Blasts From the Past: A Decade (Almost) of StreamingMedia.com Headlines

Oct. 4
Groovy Gecko Scores With Supergoals.com
Groovy Gecko, a European provider of streaming solutions, has teamed up with Supergoals.com, an international soccer website, to stream advertisements. The website currently features three 10-second adverts, in conjunction with a campaign on primetime TV. —EK

Oct. 24
VBrick Introduces EtherneTV to Enable Live Television Over Ethernet Networks
VBrick Systems, which creates video networking products, announced the release of EtherneTV today. EtherneTV is a complete package that includes a VBrick network video appliance, cables, and client software that lets users view live video feeds over a LAN connection. EtherneTV can distribute video from devices such as a VCR or DVD player. —EK

Dec. 13
Internet Streaming Media Alliance Formed
Today, several companies, including Apple, Cisco, Kassena, Phillips, Sun Microsystems and IBM, joined together to form the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA). The goal of the ISMA is to promote open standards and interoperability, while not necessarily squashing competition. —Ellie Kieskowski and Catherine Bacon

2001
Jan. 16
Macromedia Acquires Allaire
Macromedia, makers of Flash and other graphics tools, said it was acquiring Allaire in a $360 million deal. The new company, which will continue to be called Macromedia, will unite a large base of web development and authoring tools. Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO of Macromedia, will continue as chairman and CEO of the combined company. Jeremy Allaire, CTO of Allaire, will be the CTO of Macromedia, reporting to Kevin Lynch, president of Macromedia products. —JA

March 2
CNN Interactive Offering Streaming Banner Ads
In an effort to offer advertisers a experience more similar to television, CNN websites will soon offer video and audio spots. CNN is partnering with EyeWonder and Bluestreak to introduce full-motion video and audio streaming in banner advertisements for clients on a trial basis. —JA

March 27
RealNetworks and Major League Baseball Announce Subscription Deal
RealNetworks and Major League Baseball announced a deal to create a subscription service including live audio webcasts of all MLB games and a video highlight service. With this deal, all audio webcasts for every regular season baseball game will be available by subscription only through the MLB.com and Real.com websites. The audio webcasts will be enhanced with synchronized game statistics and pitch-by-pitch animation. —JA

May 30
.tv Unveils Personal Webcasting Solution
After toiling as an internet domain registrant for companies looking to get the .tv extension, the .tv Corporation (www.tv) announced it would start offering a personal webcasting solution at my.tv. The service is powered by POPcast Communications, one of the early do-it-yourself streaming providers. The my.tv package includes a .tv address, an Intel webcam, a two-page website, and video software and services by POPcast Communications. The service also includes a chat function using an instant messaging feature. —JA

June 21
Disney VP: ‘Don’t Give Up’
In his keynote address at Streaming Media West, Disney Internet Group Executive VP Dick Glover told the audience to be optimistic about the future of digital media, despite the bad market conditions. "If you believe in your idea, don’t give up on your vision," he said. "Don’t bail out at the first signs of trouble." He called the failure of some companies "healthy Darwinism," saying we shouldn’t shed tears for those failed companies. —JA

July 16
Sorenson Puts the Squeeze on Mac
Sorenson (www.sorenson.com) announced on Monday that it will be releasing a new compression tool for the Mac called Sorenson Squeeze. Naturally, Squeeze only supports output into QuickTime format in Sorenson Video 3 for either streaming or downloading, although it does support Apple’s MPEG-4 format as well. The software can input AVI, QuickTime, or DV video, along with a variety of audio codecs. —JA

July 26
RealNetworks Cuts 15% of Work Force
In a sign that no company is immune to the economic downturn, RealNetworks announced that it was reducing its workforce by 15% and instituting cost-cutting measures. Approximately 140 people out of 950 would be let go. RealNetworks said it was offering employees benefits and outplacement services. —JA