GOOGLE is teaming up with MEDIA RIGHTS CAPITAL to distribute free ad-supported video content. MRC talent will produce short videos that contain paid product placement and advertising. The content will then be spread across the web via the Google AdSense network. The two companies will split all advertising revenue.
SPRINT unveiled its WiMax plans. The company will spend up to $5 billion by 2010 to build out the high-speed wireless network. The service will be called Xohm, and Sprint plans to make it available to 125 million customers in the next three years.
FACEBOOK debuted “Facebook Diaries,” a new weekly Internet TV series starring Facebook users. The show poses questions for users to answer in video form, and is a collaboration with Ziddio, the Comcast video-sharing site. Users will submit video responses to Ziddio, hoping to make it on the show. New episodes will be posted every Thursday.
NBC is rolling out a widespread VOD offering. The network plans to make the pilots of all four new fall shows available on-demand via Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, Cox, and other cable providers. DirecTV and DISH will also make the pilots available to customers. In exchange for the content, NBC will receive hundreds of local spots to promote the fall shows. The experiment begins on September 10, and will run for two weeks.
MTV NETWORKS will invest $500 million in video games over the next two years. Chairman and Chief Executive Judy McGrath said the company will be “building our games business across all of the brands in our portfolio.” The network has seen early success with games — with 42 million unique global users visiting one of its game-related site in June.