Firefox News -- Firefox.org - http://firefox.org/news
Video streaming sites increasingly in the news
http://firefox.org/news/articles/1978/1/Video-streaming-sites-increasingly-in-the-news/Page1.html
Phyl Good
 
By Phyl Good
Published on 09/23/2008
 

Crunchyroll.com will premier the first two episodes of Time of Eve in North America on October 2, while Joost and Hulu.com both add Death Note, early episodes of Naruto, and other anime content, Hulu.com in fact creating an entire new channel devoted exclusively to anime.
Crunchyroll, Joost, and Hulu all add new series

The Crunchyroll video-sharing website, in conjunction with the visual content management company, Directions, Inc., has announced today that it will premier the first two acts of the soft science fiction anime, Time of Eve (Eve no Jikan), in English and French, on October 2, 2008, in North America and Europe.

The first act of this anime, directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura and produced by Studio Rikka, had already steamed for free on a Japanese website in August, and Directions, Inc. arranged showings on Yahoo!Video (PC version) and through iPhone access, also in August. According to the Directions website, new episodes are set to be released every two months (six episodes total, of 15 minutes each), with free access lasting one month.

As of 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time on October 2, Crunchyroll will make the first two acts available via an advertising-supported streaming option, or through a download-to-own option. In addition, the site also plans a live question-and-answer session with Yoshiura himself in November of this year.

Meanwhile, the Joost video and social website has also added anime content, this from VIZ Media. The first 20 episodes of Naruto and the 37 episodes of Death Note, all English-subtitled, will join the already-posted VIZ series Blue Dragon, Zatch Bell!, and MAR. The site plans to add Bleach to its lineup as well, in the near future. Along with anime and cartoons from other producers such as FUNimation, GONG, and Sony, Joost offers broadcast quality content in countless genres, including sports, news, TV shows, culture, documentaries, etc.

A third site, the U.S.-only Hulu.com, also announced today that it too is following the streaming trend, launching a new channel devoted entirely to anime. Its first offerings are similar to Joost's, being the subtitled 20 episodes of VIZ's Naruto and all of Death Note, along with 12 English-dubbed episodes of Mushi-Shi from FUNimation. Hulu.com will soon offer more series like Bleach, Basilisk, Kiddy Grade, and Moonphase, from the anime distributors VIZ Media, FUNimation, and GONG.

Clearly the market for online streaming video is exploding, with distributors discovering new ways to satisfy the fans' wish for free viewing while covering costs with advertising on the sites themselves. This may provide a happy medium that keeps fans, distributors, and advertisers happy for quite some time.