Online TV is a new wave of entertainment sweeping across the globe. With Sites such as Hulu, Justin, veetle and ustream popping up everywhere, the technology for online broadcasting is steadily progressing and the broadband speeds are steadily increasing; it won’t be long until we will start seeing the Big 4 putting up a live online streams.
A lot of people don’t have digital cable; satellite tv and only have broadband – In 2007 the broadcaster would have to stream at 1300 mb/s to achieve a High Quality broadcast and in 2010 the broadcaster would have to stream at 900 kb/s to achieve a High Quality broadcast.
Thanks to the increasing technology and sites such as veetle and their unique streaming platform today the broadcaster would have to stream at 600 kb/s to achieve a High Quality broadcast. More and more people are starting their own Online TV Network – But’ where there is good, there is always the bad. a lot of these home based TV Networks are broadcasting copyrighted content and with the popularity of online tv increasing, more and more channels are getting shut down for copyright infringement. There are ways to stream movies online legally that those movies are in the Public Domain.
If a movie isn’t public domain, you can bet on it that you’re breaking national and international copyright laws. You can visit sites such as archive to gain access to a large number of public domain movies.
If you want to become a broadcaster and stream other peoples content, you must first make the person(s) sign an agreement that s/he is granting you the permission to show their movie on the site you’re wanting to stream on. You will NOT be granted a license to show any blockbuster movie. Another way is to contact independent film makers and tell them that you want to “Screen” their movie on your website or channel to your audience. You wouldn’t believe how easy it is. If you don’t get an answer back the first time wait to a later date and contact them again. Never Give Up!
a lot of people ask me “Can i make money broadcasting?” Short answer, yes you can – But Don’t discloses this information unless the person(s) requests it. Ustream.com has a Pay-Per-View feature for partners where you can charge a fee to the ones that wants to see your broadcast.
Justin.tv and Veetle.com has a partner program as well – but Justin.tv and Veetle.com or currently in beta, both sites will let you monetize your broadcast in the near future. To become a partner with veetle you currently have to be recommended by an admin and only for gamers at this time.
To become a partner on veetle simply go to the bottom and of veetle.com and click on “Partner” and fill out the contact form. One of the staff members will set up a phone interview with you and if you’re accepted in their partner program, your broadcast will be on the first 3 pages of the category you choose and will gradually climb to the homepage depending on the views you get. Currently at the time of writing this, the monetization system is still in beta and not available yet.
You can also start a blog or forum with ads form Google AdSense or any other ad network and put a link on your channel and embed the video on your site with a unique chat system. Just Don’t Force people to go to your site. Another thing you can do, Let’s say you start a cooking show, go to all the companies that offer products for cooking and record a show and send them a video and tell them that you’re a broadcaster and you’re looking for a sponsor on so and so website and them how many views you get a day and put a place holder commercial telling them that their info commercial can be showed here every 30 minutes or whatever, and tell them that you will show their products in your show.
Another Question I get asked a lot “What do I stream?” Well, this is up to you; you can show a mix of things – But genre themes such as Horror, Action and Cartoons etc… does extremely well. Also, try to come up with your own shows. Like if you’re a good animator or a great chief; Start your own cartoon show or cooking show.
Another Question I get asked a lot “What Do I use to broadcast?” Well depending on the site you use there are plenty of options out there.. Flash Media Encoder, ManyCam, XSplit and Wirecast. Those are the ones that I have used in the past. Wirecast and Xspit is my favorite because you a produce a great broadcast with those, Overlay you logo on the stream and have the ability to cut away to a commercial if you have a sponsor.
As you gain more and more viewers and start making money, you can start developing more and more shows or buying broadcasting licenses to some of those hard to get movies. And before you know it, you will have your own online TV Network of shows and movies and a great second income.
