In the context of MIPCOM 2008's Broadband Video Summit, Erik Huggers, the BBC's director of future media and technology, spoke to journalist Kate Bulkley. He notably revealed a kids' iPlayer was in the pipeline.

This video and more in the MIP Review, MIPCOM edition, now online!

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YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley addressed the audiovisual content industry at MIPCOM, October 15, 2008. He urged delegates to embrace change, rather than fear it.


This video and more in the MIP Review, MIPCOM edition, now online!

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Actor Jude Law and director Jeremy Gilley were at MIPCOM in Cannes (0ct 13-17, 20008) to promote The Day After Peace, Gilley's documentary which Law helped come about. Here the pair talk to C21Media's C21 TV about this original project. ...

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The key to getting online video into the living room is industry acceptance of an open-standard set-top box, Erik Huggers, director of future media and technology at the BBC, said during his Big Interview at the Broadband Video Summit yesterday.

"The notion of the internet reaching PCs, Macs, Linux devices and increasingly mobile devices is fantastic news for all rights owners," he said. "The same thing is happening in the living room. The question is: Can there be an open IPTV standard that device makers adopt to enable a direct-to-consumer delivery of on-demand content in ...

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YouTube founder and CEO Chad Hurley introduced MIPCOM delegates yesterday to the four Rs: reach, research, revenue and rights management.

Giving his Broadband Video keynote, he said that YouTube’s rapid evolution demonstrated its ability to deliver on all of those. With 13 hours of video being uploaded on to the site every minute – equivalent to Hollywood releasing 57,000 movies a week – and hundreds of millions of users every week, there was no doubt about YouTube’s ability to enable content owners to reach new audiences, he said.

Media companies were also able to use ...

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Starz Media and Electronic Arts (EA) have joined forces to create a full-length animated movie prequel based on Dead Space, EA’s space horror computer game.

Downfall picks up the plot where the original comic-book series ends and leads up to the Dead Space game.

“This is a completely new departure for EA,” said Glen Schofield, the game developer’s vice-president and executive producer.

“First and foremost we are a creative company that makes games. When we devised the story for Dead Space we quickly realised that the story we had created was far ...

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The BBC’s motoring show Top Gear showed no sign of slowing down this week, after BBC Worldwide licensed the format to Russia.

MIR Reality Production, which is to produce the Russian version, is currently looking for three local presenters for 15 adrenalin-fuelled episodes. The show is destined for the private federal broadcaster REN TV.

Anton Nazaro, director of communications at REN TV, said: “The UK version of Top Gear has already proved its popularity in Russia and we think a local version will make a big impact. We are looking forward to working closely ...

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Left to right: Henson's Peter Schube, Discovery Kids Latin America's Bilai Joa Silar and Henson's John Hyde and Sam Ewing

The Jim Henson Company has sold its newest pre-school animated show to Discovery Kids Latin America and a trio of Canadian public broadcasters.

TVO, SCN-Saskatchewan and British Columbia's Knowledge join Latin America's largest children's channel in picking up Sid The Science Kid (40 x 30 mins), a computer animation that combines modern theories of teaching science with music, fun and an inquisitive central character.

"The response at MIPCOM has been great, and ...

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Award-winning producers Richard Taylor, of New Zealand's Weta Workshop (left), and Keith Chapman, of Chapman Entertainment, have joined forces on a new kids’ action-adventure series, Trooper Tom (26 x 22 mins), aimed at boys aged six to nine.

"Boys of this age are moving away from television," Chapman said. "Trooper Tom and his friends – and the Strike Pods that they fly on their missions – will catch their imaginations, just as Thunderbirds caught ours."

Taylor added: "We're developing Trooper Tom as a cross-platform property with gaming that incorporates cinematic-quality CGI." The lead female ...

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This year saw the launch of a new initiative to get content-makers involved in filming events at MIPCOM and Toronto-based film-maker Mark Terry of Polar Cap Productions (centre, with his crew) was one of eight directors to be asked to direct a film based on this year's Opening Night Party.

"I was stunned, but equally thrilled at the honour of being chosen to represent my country among some of the world's greatest film-makers at such an internationally prestigious event," Terry said. The theme of the event was creativity.

Each ...

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