The Streaming Media West show and Online Video Platform Summit are less than two weeks away and between the two events, we've got 140 speakers across 40 different sessions. If streaming devices and platforms is your interest we've got speakers from: Xbox 360, Roku, Sling Media, Vizio, TiVo, FLO TV, Boxee, MobiTV, Motorola, Cisco, ZillionTV and Verizon amongst others.

In addition, we've also got many of the major content owners represented with speaking spots including: FOX, Disney, NBC Universal, MTV, HBO Broadband, EPIX, MLB, YouTube/Google, Turner, CNN Money, Comcast, Associated Press, FUNimation and Mountain Sports International amongst others.

It's not too late to get a pass and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DRF1, which gets you $200 off the ticket price. You can attend all three days of the SM West show for only $695.

The Streaming Media West show
is only six weeks away and nearly all of the speakers have now been
confirmed. Leading up to the show, I'll be highlighting on my blog some of the
sessions taking place to give everyone a flavor
for the topics we'll be covering. I'm also pleased to announce that readers of my blog can still register using
my own personal discount code of DRF1, which gives you $200 off the 3-day conference ticket, making it only $695 to attend.

You can also register online for a free exhibits pass which also gives you access to the keynotes from Xbox, FLO TV and EPIX.

This morning, KIT digital (KITD) officially announced they have acquired NYC based The FeedRoom in an all stock deal valued at around $9.8M. While that's only about 1.5x The FeedRoom's $6M in revenue, the deal will probably end up being closer to 2x revenue since The FeedRoom agreed to the deal some time ago, back when KIT's share price was somewhere around $7.

Mark Portu, CEO of the FeedRoom left the company on Friday and will be consulting to KIT digital during the transition period. Daniel Webster, SVP of Business Development and a ten year veteran of The FeedRoom also left on Friday. As expected, there have been a few other personnel changes at The FeedRoom since last week and I expect we'll see some more as the company gets folded into KIT. The FeedRoom's SF office is going to be closed down and KIT is currently evaluating what their long term plans are for their office space in NYC.

For The FeedRoom, being acquired was really their only option. They raised $12M two years ago and while they still had some cash in the bank, Mark would of had to have raised another round before too long if the company really wanted to grow their revenue. On paper, the services of KIT and FeedRoom fit nicely together and considering that KIT paid FeedRoom investors with all stock, it was an easy deal.

While the deal makes sense on paper since it gives KIT a U.S. presence, enterprise and government customers, and all of The FeedRoom's technology, the success or failure of this acquisition will all come down to the integration of the two companies. KIT has a challenge ahead of them since they are doing multiple acquistions and integrations and can't yet know how much of The FeedRoom's revenue will remain come next year.

As with any integration, the real test comes 6-8 months later when you find out if customers are still happy and keeping their business at the new company. If KIT can keep the vast majority of The FeedRoom's $6M in revenue twelve months from now and integrate The FeedRoom's platform with their own, the deal could be positive. But if the integration does not go quickly and smoothly, some of the revenue KIT gains from the acquisition will surely be lost and that will have a negative impact on their bottom line.

Another concern is that KIT loses focus since they have made so many acquisitions as of late and are now entering completely new vertical markets and appear to be trying to be everything, to everyone, across every device. It's possible they can pull it off, but all of that remains to be seen. I believe that KIT now has all the pieces they need to be successful, from a product perspective, but how they price, package, market, sell and deliver those services is going to decide their success or failure. I think we'll know either way when we look at their business in another 9-12 months.

It's been a busy morning with a bunch of news on the wire from many different companies. Here's a quick run down and I'll have more detailed posts on Adobe, Limelight and KIT digital's announcements later in the week.

• Adobe Announces HTTP Delivery, Flash Player 10.1, Bit Encryption and More

• Limelight Networks Introduces XD, the Company’s Next-Generation Global Network Platform

• Limelight Networks Introduces LimelightDELIVER XD and LimelightCONTROL XD

• KIT digital Acquires Nunet and The FeedRoom

• VBrick Unveils VEMS, The VBrick Enterprise Media System

• AEG Acquires Webcasting Company Incited Media To Form AEG Digital Media

• Kaltura Delivers Video to Educational Institutions & Students

• Scripps Networks and 5min Form Strategic Content and Advertising Partnership

Last week I reported that KIT Digital had acquired The FeedRoom, in a deal that will be announced today. But in addition to The FeedRoom, KIT Digital also acquired Germany based Nunet which will also be announced this morning. I'll post more on my thoughts about both of the acquisitions later in the week.

Update: The press release from KIT Digital is now on the wire.

I'm still looking for moderators for two sessions at the Streaming Media West show in November. The sessions are "Successful Content Syndication and Aggregation Strategies" and "Monetizing Long-Form Video".

I'm interested in moderators who can be neutral on the topic and aren't from vendor companies, unless the person you are suggesting has a blog and is already writing a lot about either of these subjects. I have to close out the program for good next week, so please send me an e-mail ASAP if you're interested or if you think you know of someone who would be a fit. I'll give a free conference pass to anyone who helps me place either moderator.

I thought I was all done covering the Akamai HD webcast earlier in the week, but Tim Siglin, one of the writers over at StreamingMedia.com made a really good point about the webcast that I totally missed. During the webcast, Akamai said they can now deliver HD video to the iPhone, but as Tim points out, the iPhone isn't capable of getting HD content.

From Tim's Blog:

[I have nothing against Akamai in particular, but unfortunately some of the claims made can't be substantiated. One in particular struck me as key to the whole press conference. Leighton claimed that, "Today there's [sic] 50 million homes that have connected gaming consoles – or other devices – that are capable of displaying HD video, of getting it and displaying it into the home. Also, there's [sic] 45 million iPhones out there today capable of displaying HD video."

Let's take a look at the facts:

a). No one else has ever claimed that the 1st gen iPhone or even the iPhone 3G is capable of of HD playback, which is the only way to get to the 45 million iPhone number.

b) Even the claims that the iPhone 3GS is capable of displaying HD content are conjecture, as Apple does not allow HD playback on the iPhone 3GS (even 480p content can't be played back).

c) While everyone is doing "higher definition" for live streams to desktop Flash and Silverlight players, many are doing HTTP streams, and a few are doing true HD (480, 720, 1080i/p) to these same players, there are a limited number of companies doing true HD live streams via HTTP, which is where Akamai wants to tell its story. None are doing it to the iPhone, however.

The reason I say it is key to the whole press conference is this: if all Akamai is claiming is "higher definition" as its term for HD, there's no story here, since others are doing it. If they're claiming HD for the iPhone, there's a story here but not one they can support.]

Tim's absolutely right. The screen res on the iPhone, even the new one, is only 480 x 320 at 163 pixels per inch, that is not HD. How can Akamai claim it is? Tim made multiple requests to Akamai for more details and was provided with a copy of a document called "Akamai HD for iPhone Encoding Best Practices" that as Tim says, "states, on page 5, the best practice is to encode at a maximum size of 400 x 224 and a maximum bit rate of 864 kbps. Which one of these settings qualifies as HD content? You're right if you answered none of them as content encoded at this rate / size would be considered unacceptable on the desktop, and further undermines Akamai's claim of its HD network providing content owners with the ability to encode once and play out to multiple platforms/players."

So what does Akamai consider to be HD video to the iPhone? In multiple back and forth emails with them last night, (see all of them on Tim's blog) Akamai said, "we believe the following requirements should met for HD specific to mobile:

– HD source content
– Over industry accepted video standards
– Adaptive bitrate streaming technology
– At bitrates over 700Kbps
– At an appropriately high resolution for the device rendering the video

Akamai's definition of what HD is to mobile makes no sense. You can
have the best "source" you want, but that does not mean the output will
be good. As Tim says, "If I take Akamai's argument about their
definition of HD (which runs counter to Paul Sagan's opening comments
in the webcast) and ignore the arbitrary bitrate limit Akamai has set,
I can generate a 200kbps stream from the 1080p HD content I film at my
children's soccer game, and then call it HD".

If "industry accepted video standards" is one of Akamai's requirements, then what would Akamai classify as non-industry accepted video standards? Does Akamai mean over industry accepted video "protocols"? There is no "standard" in the online video industry, so no idea what that word from Akamai is defining? Standard what? There is no standard video codec, bitrate, aspect ratio, platform, player, etc….

I'm sure others have have a similar take on this, so the comments section is open and you should read Tim's blog post for more details on this whole subject.