Streaming start-up crosses "middle mile". A stealth company called EdgeStream is set to unveil technology that it says can as much as double the speeds of data delivery on the public Internet. [CNET News.com]

Bear with me here for a moment.

1. I think that blogging is a saner form of Gonzo journalism. Still unedited, raw, and straight out of the cortex of the writers, just without Thompson's antics.
2. The cost of editing video has dropped dramatically, but streaming out to an audience is still a huge cost. A new workstation with video editing capabilites is only around $2000 USD. A good Mini DV camera can be had for around $500 USD. CNN is already starting to deploy reporters with cameras and laptops so they can edit their work in the field, rather than tying up an editing station.
3. P2P networking drops the cost of distributing content, as users share files they like, and kill the files that they don't. being able to rate the files adds value to the P2P network, as it is effectively community moderated.
4. A means of distibuting the content outside the P2P network is needed as well, for the "squares" that aren't hip to what you are doing.
5. Compensation model: Bandwidth costs, and other than doing the public TV "please send us some cash" tag at the end of the program, you'd have to make your revenue on another model. Tshirts, coffe cups, patches, archives of the seasons on DVD with bonus material, or offer mailed DVD's of each episode (Quarterly?) in a higher quality format than what you can download.

Edgestream fits into all this by providing a rock solid base over which to stream your content. Take that with Marc Andreessen's recent adress to NAB, and you've got a system that can deliver the goods to users in a fast, efficient manner.

11:30:35 AM