WB snubs Hulu, announces web video distribution plans
Just days after launching a private beta of its new online video portal, The WB has announced plans to expand its online video distribution network. Honestly, the whole thing sounds a lot like Hulu, the online video portal backed by NBC and FOX.
Here’s how it will work: You’ll be able to visit TheWB.com or TheKidsWB.com and watch full-length episodes of classic WB shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Gilmore Girls, or you’ll be able to find videos through a number of partners including DailyMotion, Sling Media, Veoh, TiVo, and Joost. The WB currently distributes some TV shows through Hulu, but not all of them.
It would have been nice if the WB had partnered with Hulu instead of competing with the web site. Fortunately, the distribution deals announced today mean that you don’t need to visit two separate sites to find the content you’re looking for. Some of the partner sites, including Veoh will have episodes from both Hulu and The WB, as well as selected content from CBS.
The new web channels will go live in mid-September. Or you can sign up for the private beta at TheWB.com.
TidalTV launches TV-like online video service
TidalTV is a web-based video service. But it doesn’t look anything like YouTube, Joost, or even Hulu. If anything, it looks like the service you get from your cable or satellite provider.
The TidalTV display is laid out like an electronic program guide with a video window in the corner. You can click on the video to bring up a full screen version. Or you can click on the program guide to flip channels. There’s also an on-demand section if you don’t want to watch the scheduled programming stream.
Of course, an online video site is only as good at its content. And while TidalTV doesn’t have as many prime time programs as NBC and Fox-backed Hulu, the site does have full length episodes from content partners including CBS, HGTV, National Geographic, TV Guide, The Weather Channel, DIY Network, The AP, and NBC News, among others.
[via ReadWriteWeb]
The Cheetah Girls Release First Studio Album
The Cheetah Girls Release First Studio Album
Adrienne Bailon, Sabrina Bryan and Kiely Williams, better known as The Cheetah Girls, may have been some of the reason for the success of High School Musical.
The Disney Channel darlings were birthed in 2003, along with “That’s So Raven” star Raven Symone. They starred in a made-for-TV movie based on Deborah Gregory’s books. And then insanity ensued.
After they saw how successful a made-for-TV-movie could be, Disney decided to take a chance on High School Musical, and struck gold twice. HSM broke all the records on it’s opening night.
The gauntlet had been thrown down, and the Cheetahs weren’t looking to play second fiddle to the HSM gang. So when the second Cheetah Girls movie garnered even higher ratings than their Disney peers, they were thrilled. The soundtrack even hit #5 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Now The Cheetah Girls have released “TCG” a full-length album of songs that are sure to tickle the ears of their pre and post-pubescent fans.
Victoria Beckham Loves Paris Fashion Week
Victoria Beckham Loves Paris Fashion Week
Victoria Beckham was joined by fellow fashionistas Claudia Schiffer and Dita Von Teese at the Roland Mouret Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2008 collection in Paris, France on Wednesday ( January 23).
The lovely ladies were all well dressed for the occasion, sporting eerily similar celebrity shades as they observed the models strutting about the runway.
According to Guardian Unlimited reports, “The collection was unmistakably Mouret: beautifully fitted, imaginatively detailed dresses and suits that were both show-stoppingly sexy and elegant and refined.”
After the show came to its end, “Beckham picked out the Kleber cocktail dress in primrose yellow double crepe, with an origami-pleated neckline and full-length zip at the back, as her favorite.”
“But it’s hard to pick,” Posh told press, adding, “because really I think I want them all.”