Google has said it will not compete with broadcasters for the rights to show live sporting events.

 This means that its recent announcement of an agreement with the Indian Premier League to stream live matches via YouTube is likely to be a one-off.

Eric Schmidt was reported by Marketing magazine as saying that the IPL deal did not mean the company intended challenging free or pay TV channels for exclusive rights to broadcast major sporting events.

The announcement came days after Google launched its Smart TV platform, which provides a means for people to search for online content via their televisions.

Schmidt told Marketing: “We’re not trying to become an exclusive content provider (but) will seek to partner broadcasters rather than compete with them.”

His comments pour cold water on suggestions that Google was seeking to establish YouTube as a major player in live sports broadcasting.

Its deal with the Indian Premier League covers two seasons, including the one recently finished. The coverage helped YouTube achieve record audience figures of 17.2million for March. Significant extra sponsorship was agreed for the IPL coverage.

But Schmidt insisted Google was not aiming to become a content provider in its own right: “YouTube provides a platform for other people’s content,” he added. “Our strategy is to take this content and continue to monetise it through advertising.”

Smart TV is the latest vehicle through which Google hopes to achieve this. It was shown to a conference of developers in mid-May, and combines Google’s search facility with live TV programming and DVR content to produce a list of results from which individual options can be chosen at the push of a button.

Sony is working alongside Google to produce the first TVs with on-board Smart TV, and it hopes to have the first models on sale in time for Christmas. It has not yet decided whether the TVs, which are expected to carry Intel chips, will be sold elsewhere.

Logitech is also working on a device which will channel Google TV through existing high-def televisions.

“Video should be consumed on the biggest, best and brightest screen in the house. And that’s a TV. It’s not a PC or a phone or anything else in between,” Google project senior product manager Rishi Chandra told Reuters.

Brits watched 5.5 billion videos online during February 2010, resulting in a 37 per cent increase from the previous year.

Thanks to the popularity of Google-owned video site YouTube, the US search giant attracted the most viewers, who watched a total of 2.5 billion clips in February. The BBC was the second most popular site, bringing in 140 million viewers – an increase of 143 per cent on 2009 figures.

The data was compiled by comScore’s Video Metrix service, which also revealed that Facebook had seen the most rapid rise in popularity with a 205 per cent jump in videos viewed over the past 12 months to 43 million.

The growing popularity of online video content has not been lost on digital advertisers and February’s figures are likely to further bolster its growing reputation.

Mike Read, managing director of comScore Europe, said: “The U.K. online video market continues to soar and is attracting a greater and greater share of Internet users’ attention.

“In particular, we’ve seen eyeballs move towards the online channel to watch more long-form, professional video content, such as popular broadcast network TV shows.

“This trend presents a significant opportunity to advertisers, as comScore research has consistently shown that online video advertising is effective at building brands.”

News home

It’s easier than ever for TV addicts to get the fix of whatever programmes they’re crazy for, but new research suggests that general awareness of video-on-demand services available online has still not taken off as its proponents would have hoped.

A vox pop carried out for the marketing trend-watchers at Brand Republic magazine suggests that people know little about what is available and where it can be viewed.

The main exception to this was the BBC iPlayer, which was cited by most as the online TV service with which they were most familiar, while the similar catch-up services offered by ITV and Sky did not register such wide recognition.

The news was even worse for Channel 4, whose 4oD service was not mentioned by a single respondent, despite the Channel’s heavy plugging of the facility in its programme trails and online.

Complaints about the viewing quality of the on-demand services available were widespread, with slow streaming blamed for disrupting several people’s attempts to tune into TV shows online.

There was also resistance to pre-roll advertising, which was described by one of those surveyed, a 24-year-old woman, as “annoying”.

Omnifone, the digital music service provider, has said that it will make its MusicStation offering available to all mobile handsets running on Google Inc's Android operating platform, reports Reuters.

Omnifone, which already provides its service to the likes of British pay TV company BSkyB and Vodafone, previewed its service on the Google Nexus One and HTC handsets at the Mobile World Congress industry event in Barcelona.

MusicStation for Android offers all users on the Android platform immediate access to a catalogue of more than 6.5 million tracks, with additional features such as search and discovery systems, social networking aspects and news updates.

“Omnifone is delighted to be able to deliver the richest and most sophisticated music capability on mobile, and one that will work effortlessly on any manufacturer’s Android device,” Omnifone Chief Executive Rob Lewis said.

Mobile operators and handset makers have all started to offer music services in a bid to increase customer loyalty and grow revenues. 

Omnifone, the digital music service provider, has said that it will make its MusicStation offering available to all mobile handsets running on Google Inc’s Android operating platform, reports Reuters.

Omnifone, which already provides its service to the likes of British pay TV company BSkyB and Vodafone, previewed its service on the Google Nexus One and HTC handsets at the Mobile World Congress industry event in Barcelona.

MusicStation for Android offers all users on the Android platform immediate access to a catalogue of more than 6.5 million tracks, with additional features such as search and discovery systems, social networking aspects and news updates.

“Omnifone is delighted to be able to deliver the richest and most sophisticated music capability on mobile, and one that will work effortlessly on any manufacturer’s Android device,” Omnifone Chief Executive Rob Lewis said.

Mobile operators and handset makers have all started to offer music services in a bid to increase customer loyalty and grow revenues.

The "what price would you pay for your music?" debate has taken another twist following Warner Music's decision to stop licensing its songs to free music streaming services.

This means users of services including Spotify, We7 and Last.fm will be blocked from getting free content from many major artists, including REM, Green Day and Muse.

Warner’s reason for the move was that such services were “not positive for the industry”.

Spotify has seven million users in six European countries and is in negotiations to launch in the US.

Ninety-five per cent of those fans use its free service, hearing adverts between songs, while 250,000 pay a monthly fee to get it on a mobile and with no ads.

Two-and-a-half million people use We7′s free offering, while Last.fm is also free in the US and UK.

Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr said: “Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed.

“The ‘get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price’ strategy is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future,” he told the BBC.

It is not clear whether Warner will remove its music from existing services or decline to do deals with new outlets.

Bronfman said the focus would be on promoting paid-for streaming services, which he said could appeal beyond those who currently pay for downloads in stores such as Apple’s iTunes.

“The number of potential subscribers dwarfs the number of people who are actually purchasing music on iTunes,” Mr Bronfman said.

Fans could pay a monthly fee direct to a streaming service, as with Spotify, or get access to the music as part of a deal for a mobile phone, broadband connection or another gadget.

The main legal streaming services have deals with most major and independent record labels and pay royalties for each song played.

But the amount is far less than a label would earn if that song was downloaded or if they got a slice of a listener’s monthly subscription.

Mr Bronfman’s comments come just weeks after another major label, Universal, said Spotify was well on the way to proving its commercial viability.

“Spotify is a very sustainable financial model – full stop,” Rob Wells, senior vice president of Universal Music Group International, said in January.

A Spotify spokesman told the BBC: “We would like to make it very clear that WMG is not pulling out of its current agreement with Spotify in Europe”.

Jon Webster, chief executive of the UK’s Music Managers’ Forum, which represents artist managers, said the industry must support services that tempt fans away from piracy.

“Anything that’s going backwards is denying where the world’s going,” he said.

“New media has to give the consumer what they want and the consumer is in a world where they want things right here, right now – and if you don’t give it to them, they’ll steal it.”

We7, a UK-based streaming music service, has announced it is to launch a new subscription package.

The company plans to offer a membership deal which will allow users access to over four million songs for £4.99 a month, with no interruptions from adverts. Its plan is to claim market share from Swedish rival Spotify, which runs a similar online service.

We7′s new premium service is due to launch on February 1 with an introductory price of £3.99. However, users who want to be able to access their advert-free music on the move via a smartphone, will be able to take out a second level of subscription.

For £9.99 a month you will be able to download songs to a device so they are available offline, for times when you’re not able to connect to 3G or Wi-Fi. Spotify already offers this feature, which is also priced at £9.99.

We7 said it is currently waiting for its iPhone app to be accepted by Apple before launching the Premium Plus service.

Steve Purdham, chief executive of We7, said: “We’ve come a long way in the last 12 months. Type the generic term music into Google in the UK and you get 1.6 billion entries and we7 is the number one result. Not bad for an ambitious UK business.

“The new premium services are about choice for the consumer, in the new digital music economy there is no single business model that fits all, that is why we give consumers the ability to listen to great music how they want, where they want and at a price they are prepared to pay.”

A former semi-professional footballer has attempted to set the world record for the longest online advert ever.

David Sheath spent four days, two hours and two minutes painting a brand new white Fiat 500 with pink nail polish.

According to the World Records Academy, he used a total of 131 bottles of nail varnish during the task, which was filmed in a studio in South London and broadcast in a continuous feed over the internet.

The publicity stunt, which aims to promote a limited edition Fiat 500 model, has yet to be confirmed by Guinness as a world record.

The car comes in shocking pink is available exclusively online with an on the road price of £11,700.

MySpace, the social networking site which has helped many British bands and artists kickstart a music career, is now set to help them get paid.

The site, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp group, has signed a deal with SoundExchange, an organisation which aims to unite artists with unpaid royalties.

According to a report by AFP, MySpace intends to help find around 25,000 artists who are owed in excess of US$14 million.

Speaking from Cannes, France, at the MIDEM conference for music industry professionals, MySpace CEO, Owen van Natta, said the money would be put into escrow while the search for artists continues.

MySpace has proved to be an effective tool for unsigned artists and has been used as a springboard by the likes of Lily Allen and the Arctic Monkeys. It’s hoped the new deal will prove to be an effective way of contacting artists who are registered with MySpace but not with SoundExchange.

Bryan Calhoun, SoundExchange senior executive, said: “It can be a challenge notifying and convincing artists to register with SoundExchange because they don’t know they’re entitled to these royalties, or believe it’s too good to be true.”

VEVO, a new music video-on-demand service initially operating in the United States only, recorded more than 35 million unique visitors in its first month, according to online data monitor comScore.

The amazing success of the site, co-owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media Company and powered by YouTube, saw it shoot straight to the top of the comScore rankings in the music category.  

“We are thrilled that the VEVO Network, which is still in its infancy, has debuted at the top of the comScore rankings for unique visitors across the Entertainment-Music category in the US,” said Rio Caraeff, President and CEO of VEVO.

Music videos from artists such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Jay Sean, Shakira, Britney Spears and Taylor Swift appear on the site. Its launch in December 2009 was marked by a live broadcast from a Manhattan, New York outdoor clothing store featuring Wyclef Jean.

“The interest and enthusiasm our users have shown has been both gratifying and inspiring,” added Caraeff.

The rest of the comScore top five in the entertainment-music category comprised MySpace Music, AOL Music, Warner Music and MTV Networks Music.

The service is not currently available in the UK, but an announcement posted on the VEVO Blog early in 2010 said: “We’ve seen a lot of comments from fans who are upset about not being able to access VEVO in their country, although some of our videos on YouTube are available around the world, depending on the rights we have for each video.

“We are striving to release VEVO in more countries, and will announce it right here the moment that we are live. The reason we can’t just release everything to the whole world right now (even though we would love to!) is that we have to make sure that we are properly licensed in each territory for the best videos that represent both global and local tastes and that we have the infrastructure in place to operate our business.

“Rest assured that VEVO will have an increasingly global presence. Our goal is to provide music videos in high quality to as many people as we can.”

The BBC's highly successful 'on demand catch-up' service, iPlayer, is to expand its reach substantially when the corporation makes it available through Freesat high-definition digital boxes and high-definition TVs.

The move follows a successful three-month trial which involved 300 viewers whose homes were equipped with a Humax Freesat set-top box.

It will make the BBC the first broadcaster to provide subscription-free catch-up services for both itself and its commercial rival, ITV, without viewers needing to buy new equipment.

Media Week reported that Emma Scott, managing director of Freesat, said feedback from the trial had been “really positive”, and resulted in many people accessing the iPlayer service through their televisions for the first time.

Freesat‘s website has detailed instructions about the service which include a video to help viewers to set up the player.

BBC iPlayer launched on computers on Christmas Day 2007. It is now available on more than 20 devices, including TV services, games consoles and mobile phones, and receives more than 80 million programme requests per month.

The on-demand service allows UK audiences to catch up with BBC content broadcast over the previous seven days. Audiences have a choice of streaming or downloading their chosen programme and, with series catch-up, entire seasons of selected programmes can be viewed.

Last year, the BBC’s motoring show ‘Top Gear’ was the most-watched TV programme of the year on the iPlayer.

Last month, the BBC Trust gave its provisional approval for the corporation’s involvement in the joint industry venture Project Canvas, which aims to bring multiple VoD services to Freeview and Freesat.

The joint project, which counts the BBC, BT, Five, ITV, Channel 4 and TalkTalk as partners, aims to promote a common technology standard that would allow viewers with a broadband connection to watch on-demand services on their TV sets.