StreamingMedia.com is hosting a free live webinar today at 11amPST/2pm EST on the subject of "Setting the Bar for Online Video 2.0: Best Practices You Can Use Today". Sponsored by PermissionTV, join online video experts as they discuss the top trends in online video and review real-world examples of how companies are setting the bar for the next phase – Video 2.0. Whether a brand marketer, an advertising agency or a media company, this Webcast will arm you with the information you need to execute your own Video 2.0 strategy.

The webinar is free and you can sign up online.

As expected, this morning Panther Express announced it had closed $15.75 million in series B funding lead by Index Ventures. Gold Hill Capital and existing investor Greylock Partners also participated. 

In the press release,Panther does not gives any real details on what they will use the money towards other than to say for "international expansion" and "further infrastructure investment". Currently Panther has 250 customers, 50 of which are based in Europe.

The big question I have is whether or not Panther Express will use any of this money to build out their network to support streaming, since right now they only support video delivery via progressive downloads.

Note: I have a briefing call with Panther Express later in the day and will update this post should I get any additional details.

Thanks to the generous folks over at Microsoft, they have provided me with nine copies of Expression Studio that I can give away on the blog. The Expression Studio bundle includes Expression Web, Expression Blend, Expression Media and Expression Design and retails for $599. Expression Studio also includes a license for Expression Encoder and anyone can currently download a 180 day trail of the encoder here.

Three have already been given away in a drawing last month and I’ll be giving the last six away in the next two weeks. I would like to give them away to those who will really use them as part of their daily job. To qualify to win a copy you must leave one comment in this post with a suggestion for Microsoft on how they can improve any aspect of Expression, Silverlight or Windows Media. Have you seen a feature you’d like included? Is there something missing that you think should be in the next version? Leave a comment with a working
e-mail address. I will pick three users a week from today using a random number picker website and
ship them out to the winners at no cost. Anyone is welcome to enter, but only your first comment will be counted.

If any company is interested in getting exposure for their video
related product on my blog and is willing to give away the product, contact me.
I will post pictures of the product, link to the company website and potentially write a product review or link to other reviews on the web. It’s
great exposure for your product.

I’ve been trying to watch the Clinton and Obama debate live on MSNBC.com and for the 10 minutes since it started, I can’t get more than 2-3 seconds of clear video without the screen freezing and delivering me a "buffering" message in the video window. The audio is very distorted as well with high-pitch feedback type noises. What a terrible experience. Anyone able to watch the stream without any problems?

Update: Within a few minutes of me making this post ten others have already left comments below experiencing the same problems. Not good, especially for those of us who have FiOS TV, which does not carry MSNBC.

Update 2: One of the folks who commented below gave a new link from another website where the video works. Now that’s the power of the web.

Update 3: I put in calls to Limelight and Akamai’s support numbers and both folks I spoke to in the network operations centers didn’t think their company was delivering the stream. I won’t know for sure until Wednesday where/who the problem is with.

Update 4: Limelight Networks has officially confirmed that they are not delivering the webcast.

Update 5: Akamai has officially stated to me that they were not involved in the webcast. I have a request into MSNBC, should hear back shortly.

In May, I’ve got a panel at Streaming Media East entitled "P2Ps Role In Delivering Online Video" and I am looking for speakers and suggestions on the content. What core topic or facet should the session really drill down on? What are the most pressing issues with P2P and who would make for good speakers?

At our last show, we did a whole P2P session with just vendors, so this year around I am looking to have speakers from non-vendor companies. Customers, ISPs, legal experts etc…. is the angle I am thinking of but am open to ideas. I am also looking for a really good moderator that is not employed by a P2P vendor.

Please leave content suggestions and topics in the comments section and contact me if you want to speak or know of a good speaker/moderator. Anyone who is helpful in securing speakers will receive a free conference pass to the event.

The StreamingMedia.com survey on CDN pricing and trends has now been filled out almost 1,000 times. I’ll be keeping it open for another week or so and then we’ll start to compile all the data and give away the free iPhone. Taking a look at some of the preliminary data that has been collected reveals some great data points which I will be showcasing all this week on the blog.

When it comes to the length of CDN contracts, customer commit levels and dual-vendor strategy, there has a been a lot of speculation in the market on what the trends are. Here is the data we collected from nearly 1,000 respondents, 25%+ of which are doing over 25TB of delivery per month.

• 60.8% of respondents said they had a 12 month contract with their CDN. Only 12.9% had a two year deal.

• 73.5% said that when they renegotiate their contract, they don’t plan
  to change the length. Only 12.4% said they planed to sign a longer term
  contract.

• 52.3% of respondents said their CDN contract had no revenue or
  bandwidth commitment at all. 25.3% have a monthly commit, 6.7% a
  quarterly commit and 11.4% have a yearly commit.

• 63.3% of respondents said they used only one CDN vendor for the
  delivery of video and static content. 26.% use two CDNs and 10.3% use
  three or more.

You can download the pie chart data for the questions here:(Download CDN-Contract-Data.jpg)

Pando Networks is currently looking to fill an immediate need for a Media Delivery Sales Executive located in NYC or LA. With nearly every major media company considering peer assisted delivery for long
form, high res content, this it’s a good opportunity for someone
who’s not afraid to sell into a developing market environment with an
emerging leader.

If you are interested, contact David at Pando Networks.

If you are looking for a new position, have taken a new job or are a
company that has a job opening, let me know. In many cases I will
highlight it here on the blog – free of charge.