For all the buzz about online video advertising, most content owners have yet to be able to turn their online video from cost center to profit center. Still, strong signals suggest that video monetization is around the corner, provided content owners don't pull back in today's economy. On November 2nd at the Streaming Media West show in LA, a panel of experts will discuss what it will it take to reach that tipping point and which ad formats have the greatest ability to help content owners monetize content. Confirmed speakers for the panel include:

• Moderator: Mark Robertson, Founder, ReelSEO
• Ketan Babaria, Senior Product Manager, PayPal
• Mark Marvel, Senior Director, Video Monetization, MSNBC.com
• Chris Ficarra, VP, SVP, Integrated Marketing, MTVN Music Group – Digital
• Brad Murphy, Chief Revenue Officer, Revision3

You can register online for the Streaming Media West show and get $300 off by using my personal discount code of DRF1. Have a question about the show? Someone you want to meet? Reach out to me and I'll be happy to make an introduction.

From Hulu to Netflix, streaming video is having a powerful impact on the traditional television industry. But are consumers really cutting the cord and bypassing cable operators in favor of online video? This is one of the big topics we'll be covering at the Streaming Media West show in LA in three weeks with a great lineup of speakers including:

• Moderator: Jonathan Hurd, Director, Altman Vilandrie & Company
• Bruce Eisen, VP, Online Content Development and Strategy, DISH Network
• Greg Kampanis, SVP, Content Strategy and Operations, South Park Digital Studios
• John Paul,  Executive Vice President, Products, Sling Media
• Damon Phillips, VP, ESPN360.com

With the broadcast networks facing some of the same threats as the newspaper industry, will services like TV Everywhere and over-the-top (OTT) content be the industry's savior? These topics and more will be addressed by this panel of content heavyweights.

You can register online for the Streaming Media West show and get $300 off by using my personal discount code of DRF1. And check out the entire list of content speakers including executives from NBC, FOX, CBS, Comcast, MTV, MSNBC, EPIX, MLB and more.

On Monday November 1st, the day before the Streaming Media West show begins, we have four different workshops including one on HTML5 And Web Video Standards. The workshop will focus on the HTML5 video standard and the various options out there to support it, and will even take a look at the code of a few live HTML5 video deployments, such as the Wikipedia live video beta.

Hosted by leading organizations in the open video movement—HTML5video.org and the Open Video Alliance—this workshop will highlight the benefits and challenges of working with the up-and-coming standard, the current status of HTML5 video in the market, and help differentiate between reality and hype regarding the various video standards out there today.

Using promo code DRF1 you can register online for the workshop and go to both a morning AND afternoon workshop for only $245. That’s six hours of hands-on training and you can choose from four subjects including:

• HTML5 and Web Video Standards
• Flexible Delivery and Interactive Experiences on the Adobe Flash Platform
• Live Streaming With Microsoft and Silverlight
• Encoding H.264 Video for Streaming and Progressive Download

You can also register online for the entire Streaming Media West show and get $300 off by using my personal discount code of DRF1. Have questions about the workshops? Send me an email and I’ll be glad to answer them.

It's been almost six months since the WebM Project launched at the Google I/O conference with a developer preview and at the Streaming Media West show in LA on November 3rd, members of the WebM team will give an update on the overall project. As the WebM team nears a major release of VP8, code named Aylesbury, members of the WebM community will give an update on the improvements that community developers have made to the VP8 video codec, availability of WebM content, hardware and tools, and plans for future development.

You can register online for the Streaming Media West show and get $300 off by using my personal discount code of DRF1. Have a question about the show? Someone you want to meet? Reach out to me and I'll be happy to make an introduction.

At the Streaming Media West show in LA (Nov. 1-3), we've got a great lineup of content owners and device manufactures discussing how streaming video is changing the television landscape. Come hear from executives at NBC, Fox Sports, CBS, Yahoo! and others as they talk about how they are taking advantage of this connected platform to deliver content. Learn how online video based subscription offerings might affect cable companies and how they are capitalizing on this trend. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Paul Alfieri, VP, Communications, Marketing, Limelight Networks
• Matt Weisbecker, VP, Sales, Western Region, NBC Universal Digital Media
• Sibyl Goldman, VP, Entertainment, Yahoo!
• Jeff Clark, VP, CBS.com
• Bhavesh Patel, VP, Interactive Media, Fox Sports International

You can register online for the Streaming Media West show and get $300 off by using my personal discount code of DRF1. I'm also happy to assist any attendee who needs an introduction to any of our speakers or exhibitors on the show floor at the event.

On Wednsday November 3rd, Boxee's CEO Avner Ronen will present his thoughts on the Internet TV landscape in a presentation at the Streaming Media West show in LA. Enjoy a guided tour with Avner through the Internet TV platforms including Google TV and Apple TV and learn what consumers keep asking him for and how he sees the competition stacking up. Come see the Boxee Box in action and hear all about the new TV platforms that arrive this fall.

You can register online for the Streaming Media West show and get $300 off by using my personal discount code of DRF1 – And keep an eye on my blog as I'll be giving away some Boxee units as soon as they ship.

While this isn't the first time that DirecTV has promoted that customers can get some movies from them faster as opposed to Netflix, over the weekend DirecTV started running a new series of commercials taking aim at Netflix's 28-day window. I can't link to the video as I can't find it online, but in the commercial, DirecTV highlights the Russel Crowe Robin Hood movie on the screen and tells Netflix customers that with DirecTV, they don't have to wait to get 30 days to get new movies.

While DirecTV's commercial is accurate, I found it funny that they used the Russel Crowe Robin Hood movie as an example. For all the talk of online movie platforms, streaming devices and 28-day windows, nearly ever online movie service on the market has the exact same content. On the Xbox 360, one of the featured movies in the Zune Video channel is Robin Hood. And when you launch iTunes and select movies, it's Robin Hood they highlight. PS3, Ronin Hood. Amazon Video On Demand, Robin Hood. Even firing up an old VUDU device, Robin Hood comes up number two. CinemaNow, Robin Hood. That's six different online movie services all promoting and highlighting the exact same content.

For all the talk of how different these services are suppose to be, I find that when it comes to the content available for streaming, nearly all of them are identical. Sure, there are some services that have a deeper catalog of content, or more content in HD, but I don't know of any online movie service today that has an "exclusive" for movies and most TV shows.

I currently stream movies using platforms including Netflix, Zune Video, PlayStation Network, Blockbuster, iTunes, CinemaNow and VUDU across devices like Roku, Xbox, PS3, Apple TV, TiVo, Sony Netbox, WD TV Live Plus and others and frankly, there are not that many differences between them. The devices look different but the platforms and most importantly the content, are all nearly identical.

Right now, no one service really stands apart in the online movie space and until one of them starts buying exclusive rights to content, I don't see that changing anytime soon.