By Kenneth Li
Jordan
General Electric Co's NBC Universal, News Corp's Fox News
and Fox Television Stations, CBS and Allbritton Communications
Co in May demanded Redlasso stop violating their copyrights by
streaming video clips of their news, sports and TV shows
without permission.
In a response delivered Thursday afternoon to lawyers
representing the five broadcast programmers, Redlasso said it
would continue business as usual making clips of news
broadcasts available to bloggers.
"We've been in conversation with them all along," Redlasso
CEO Al McGowan told Reuters in a phone interview. "We were not
surprised, but disappointed we received the letter."
McGowan said his company had been in talks with the
broadcasters on how to design a service that would be useful to
bloggers searching for news clips, while building a business
model that ensured these clips are protected.
Like users of Google Inc's YouTube, Redlasso users can
embed clips, or place them on their Web page. The clips and any
associated advertising are controlled by Redlasso, McGowan
said. Clips typically run under 2.5 minutes.
Unlike YouTube, which has taken down clips identified by
content owners as having been uploaded without their
permission, Redlasso said on Thursday it will continue with its
practice.
McGowan said he hoped hiring a media industry veteran like
Jordan could help rekindle discussions to license the content
for a business that could help media companies make money off
news videos that typically have a shorter shelf life compared
to entertainment.
"I have joined forces with Redlasso because I have the
greatest belief in the solution offered by the company and its
long-term viability," Jordan, former CEO of CBS and
Westinghouse Corp, said in a statement.
"Redlasso is converting a marketplace challenge into an
opportunity for content providers, advertisers and the online
community, creating a new value for traditional perishable
content."
The service, which has been in a password-protected test
stage since November 2007, has proven popular with bloggers,
including the Huffington Post, Perez Hilton and Politico.
In April, the site received 24 million unique visits and 10
million video plays, the company said.
A representative for NBC Universal was not immediately
available for comment.
(Reporting by Kenneth Li, editing by Richard Chang)
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