At the Streaming Media East show on Tuesday May 20th, the National Academy of Media Arts & Sciences will be leading a panel session entitled "How Old Media Is Embracing Online Video and New Media".

This session will discuss how converging media technologies are redefining traditional distribution methods; how interactive and on-demand services are changing, and how entertainment and news video is being consumed. Come hear from some of the leading publishers, broadcasters, and advertisers about the impact that video and new media is having upon their business models.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Peter Price, President and CEO, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
• Jordan Hoffner, Head of Premium Content Partnerships, YouTube
• Isaac Josephson, Director, Product Management, ABC News Digital Media
• Vivian Schiller, SVP, GM, NYTimes.com
• Richard Glosser, Executive Director of Emerging Media, CondeNet

Have a topic or question for any of the speakers you want to see addressed? Submit it in the comments section and we’ll add it to the Q&A portion of the session.

Registration is still open
and you can see all the various pricing packages, including a one-day
ticket on our website. Six years since we took over the
StreamingMedia.com business and we’ve still managed to keep the
conference very affordable for everyone to attend. A full two-day
conference ticket is only $895.

At the Streaming Media East show on Tuesday May 20th, we have a special session entitled "Mergers and Acquisitions: Wall Street’s View". Acquisitions, partnerships, funding, and failures are all making headlines at an increasing rate.

At times it is difficult to understand why these events occur, what drives them, who is involved, and how they affect the rest of the industry. This panel of venture capitalists, equity research analysts, and others will discuss their views on the state of the markets, what gets them excited, what concerns them, and how it could impact the way you do business.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Brian Essex, Analyst (formerly at Morgan Stanley)
• Colby Synesael, SVP, Equity Research, Telecom, Merriman Curhan Ford & Co.
• Kevin Ryan, Co-founder, Chairman, Panther Express
• Neil Squeira, Partner, General Catlyst Partners
• Ray Conley, CFA, Palo Alto Investors

Have a topic or question for any of the speakers you want to see
addressed? Submit it in the comments section and we’ll add it to the
Q&A portion of the session.

Registration is still open
and you can see all the various pricing packages, including a one-day
ticket on our website. Six years since we took over the
StreamingMedia.com business and we’ve still managed to keep the
conference very affordable for everyone to attend. A full two-day
conference ticket is only $895.

If you’re a financial analyst tasked with covering the content delivery market, you’ll want to come to the Streaming Media East conference taking place at the Hilton hotel in NYC on May 20th and 21st. On Tuesday, May 20th, I’ll be presenting my latest data on CDN pricing in a presentation entitled "CDN Pricing: The Going Rate For Video Delivery". On Wednesday May 20th, we’ll also have a panel of analysts and investors on a special session entitled "Mergers and Acquisitions: Wall Street’s View".

In addition, we’ll have nearly 20 video delivery companies exhibiting and or speaking at the show including Akamai, AT&T, Abacast, BitTorrent, CDNetworks, Digital Fountain, EdgeCast, Highwinds, Ignite, Internap, Level 3, Limelight, Mirror Image, Move Networks, Panther Express, PowerStream, StreamTheWorld, VeriSign. Contact me if you want a special discount code for financial analysts.

This morning, Vusion, a company formerly known as Jittr Networks officially launched their offering to the market. While most people would compare Vusion to Move Networks, instead of using traditional CDNs like Move does, Vusion is also acting as the CDN and is doing all of the video delivery themselves. While the company is not yet willing to say how much money they raised, they have been in stealth mode for a few years and have taken at least a few million. With the launch, Vusion also announced that Island Def Jam Music Group is using the service, but it’s hard to know if this is a regular paying customer, or more of customer who is getting some free services in exchange for Vusion being able to have content to showcase at launch.

Like Move, Vusion requires users to download software and is primarily going after high-bitrate and HD quality content with what they call their "patented WARP technology". Specifically going after content owners that require high-bitrate and
HD delivery use to be something that newer CDNs in the market were
touting as being a real differentiator. But today, the space is already
quite crowded with numerous companies focusing specifically on high
bitrate delivery. Move Networks, BitGravity, Digital Fountain, Grid Networks and now Vusion all seem to be competing for the same type of customer.

I had a long conversation with the Vusion folks a few weeks back and they came off as being smart and being very focused on the market they want to go after. But that alone won’t guarantee success in today’s  climate and with the continued influx of new providers on the market, it is getting really difficult to distinguish one provider from another. Many are really trying to focus on how the quality of their video is different, but to be honest, I can’t even tell the difference most times. At some point, quality no longer becomes the deciding factor and it will come down to all of the other important elements that go into a quality service offering.

After two successful shows in London, we’ll be back again this year on October 16-17th with our third Streaming Media Europe conference and exhibition. We’ve moved the show to the Novotel London West hotel, which gives us a larger location with more exhibit and meeting space to accommodate the shows growth.

I’m also please to announce that along with the new location, we’ve also added some new employees and some additional help for the Europe show. I will be stepping down from the conference chairman role this year and turning that over to Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, the editor of StreamingMedia.com. With the success of the U.S. based shows and the amount of time those take to organize, I simply can’t be in so many places at once. I will still be involved in helping shape the conference content, but won’t be the point of contact for speaker proposals.

We are also happy to announce that we have hired Eileen Broch, a veteran conference organizer who is based in London and will be working with Eric to shape the program and selection of speakers. Eileen has spent many years in the conference business including organizing the first two JavaOne conferences ever produced by Sun. She has also held positions at Yahoo! Europe and Skype.

With the program organizers now in place, the call for speakers and papers is open. The deadline is May 15th and the website has all of the details on what we are looking for in the way of papers, speaker requirements and all the other details. If you want to really get involved this year and moderate or organize your own session, contact Eric or Eileen right away.

I do regret that I won’t be able to make it out to Streaming Media Europe this year, but Eric and Eileen will do a great job leading the content focus for the show. Speaking spots go fast, so get your submission in ASAP!

The Streaming Media East conference and exhibition is less than three weeks away and today is the last day for discount registrations. Register today and save $100 off the ticket price.

Six years since we took over the StreamingMedia.com business and we’ve still managed to keep the conference very affordable for everyone to attend. Registering today gets you a full two-day conference ticket for only $795.

StreamingMedia.com is also giving away an All Star Prize package to one conference attendee at this year’s show. To qualify, you must come to the show and subscribe/renew for free to Streaming Media magazine at Booth #410.

Register now and visit the SM booth for your chance to win. The prize package, which is sponsored by Ripcode includes:

– Two (2) tickets to the 2008 All Star Game at Yankee Stadium
– Two (2) tickets to the 2008 Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium
– Three (3) night hotel accommodations at the Courtyard New York Manhattan
– Subway Passes for the week

Starting on Monday, I will be posting a lot of details on the conference, speakers, networking events and other activities leading up to the show.

In the past year and a half, more than 15 video delivery vendors, including P2P based providers, have raised almost $300 million in capital. CDNetworks, EdgeCast, Panther Express, Grid Networks, Highwinds, Velocix, Itiva, Move Networks, Pando Networks, Rinera, BitTorrent, ChinaCache, Rawflow and Oversi combined raised $282.85 million in 07′ and 08′. And that number does not take into account other CDNs who have already raised money but have not yet announced details. In addition, there are also at least four providers, some new, some not, who are out in the market raising a new round.

When all is said and done, at the end of this year, I expect we’ll have over $400 million raised by CDN vendors for 2007 and 2008. And with the market size for video delivery services in the U.S. being around $450 million in 2007, that’s a lot of money raised as compared to the size of the market. I’m afraid that many investors are going to need the CDN market to grow a lot faster than it can in order for them to see the kinds of returns they are probably expecting.