Internet videos weren't going to stay on small PC screens forever, and now Malvern-based AnySource Media has developed an Internet-enabled TV platform that will bring hundreds of Internet videos to HDTV in the form of "channels."
AnySource has partnered with major HDTV manufacturers nationwide to include its unique embedded software as part of the TV set. There is no box to hook up and no cable to plug in; the technology, called the Internet Video Navigator, is integrated seamlessly within a normal TV set.
When the Internet video-enabled HDTVs hit the market in late 2009 or early 2010, uses will be able to surf through Internet sites with a standard TV remote control as though they were surfing through cable channels. The Internet "channels" will even display next to standard network TV channels.
By licensing the software to HDTV manufacturers for little or no cost, AnySource can offer video content from popular web video producers like Next New Networks Inc., Revision3, as well as video hosting sites like Brightcove, with which AnySource has struck a partnership.
According to Mike Harris, CEO of AnySource, the company will be able to constantly add new web videos channels via an easy-to-use template through which content providers simply enter relevant data into the company's servers. Harris says more than 400 Internet "channels" will be available when the Internet Video Navigator launches.
What's more, the company will generate revenue through built-in advertising on the software platform, bringing the web to the TV at little to no cost to the manufacturers, and no cost to the consumer or the content producers.