates Forum in your podcast, here are the details….

Microsoft’s Zune has¬†failed to become an iPod-killer, but it may be a Zen-killer.

Creative Technology, which entered the digital music player market in 1999, is feeling the heat of increased competition between Apple and Microsoft for the protable media player market. The company has posted a wider fourth-quarter loss, and its shares fell to an 11-year low.

Microsoft failed to generate much interest in the Zune based on its features, so the company used price cuts to generate sales. Instead of cutting into Apple’s market, though, Microsoft has been stealing Creative’s sales.

Microsoft has “dropped prices to try and clear their stocks,” Craig McHugh, president of Creative’s U.S. unit. Some U.S. retailers offered rebates of as much as 20 percent for some Creative music players to boost sales, he said.

Universal Music Group plans to test selling digital music free of digital rights management (DRM)….but not through Apple’s iTunes music store.

Tracks from thousands of albums will be available for purchase on the recording artists’ Web sites and through several established online music retailers, but not iTunes.

“Clearly the handwriting is on the wall for DRM-protected content,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. “We are seeing more of the players fall as they recognize that it’s just a hassle for the consumer and doesn’t really help the piracy problem.”

By excluding iTunes from its test, Universal is looking to undermine Apple’s hold on the online music market, Gartenberg said.

“There’s no doubt these guys are poking a stick at Apple,” he said.

“Universal Music Group is committed to exploring new ways to expand the availability of our artists’ music online, while offering consumers the most choice in how and where they purchase and enjoy our music,” said Universal Music Chairman and CEO Doug Morris.

Universal plans to price DRM-free tracks the same as DRM’d tracks sold at iTunes. The question now is whether or not removing DRM is enough to lure people away from iTunes, the number one digital music service.

Internet television site Veoh has filed an action in Federal court against Universal Music Group (UMG), “to reinforce its rights as a copyright compliant company under the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).” Veoh is preemptively attacking Universal, according to the company, to “create a copyright friendly environment” for Internet video.

“It is unfortunate that UMG prefers to take actions that are designed to stifle innovation, shut down new markets and maintain the status quo instead of working to change and evolve models for today and the future,” said Steve Mitgang, CEO of Veoh Networks.

Traditionally-licensed music has been an ongoing issue for video sharing sites because of the common use of popular music within videos.

Veoh’s court action seeks a declaration that it has not infringed UMG’s copyrights, and that because Veoh complies with the copyright laws, it is entitled to safe harbor under the DMCA from any claims brought by UMG. The action does not seek payment from UMG for damages.

Apple introduced a completely rewritten iMovie in the iLife ’08 suite earlier this week. But, while the new iMovie streamlines production of simple videos, some users are also finding that Apple dropped their favorite features from iMovie HD, the previous version.

iMovie ’08 eliminates timeline-style editing, which can make it more difficult to do things like syncing video to audio. In our initial tests, we’ve also found that there are video cameras that worked with iMovie HD that are no longer compatible with the new version.

Fortunately, Apple feels your pain and has made iMovie HD available as a download. We’ve tested running both apps on one machine and it works fairly seamlessly.

Let’s hope that iMovie gets an update that combines the best of both apps, though. We’d like to see the timeline return, with¬†Garageband ’08 style sections. Let us know if you’ve got other wish list items for iMovie ’08.

USA Network announced today the network’s first independent digital media initiative, Didja.com¬†- a site that the network promises will be all ads.

According to USA Network, “Didja.com is a social networking destination that reinvents the commercial viewing experience by celebrating advertising as entertainment.”

According to us, they should have put something better on their site than search spam before they made their big announcement:

“Didja.com is the logical next step in the changing dynamic between consumers and advertisers,” said Bonnie Hammer, president, USA Network. “There’s no doubt that commercials are major drivers of pop culture – all you have to do is check out traffic on any video-sharing site. We want to own that watercooler conversation and become the go-to destination for on-demand advertising content.”

Ads, Ads And More Ads

According to Didja, the site will celebrate advertising content, inviting every brand, product and agency to submit their respective commercials. In addition, the initiative will offer a handful of charter sponsors the opportunity to be on the ground floor. Didja.com will serve as an innovative way for advertisers to interact with an audience that’s truly connected to their brands.

In order to be successful, Didja will need to do more than make bold promises. They’ll need to convince people to sign up to participate at a site that only offers advertisements. They’ll also need to convince advertisers that the site is worthy of attention, when established video destinations are already in place, with massive user bases.

Variety offers an upbeat look at Didja.

The site is due to launch early 2008.