WDT Acquires ChaserTV

[Adam Lucio]

I think Lannys concerns are certainly valid and worth bringing up, each and every one of us has a right to know what can happen with our work. While it should be each and everyones responsibility to take initiative to understand it themselves, it shouldn't be frowned upon discussing in the open. I too wouldn't mind seeing some more hard information, especially as to how much I could *potentially* be "screwing myself out of."

That being said here is my perspective. I have never sold a stream. If I am lucky I figured I could *maybe* sell 1 or 2 this year. FOR ME PERSONALLY, which comes to what? MAYBE earning 500 bucks? I would rather have a guaranteed source of income through viewership minutes/hours/days/whatever than have to compete with people who already have the hookups or will stream a flattened house just to get on TWC.

Is it taking the lazy way out? sure... Does it damage what others have spent years building up? Unfortunately...

I think the draw to most people [myself included] is the chance to make more than they have in years past. I have streamed for 2 years and in those 2 years combined I have made a total of about 4 bucks [no joke there.] So to me, suddenly the thought of potentially making a few hundred and hearing people who have even made over a thousand is of great appeal to me, and I think most people to.

Also one must consider all the risks involved can also happen if you are not using imap...and that not every station is an imap "customer" so there are still plenty of stations out there your broker can pimp your stream to.

Again on the other side of the coin, I do not like the idea of a station getting ahold of my footage and sending it all over the place, but how much viewership revenue I may earn could negate those feelings. I just dont know enough to make that kind of judgement until I try it for myself. I have people feeding me info from both sides of the fence, people I trust and respect, so whats a person to do? Simply decide for yourself what your values are, and then decide what the risk VS reward means to you.

I am still excited for this feature, and will certainly opt in.

 

[J Tyler]

If Adam and I are both streaming video to iMap on the same day.....I am just streaming crap and have 10 viewers, but Adam has just turned on his stream, also has 10 viewers, and has video of a 4 mile wide wedge hitting downtown Chicago. Every station in the country airs Adams video. Yet, we both make the same money? We both had 10 viewers. If a station wants to pick up a feed off iMap and carry it, why are they not required to pay SOMETHING to the person who streamed the video? Why does WDT allow the stations to air feeds for no additional payment to who originated the feed? I'm streaming my video for people to watch and for the NWS to see what I see. If a TV station or network wants to air that feed, they should pay for it, IMO.

So, am I understanding all this correctly????

 

[Kory Hartman]

Now trying to sell your stream that many others are on while competing with other chasers in one area. It'd be foolish for any of these news companies to WANT to buy your stream outside of the contracts with WDT. It's tossing money down the drain...

I don't agree with this at all. Every year I sell plenty of streams to local and national media, and more often than not, there's 20 other chasers in the area and half are probably streaming.

Even if the station pays to use another service, they'll still pay for the one that has the wedge.

If anyone needs help sorting out all this sales and embargo stuff, I'd be happy to answer questions. My email is below.

 

[Jeff Smith]

If Adam and I are both streaming video to iMap on the same day.....I am just streaming crap and have 10 viewers, but Adam has just turned on his stream, also has 10 viewers, and has video of a 4 mile wide wedge hitting downtown Chicago. Every station in the country airs Adams video.

Who do you think makes the money off of selling Adam's hypothetical wedge to the media? The way I understand it, not Adam....

 

[Scott Bennett]

Ok this is getting a little crazy...

There are 2 uniquely different products.... same as there was last week.
I feel like we are buying a new car with a CD player standard and people are upset a DVD entertainment system is an option.

ChaserTV- Same ChaserTV as before, works the same way as it did a week ago. Someone else owns the domain name and the servers.
Same features and so on... Heck even Steve and I are still helping with technical issues and setups... see facebook
Pays nothing unless you sell your stream.

iMap- Solution praised by the likes of Verne Carlson & Randy Denzer... insane amounts of development and people to support it. Pays based on "Viewer Hours" for people who want to be paid regardless if they sell their stream or not. You give up some rights to stations who are partners with iMap to use your video on air.

And now the new OPTION...
ChaserTV + iMap
Combines the best of both worlds.

ChaserTV is the same you just now have an option to do iMap.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO IMAP IF YOU DON'T WANT TO.
But PLEASE is it really fair to rip the new "Feature" to shreds before you even see the details?

I really see this as the best of both worlds and why we thought (and still think) it's a GREAT plan.

If you want to keep using ChaserTV AWESOME! Nothing changes for you.
If you want to use ChaserTV + iMap GREAT! Now you can leverage revenue if you don't typically sell streams to the media.

I for one plan to use ChaserTV + iMap.
Why?

Because I am going to get paid no matter what. (iMap)
My broker (if I choose to use one) will sell my stream if they can using the MAK system. (ChaserTV)
I still have the 1080p shot on my camera in my hand and by the time I can upload it Weberpal has prob already beat me to the punch. (Weberpal is the man)

You all know we built CTV on the principles to let people do with their video what they want, that has not changed in any way.

You can make a decision... I want to use CTV the way it is, I want to use CTV+iMap or I want to do something different.

The fact remains the current CTV technology and policies remain EXACTLY the same as they were a week ago.

Guys... We wanted there to be options and this was the best way to do it. If you think I helped you fix your stream at 2am because you sent $40 you could not be more mistaken. I consider everyone of you a friend and would help you fix your SS stream if you asked. Nothing there changes.

If you don't like something let me know and I will see what I can do. It saddens me to see CTV hung out like this when it's the same CTV it was last week. Steve and I put so much energy into CTV there is no way we would have agreed to let anyone kill it like you describe.

It's only been 4 days. I know JR has been talking with all kinds of people on the phone and we have been communicating with people via email too.
Let's give them a some time to get the information out on the new "Feature" until then... and even AFTER you still have the same CTV you know and love.

 

[Bart_Comstock]

If your stream has only been up for 10 min but you are filming a 4mile wide wedge hitting the windy city, give it 5 more minutes and I assure you the number of viewers will explode.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

Who do you think makes the money off of selling Adam's hypothetical wedge to the media? The way I understand it, not Adam....

Would Adam get any credit for the video sold or would it be considered a WDT/TVN video?

 

[Scott Bennett]

Would Adam get any credit for the video sold or would it be considered a WDT/TVN video?

Adams hypothetical wedge is like the big one hitting Downtown Dallas.

TVN has nothing to do with this at all. WDT would not directly sell the wedge video because there was a wedge on the video.
You are basically selling your stream in bulk form the entire time it's on regardless if it's a wedge or a garden shower.
You are getting paid based on the web viewers on your stream even if you are streaming a sunny day.
The better the video, the more viewers, the more money.

What impacts you is if you are streaming said wedge and 10,000 people start watching on the web.

My understanding is they can only use 30 seconds of your stream then they direct people to their website thus increasing the viewers and your "Viewer Hours"

 

[Adam Lucio]

How did me filming a wedge become the prime example of the different scenarios here haha.

I always have and always will support CTV for being an amazing and far superior streaming choice. I think the OPTION to do I-map is great, as I was sometimes a tad bit jealous the TVN streamers had that revenue system after I had quit. I was hoping someday CTV would come up with something similar and now its here! If my last post came off as slanderous I apologize as that was not my intention, rather I was trying to remain neutral and give opinions using both sides of the argument.

As I said before. This option will at least guarantee more revenue than I have made in years past, and that to me sounds pretty sweet. I have a broker, and she can pimp the stream to all the non imap stations at the same time. Seems like a sweet deal to me.

 

[Jeremy Den Hartog]

Forgive me for the dumb question as I'm new to CTV but are we able to 'opt-in' to iMap now or is this something that we are waiting to be able to do? I'm assuming we are waiting (based on what I'm reading) but just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something...

Thanks

 

[Steve Miller]

The iMap OPTION is not yet available on ChaserTV. The transfer of ownership between CTV and WDT (who is not TVN) is only 4-days old so it will likely be a few weeks before you see the OPTION available on CTV.

 

[Jeremy Den Hartog]

The iMap OPTION is not yet available on ChaserTV. The transfer of ownership between CTV and WDT (who is not TVN) is only 4-days old so it will likely be a few weeks before you see the OPTION available on CTV.

Ahh ok, thats what I was thinking but just wanted to make sure. Thanks for the clarification Steve

 

[Jason Foster]

TVN uses iMap no different than some chasers using Ustream or LiveStream, or Justin.TV etc. They are a client, not a co-owner. At least that's what I understand.

iMap really only seems to benefit those that stream for fun and not part of a business. Pay outs per chase likely won't even pay for that all-sups burrito for 95% of the folks.

TVN's streaming is...as stated elsewhere, but also IMO a bad deal...at least at the prices I was quoted when I was asked to join. It basically seems they just want to drive traffic to TVNs other products and services. As others, I didn't feel I wanted to subsidize that venture. The fear I think I'm reading into here is that regardless of whether ONE decides to stay on the old system, that many will venture into this iMap system with some idea of accepting the small payouts, thereby taking away opportunities to sell in markets that have TV stations and networks on the WDT contract, payroll, whatever. While that is the nature of a free market, it means for some....that CTV kinda betrayed it's current customers. I'm not sure I'm understanding the point of view correctly, but I think I'm reading something like that. I could be wrong (it's been known to happen).

Remember these things: a)You can always try it, and see how it goes, if you don't like it, get rid of it. b)you can always leave CTV for another service if you don't like it. No contracts at all.

Of course....realistically....anyone looking to make money on a stream has a serious flaw in there business model IMO. While I've certainly come around to like CTV, and have and will make money from streaming (CTV or otherwise), it certainly is low priority. If anything should be taken away from this as a business thing...is that Bennett and Miller certainly are the ones laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[Steve Miller]

Have we mentioned there are NO changes to the core ChaserTV product and that you can opt in to iMap IF YOU WANT?

 

[rdale]

So you're saying that if I join ChaserTV, I also have to sign a contract with iMap and TVN and TWC? Count me out.

NOTE: THIS IS SARCASM. SMOK just pointed out the end-all be-all of the deal.