Digital Dish

It’s one of those days where I want to talk about everything, but no one item is large enough for a single post.

I’m kind of proud of YouTube. First, for a 10-year-old company, parent Google is pretty agile. Compare it to something like AOL or Yahoo, and it’s fared a lot better. Granted, its model might be a little different, but you can’t deny that overall the company has made some smart moves, particularly in navigating and capitalizing on shifts in the market. YouTube has been eloquently making moves that make sense, at least to this tech geek-turned-media company owner-turned-television creator/producer. This week’s announcement with MGM, and other chatter out and about on the site, is proof.

Of course, we’ll see what happens. It’s early for video for everybody, and it’s going to be hard for even the most intelligent players in the category to find what’s going to make sense.

Speaking of this, Discovery’s CEO had the comment heard around the Web about Internet television, that they’ve looked into it and found that the “business model isn’t that strong.” Agreed, for a cable network, and for now. Web TV is early. Very.

That’s not to say there isn’t a promise of it, or that there isn’t money to be made by someone.

It’s just refreshing to hear an entertainment business executive with what appears to be a solid sense. And one who didn’t mention putting content on blast. The industry’s past mantra of “putting content where the users are” made me want to claw at my skin. Bad idea, at least in my opinion.

However, when it comes to good ideas, I think Fremantle’s investment in Spike TV shows is a smart way to get involved in Web TV without necessarily taking on the risk. I’ve got a few friends who work at the company and they’re brilliant. Putting a little cash into somebody else’s idea can be good business.

This week I’m slated to attend NewTeeVee Live in San Francisco, and I can’t wait. The EQAL crew is going up, and I believe presenting at the event. I’m such a fan girl of Greg and Miles. I say they’re the next Sergey and Larry (of Google), and I mean it.

It’s still a little hard to travel with my recently broken ankle, let alone walk a conference, but I’m going to try to be there.