AOL to Launch New Video Portal

MEDIA CENTER PC NEWS

August 1st 2006

UK visitors click here to buy

AOL today announced that it will preview a beta version of its new AOL Video portal later this week.

Available for free to anyone on the Web at http://www.aolvideo.com, the new AOL Video is an all-in-one, high-quality entertainment destination to find, watch and share millions of the best videos across the Web.

New features on the AOL Video portal include: over 45 new video-on-demand content channels with thousands of hours of video programming from popular entertainment brands, organized and accessible via video search, browse, or an interactive programming guide; free streaming content as well as the ability to purchase and download full-length content that can be viewed on multiple devices and PCs, online or offline; and access to millions of music videos, news clips, movie trailers, full length TV shows, and more.

AOL Video also includes AOL Video Search, which is based on industry leading video search technology from Truveo and Singingfish, and a video player that can go full screen without losing picture quality and that supports AOL’s exclusive Hi-Q video format to watch DVD-quality videos online.

In addition, the portal includes AOL’s new UnCut Video offering, which makes it easy to upload and share videos online by providing full device support, letting consumers upload and share videos directly from their camcorder, Webcam, video-enabled mobile phone, as well as their PC.

"AOL has long been a leader in online video and with the new AOL Video portal we have created the best and easiest place online for anyone on the Web to find, watch and share the videos they’re looking for," said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of AOL. "From originally produced and licensed programming to branded online video-on-demand channels to user-created videos that people create, upload and share on the Web themselves, AOL Video is truly the first one-stop source that brings the best videos on the Web together in one place and gives consumers more choice. If a video is out there, you’ll find it here on AOL Video.com."

At the center of the AOL Video portal’s main page will be one of the Web’s first online interactive programming guides (IPG) that brings together free and download-to-own video content from across broadcast and cable television and the Web and organizes it into new, branded video-on-demand channels.

At launch, the AOL Video IPG will feature paid and ad-supported content on more than 45 video-on-demand channels, including many programmed by new video content partners, including: A&E Television Networks (including A&E Network, The History Channel and The Biography Channel), Comedy Time, Endemol USA, Expo TV, LIME, MTV Networks (including COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, The N, Nick at Nite, Spike TV, TV Land and VH1), National Lampoon, Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc., SORPRESA!, South Coast Golf, TBS, TNT, TotalVid, TV Guide, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Wild America and WNBA.

In addition, AOL and its joint venture partners program a variety of additional channels including: In2TV(TM), TMZ.com(TM), Lat34.com, AOL Uncut Video, AOL Music, AOL News, AOL Coaches, AOL Television, AOL Viral Videos, KOL and Moviefone. New video channels and programming from additional partners will be added on an ongoing basis. A complete list and descriptions of channels available at launch is included at the end of the press release.

AOL’s video search engine will be prominently featured on the new portal. AOL Video Search returns results from all of the most active video sources on the Internet, including YouTube, Yahoo! (Yahoo Music, Yahoo News, Yahoo Movies, etc.), Google Video, iFilm, AtomFilms and more. Powered by AOL’s Truveo and Singingfish technologies, the AOL Video Search engine is also able to crawl and index high-quality videos on the Web that traditional search engines are unable to find. AOL’s unique "Visual Crawling" capability automatically discovers video files and related information on complex, dynamic web pages - a task that is a challenge for conventional crawling technologies.

AOL Video Search also has significantly greater reach than any other video search engine on the Web. Through its network of search properties - which includes AOL Search, InfoSpace, Real, and others - AOL Video Search, branded and white-labeled, is available to more users than any other video search product.

AOL Video is built on an open technology platform and architecture that will enable AOL to extend the AOL Video experience across platforms and devices to make it easy for users to watch it on multiple screens, including desktops, laptops, large screens (plasma), and handheld devices.

Earlier this year AOL and Intel Corporation announced a joint effort to extend a tailored version of the AOL Video experience to consumers’ living rooms via Intel Viiv technology-based PCs. The companies plan to launch this new "10-foot" experience in the coming weeks, making the content easily viewable on large screen TVs and other devices.

This fall, AOL plans to make available Open APIs that will enable developers to incorporate AOL’s leading Video Search results into third-party user experiences, as well as other tools that will enable developers and consumers to incorporate features from the AOL Video portal for other websites. In addition, AOL is working with PC OEMs and broadband service providers to develop co-branded versions of the AOL Video portal.

The launch of the new AOL Video.com is another example of how AOL has been building upon its online video and video search strategy, including making key acquisitions. Over the last year, these initiatives have included:

* The record-breaking global online broadcast of the "Live 8" concerts;

* Last year’s launch of its innovative Video Hub destination on AOL.com;

* The launch of high-quality video playback through AOL’s exclusive Hi-Q(TM) video format - AOL.com was the first major portal to offer high-/DVD-quality videos;

* Landmark content and original programming agreements that exemplify how AOL is creating a new model for television distribution, such as the Warner Bros. "In2TV" offering, the first on-demand Broadband Television Network with the largest collection of free TV programming anywhere on the Web;

* The launch of TMZ.com, the AOL-Telepictures new, on-demand entertainment news network;

* AOL’s acquisition of the two foremost video search companies; Truveo in December 2005, a complement to the acquisition of Singingfish in 2003;

* A growing index of several million videos, including the most comprehensive coverage of some of the highest quality and most popular video on the Web;

* AOL’s investment in and partnership with Brightcove, a Web video distribution pioneer; and

* AOL’s acquisition of Lightningcast, a broadband video advertising innovator.

The enhanced AOL Video portal (http://www.aolvideo.com) will be available for beta testing starting later this week. For more information on the beta test, please visit http://www.aolvideo.com, or AOL Beta Central at http://beta.aol.com.

Add to your favourites

<- What's this?