Netscape pioneers Mike Homer and Marc Andreessen are back on the start-up scene, launching a TiVo-like online network for distributing and viewing public TV, radio and grassroots media.
The free service, called the Open Media Network, is aimed initially at letting traditional public broadcasters and independent filmmakers distribute their work on the Net. But it will also allow ordinary computer users to publish their files.
Part TiVo, part BitTorrent file swapping, the network puts publishers' content into a peer-to-peer distribution network that could help lower bandwidth costs substantially. The service then creates a TV-like program directory that potential viewers can use to find and subscribe to automatic downloads of individual shows.
In the process, it's also serving as an advertisement for Homer's main company, content distribution service Kontiki, which provides the network's technology.
"We're trying to create a free consumer service that would allow the viewing of public service content on the Internet," said Homer, who is chairman of the Open Media Foundation, which is backing the project, as well as Kontiki's chairman. "Right now there is no easy way for consumers to (publish and view) these things. It has not been a consumer phenomenon, it's been an early adopter phenomenon."
The Open Media Network is one of several tools that have recently emerged aimed at letting people publish or find large files online, while organizing content into a familiar TV-like format.
Podcasting has allowed radio stations and ordinary people to publish or subscribe to downloadable audio shows for months.
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