TV.Com Announces Content Agreements with NCAA® and Thought Equity Motion, Starz Media and More
Adds to Existing Line-Up of Premium Content Providers, Bringing TV.com's total Video Library to More than 2,000 Hours of Content
SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 — TV.com, the place where television lives online, today announced content deals with NCAA and Thought Equity Motion, and Starz Media, along with niche content providers like Smithsonian Channel, Comedy Time, Howcast and WatchMojo. This adds to its line-up of existing agreements with premium content companies, including Endemol USA, Metro Goldwin Mayer Studios Inc., PBS, SHOWTIME, Sony Pictures Television and CBS. The addition of this content brings TV.com's total video library to more than 2,000 hours of content, spanning everything from today's most popular shows to coveted classics.
"TV.com already benefits from a massive online community, and our job from here on out is to layer more content on top of this great community to further engage and expand our audience," said Anthony Soohoo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, TV.com. "We continue to see massive growth in video viewers and streams as more and more people turn to TV.com for information and content around their favorite television shows. We create a highly complementary experience to television, one that uses content to fuel active discussions among our community of TV fans."
Through a deal with CBS, the NCAA, and NCAA content library rightsholder Thought Equity Motion, all available semifinal and final games from the Men's Final Four between 1982-2008 are available for viewers to watch in either a full-length format or a condensed two-minute highlight package at TV.com. Additionally, viewers also can watch NCAA highlight packages set to music, including classic footage from NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships including the 1979 Final Four championship game featuring Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, and many other great games and players from the past.
Starz Media's Manga Entertainment content available on TV.com will include full episodes of Astro Boy and Virus, as well as short-form videos from titles, including Ninja Scroll, Kai Doh Maru, Street Fighter Alpha, and Hellboy: Blood and Iron, with many more to come.
"Starz Media's Manga Entertainment library has proven very popular with anime enthusiasts and we are very pleased to make some of our best content available to TV.com users," said Marc DeBevoise, senior vice president, digital media, business development and strategy for Starz Media. "We look forward to expanding this content lineup in the future and building our partnership with TV.com."
Smithsonian Channel will offer shows including "Stories from the Vaults" hosted by Tom Cavanagh, "Remembering Vietnam: The wall at 25," and the Emmy® winning Nature Tech. Comedy Time, which offers stand-up comedy and original episodic programming known as "Funnysodes"® from today's best comedic talent, will offer content from its brands including "Comedy Time," "Comedy Time Latino" and "Comedy Time Urban." The TV.com audience will also have access to videos from Howcast, the best source for fun, free, and useful how-to videos, and WatchMojo.com, one of the largest producers of original, professionally-produced, evergreen, ad-friendly high-quality video content, will provide profiles and interviews with musicians and filmmakers, scripted entertainment comedy skits, and fashion shows from runways around the world.
TV.com's content providers have their videos viewed by one of the most active and largest community of TV fans online. People come to the site for its rich content and dedicated community, posting an average of 6 social contributions per second – things like forum posts and poll votes – for a total of more than 18 million social contributions per month on the site. In addition, as the site continues to layer more premium video content on top if its community and information features, TV.com posted a 184% increase in unique viewers, 844% increase in streams, and 3101% increase in minutes year-over-year (Nielsen VideoCensus February 2009).
About TV.com
TV.com is one of the leading unbiased destinations for premium entertainment and community around TV. The site features video content such as full episode streams, video-clips, live-event coverage and behind-the-scenes footage, plus expert editorial content like entertaining features and weekly podcasts. The site also provides in-depth show summaries, episode guides and downloads, bios, photos, news, and more on over 19,000 TV series. This content is greatly enriched by one of the largest and most vocal communities of TV fans who express themselves via show summaries, reviews, ratings, blogs, forums, polls, and videos.
About the NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit www.ncaa.org and www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes. The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions—AT&T, Coca-Cola and Pontiac—and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners—Enterprise, The Hartford, Hershey's, Lowe's, Sheraton and State Farm.
About Thought Equity Motion
Thought Equity Motion is the world leader in providing access to high quality film, video and music content. The company's forward-thinking approach to digital video has produced an array of products and services to meet the exploding demand of emerging media. Widely recognized for its expertise in licensing rights, Thought Equity Motion is the licensing agent for renowned media companies including Paramount Pictures, MGM, NBC News, HBO, National Geographic, Sony Pictures, the NCAA and hundreds of others. With offices located around the world, Thought Equity Motion offers the broadest, deepest content collection available. This vast collection, combined with leading-edge technology, makes Thought Equity Motion the preferred destination for multimedia professionals. To learn more, go to www.thoughtequity.com.
About Starz Media
Starz Media, LLC, is a programming production and distribution company operating worldwide. It includes the Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment brands. Its units create animated and live-action programming – including theatrical films – and programming created under contract for other media companies. It distributes that programming, and programming acquired from outside producers, through home video retailers, theaters, broadcasters, ad supported and premium television channels, and Internet and wireless video distributors in the US and internationally. Starz Media (www.starzmedia.com) is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Capital Group.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 — TV.com, the place where television lives online, today announced content deals with NCAA and Thought Equity Motion, and Starz Media, along with niche content providers like Smithsonian Channel, Comedy Time, Howcast and WatchMojo. This adds to its line-up of existing agreements with premium content companies, including Endemol USA, Metro Goldwin Mayer Studios Inc., PBS, SHOWTIME, Sony Pictures Television and CBS. The addition of this content brings TV.com's total video library to more than 2,000 hours of content, spanning everything from today's most popular shows to coveted classics.
"TV.com already benefits from a massive online community, and our job from here on out is to layer more content on top of this great community to further engage and expand our audience," said Anthony Soohoo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, TV.com. "We continue to see massive growth in video viewers and streams as more and more people turn to TV.com for information and content around their favorite television shows. We create a highly complementary experience to television, one that uses content to fuel active discussions among our community of TV fans."
Through a deal with CBS, the NCAA, and NCAA content library rightsholder Thought Equity Motion, all available semifinal and final games from the Men's Final Four between 1982-2008 are available for viewers to watch in either a full-length format or a condensed two-minute highlight package at TV.com. Additionally, viewers also can watch NCAA highlight packages set to music, including classic footage from NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships including the 1979 Final Four championship game featuring Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, and many other great games and players from the past.
Starz Media's Manga Entertainment content available on TV.com will include full episodes of Astro Boy and Virus, as well as short-form videos from titles, including Ninja Scroll, Kai Doh Maru, Street Fighter Alpha, and Hellboy: Blood and Iron, with many more to come.
"Starz Media's Manga Entertainment library has proven very popular with anime enthusiasts and we are very pleased to make some of our best content available to TV.com users," said Marc DeBevoise, senior vice president, digital media, business development and strategy for Starz Media. "We look forward to expanding this content lineup in the future and building our partnership with TV.com."
Smithsonian Channel will offer shows including "Stories from the Vaults" hosted by Tom Cavanagh, "Remembering Vietnam: The wall at 25," and the Emmy® winning Nature Tech. Comedy Time, which offers stand-up comedy and original episodic programming known as "Funnysodes"® from today's best comedic talent, will offer content from its brands including "Comedy Time," "Comedy Time Latino" and "Comedy Time Urban." The TV.com audience will also have access to videos from Howcast, the best source for fun, free, and useful how-to videos, and WatchMojo.com, one of the largest producers of original, professionally-produced, evergreen, ad-friendly high-quality video content, will provide profiles and interviews with musicians and filmmakers, scripted entertainment comedy skits, and fashion shows from runways around the world.
TV.com's content providers have their videos viewed by one of the most active and largest community of TV fans online. People come to the site for its rich content and dedicated community, posting an average of 6 social contributions per second – things like forum posts and poll votes – for a total of more than 18 million social contributions per month on the site. In addition, as the site continues to layer more premium video content on top if its community and information features, TV.com posted a 184% increase in unique viewers, 844% increase in streams, and 3101% increase in minutes year-over-year (Nielsen VideoCensus February 2009).
About TV.com
TV.com is one of the leading unbiased destinations for premium entertainment and community around TV. The site features video content such as full episode streams, video-clips, live-event coverage and behind-the-scenes footage, plus expert editorial content like entertaining features and weekly podcasts. The site also provides in-depth show summaries, episode guides and downloads, bios, photos, news, and more on over 19,000 TV series. This content is greatly enriched by one of the largest and most vocal communities of TV fans who express themselves via show summaries, reviews, ratings, blogs, forums, polls, and videos.
About the NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit www.ncaa.org and www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes. The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions—AT&T, Coca-Cola and Pontiac—and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners—Enterprise, The Hartford, Hershey's, Lowe's, Sheraton and State Farm.
About Thought Equity Motion
Thought Equity Motion is the world leader in providing access to high quality film, video and music content. The company's forward-thinking approach to digital video has produced an array of products and services to meet the exploding demand of emerging media. Widely recognized for its expertise in licensing rights, Thought Equity Motion is the licensing agent for renowned media companies including Paramount Pictures, MGM, NBC News, HBO, National Geographic, Sony Pictures, the NCAA and hundreds of others. With offices located around the world, Thought Equity Motion offers the broadest, deepest content collection available. This vast collection, combined with leading-edge technology, makes Thought Equity Motion the preferred destination for multimedia professionals. To learn more, go to www.thoughtequity.com.
About Starz Media
Starz Media, LLC, is a programming production and distribution company operating worldwide. It includes the Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment brands. Its units create animated and live-action programming – including theatrical films – and programming created under contract for other media companies. It distributes that programming, and programming acquired from outside producers, through home video retailers, theaters, broadcasters, ad supported and premium television channels, and Internet and wireless video distributors in the US and internationally. Starz Media (www.starzmedia.com) is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Capital Group.
bookmark/share with:
