Advocates for creating a comprehensive pubcasting on-demand audio/video service are trying their idea with a beta test launched last week. The Public Service Publisher concept dovetailed with the nonprofit Open Media Network, founded by Netscape vet Mike Homer.
The free online service aggregates pubTV and radio programs, movies and
podcasts at www.omn.org and makes all content searchable via a TV-style program
guide.
Users can download content to PCs and iPods and they’ll be able to
use TVs and cell phones by summer. Additional plans call for pay-content
capability
and an audience ranking and rating system.
Producers can contribute rights-cleared content for free for unlimited downloads, though publishers can dictate the terms of use via the delivery technology’s built-in digital rights management system.
Stations such as Boston’s WGBH, San Francisco’s KQED and KWSU in Pullman, Wash., are among the first pubcasters to contribute content.
Proponents
of Public Service Publisher include Dennis Haarsager, g.m. of KWSU and
Northwest Public Radio, and Hearts of Space producer Stephen Hill.
Web page
posted Dec. 19, 2005
Copyright 2005 by Current Publishing Committee