MetaCafe Grabs Action Sports Without Paying a Penny

The online video shakeout is happening, though not as quickly as you might have thought two years ago: Instead of going away overnight, video sites that aren’t YouTube or Hulu are quietly circling each other. Everyone talks to everyone about a potential deal, but few of them actually get consummated. Here’s one that did.

Another Trailer Site? Sure: Metacafe Launches a Trailer Park.

How do you survive in online video if you don’t have YouTube’s scale or Hulu’s content? Find a specialty. Metacafe promises to create a better version of Amazon’s IMDB.

Is Veoh the Next Big Video Site to Give Up?

Now that Joost has given up the ghost and bailed out of the Web video portal business, who’s next? A good bet: Veoh, one of the best-funded would-be YouTubes. Multiple sources tell me the company is aggressively marketing itself to would-be buyers, and it’s asking for less than the $70 million investors like Michael Eisner have plowed into the company. Meanwhile, rival MetaCafe is looking for a “strategic investor.”
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Voices

Metacafe Adds a Hub for TV

Metacafe, seeking to reach more “media-snacking” consumers, is launching a section of its video site devoted to short clips from “Nurse Jackie,” “Weeds,” “Big Brother” and other television shows. The Palo Alto, Calif., company, which is funded by Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures, focuses on what it sees as a middle ground between YouTube and Hulu — short-form videos that are professionally produced or poised to go viral — said its chief executive, Erick Hachenburg, a former Electronics Arts executive.