[reblogged from the original on NewTeeVee.com on October 14]
by Ryan Lawler
Livestream is ramping up its efforts to court music labels and Hollywood studios with the opening of a new office in Los Angeles. And the startup’s first hire for the office is new Jeff Varnell, who was poached from Livestream competitor Ustream.
Varnell joins Livestream as its new executive vice president of business development, and will lead the new L.A. office and studio. Also joining him on the west coast is Livestream head of production Otto Cedeno, who is relocating to L.A. to head up operations and production there. In addition, Livestream plans to add three director-level hires to strike partnerships in three main verticals: music, movie studios and brands.
Sound familiar? That’s the same type of template Varnell followed when he led the media team at Ustream as director of business development there. While he was on board, Ustream found some significant traction with studios and brands that wanted to use live events — like streaming red carpet movie premieres — to drive interest in their products. Livestream is hoping that it too can strike similar relationships.
Livestream CEO Max Haot said in a phone interview today that the company wants to ramp up the live streaming and turnkey production services that it offers to media companies. “With these live streaming premieres, it’s usually the same department that is buying pre-roll,” Haot said, “but it’s more effective for [consumers] to watch a 20-minute movie premiere” than to watch a two-minute video trailer.
The strategic initiative comes as Livestream tries to get more aggressive about growing its business. According to Haot, the startup has generated more than $5 million in revenue, and has reached profitability already this year.
Photo of Hollywood sign courtesy of Flickr user Sörn.
On Friday, November 20 everyone in the world will be able to enjoy a cruise vacation from the comfort of their home or office. The Oasis of the Seas Cruise Ship will take to the sea and there will be a live tour of the ship at 2:30pm (EST) on CruiseCritic.com and Livestream.
While it isn’t traveling anywhere exotic, the ship itself is a spectacle. The cruiser features 2,700 cabins, an ice rink, small golf course, four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, theme parks, nurseries, both indoor and our door theaters, and more. The new ship, which is five times larger than the Titanic, can hold 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crewmembers. Not bad for a $1.5 billion ship.
Cruise Critic’s editorial team will be on-board from November 20-22, filming live reports from the ship’s seven neighborhoods. They will share exclusive photos, videos, tweets, and more.
The coverage will start at 2:30 PM (ET).
Hop on the cruise live at www.livestream.com/cruisecritic.
Here’s a clip of the live action:
On Monday November 16 lead singer/guitarist Justin Pierre from the rock band ‘Motion City Soundtrack‘ will be conducting a Live Q&A at 3pm (EST) on their Livestream channel: http://www.livestream.com/motioncitysoundtrack. Tune in to have your questions answered live by Justin via Twitter and Facebook.
Later that evening at 7pm ET on Monday Nov. 16, Operation Girl Power will be live from NYC with guest host Sherri Shepherd of ABC’s ‘The View.’ Operation Girl Power, presented by the Arts Effect, has been described as the Vagina Monologues for Tweens and will include free acting, writing, and blogging seminars followed by a girl power party. Tune in to chat and watch the entire event here.
Spaceflight Now has plans to broadcast the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which will be the last Shuttle launch of 2009 and one of only 9 launches left before the Shuttle fleet is retired. Tune in on Monday Nov. 16 at 2:28pm (EST) for complete coverage on http://www.livestream.com/spaceflightnow or on the iPhone at iphone.livestream.com
TEDx San Francisco, an independently organized TEDx event, will take place on Tuesday November 17 from 4pm-8pm PST (7pm-11pm EST). The event will focus on the theme of Creativity and Reinvention, and will feature talks with many thinkers from around the country. Tune in on Tuesday at: http://www.livestream.com/tedxsf
Streaming Media West will kick off on Tuesday November 17 and will run through Thursday the 19th, featuring keynotes from Bill Stone of FloTV, Jeremy Allaire from Brightcove, and Emil Rensing from EPIX. The highlight will come on Wednesday November 18th at 7:30pm PST (10:30pm EST) during the Reader’s Choice Awards, which will stream in it’s entirety from the official Streaming Media West Livestream channel page.
The Republican Governors Association will be live from Wednesay Nov. 18 – Friday November 20 celebrating the GOP comeback and welcoming the two newly elected US governors to their organization. Tune in for complete coverage of all the speakers and to chat live on Livestream and Facebook.
On Friday the 20th TEDx NASA will be taking place in Newport News, VA from 10am-7pm ET, and Livestream will be broadcasting all of the talks live. ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’ author Mitch Albom will talk, in addition to many other accomplished artists and scientists. Tune in to watch and chat live on Livestream or on Facebook via the custom Livestream app.
The fastest female skier in the world Lindsey Vonn will host a live chat in conjunction with Vail Mountain, which is being billed as ‘Lindsey Is Epic’. The chat will take place on Friday November 20 from 5-6pm MT (7-8pm ET), and will enable fans to chat live with Lindsey. Kids can also submit video questions here for a chance to win a FREE 2009/2010 Epic Season Pass to Vail resorts!
Women’s Wear Daily will host a live chat with Fashion Designer Stella McCartney and WWD Executive Editor Bridget Foley, on Monday Nov. 9 at 3:40pm ET via Livestream and Facebook. McCartney will be discussing her work live from the St. Regis Hotel in anticipation of the Apparel/Retail CEO Summit.
‘Old Dogs‘, the new Disney comedy starring Robin Williams, John Travolta and Seth Green, will be premiering on Monday November 9 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET in Hollywood. Livestream will be there on the red carpet with Livepack interviewing the entire cast and crew, allowing fans to watch it live and chat using Twitter and Facebook from the custom Old Dogs channel page: http://www.livestream.com/olddogspremiere
British Band Athlete will be streaming their documentary “Black Swan Song” twice on Monday Nov. 9, first at 1pm GMT and then again at 8pm GMT (8am & 3pm EST). The stream will be available to fans exclusively through Livestream, and will give them the chance to chat live using the integrated Facebook and Twitter chat on Livestream and Facebook.
Harper’s Magazine will present “The Family Table” on Wednesday November 11 at 7pm ET. The discussion will feature the authors Rivka Galchen, Ben Marcus and David Samuels, and will be available on both Livestream and Facebook so that fans can participate in the discussion.
The World Econ
omic Forum‘s India Economic Summit 2009 continues this week with discussions on Monday November 9th, and a closing Plenary session on Tuesday November 10. Tune in to hear some of the world’s brightest minds discuss the future of India’s economy.
Gigaom TV will be kicking off a busy Thursday on Livestream with their all-day broadcast of NewTeeVee Live on Thursday Nov. 12 from 8AM – 6PM PT / 11AM – 9PM ET at www.livestream.com/gigaomtv. The conference will be discussing ‘Television Reinvented’ and will feature panel discussions from leaders in the field of television and communications. The stream will also be made available on to your iPhone if you can’t get to a computer! Check it out at: http://iphone.livestream.com/gigaomtv
Turner Sports is back with another NBA Live Chat, this time with former NBA Star Kenny Smith. In order to chat with him just tune in to the Custom TNT Livestream channel page during the half time Thursday’s Cleveland Cavs @ Miami Heat game at approximately 9:30pm ET.
Columbia University‘s school of Journalism will host a conference entitled “Changing Media Landscape 2009” on Thursday November 12 from 7-8:30pm ET. The conference is part of the “Columbia-Hearst Journalism Dialogue” series presented by the Heart Foundation and The Columbia Journalism Digital Media Program. For a complete broadcast and Live chat tune in at: http://www.livestream.com/columbiajournalism
Wyclef Jean performed on Thursday October 29 at Quincy Jones’ Bermuda Music Festival, and chose to stream the performance on Livestream using his custom channel page: http://www.livestream.com/clefzonemedia
Fans could tune in and chat with one another live using Twitter or Facebook while Wyclef put on one of his legendary performances. Wyclef also added the player as a custom App to his Facebook fan page where fans could automatically tune in on Facebook.
The Bermuda Music Fest has been hosting live chat’s with a number of the artists who will be performing during the festival in anticipation of this weekend, including Eykah Badu, Quincy Jones, John Legend and, of course, Wyclef Jean.
On Thursday October 29th basketball fans will be able to go online and chat live with NBA great Kevin McHale at approximately 9:30pm (ET) during half time of the 8:30pm (ET) San Antonio Spurs @ Chicago Bulls game.
Turner Sports, in conjunction with NBA TV, will be broadcasting the game on their cable television network, and hosting the webchat using the custom Turner Sports Livestream channel page and Facebook App. The Livestream player will also be embedded on NBA.com/turnersportslive, where fans can chat with McHale and each other using the integrated Twitter and Facebook chat.
This will be the first in a series of online Q&A’s that Turner plans to host with NBA stars, following up on the series of Q&A’s that they hosted with MLB stars during the 2009 MLB Post-season.
Tune in at 9:30pm (ET) to chat with the former Boston Celtic exclusively on Livestream: http://www.livestream.com/turnersportslive
Tonight, Thursday October 22, the movie Saw VI will be premiering at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, and Livestream will be there with our Livepack unit streaming the entire red carpet ceremony on Facebook and Livestream.
The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 6:30pm PT / 9:30pm ET and will feature red carpet interviews with the show’s entire cast and crew, including stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, and Shawnee Smith.
Fans will be able to communicate with the host and each other using the Facebook and Twitter chats that are integrated into the Livestream player. The format will be very similar to the Astro Boy and Law Abiding Citizen premieres that we streamed over the past few weeks.
Tune in at 6:30pm PT / 9:30pm ET for the complete broadcast: http://www.livestream.com/saw6premiere
If you’ve seen any of Burger King®‘s latest commercials you know that Tony Stewart has been telling consumers to “only endorse things that you believe in.” Well on Tuesday October 20 at 1pm ET Burger King® finally put Stewart to the test with a Polygraph test in order to answer the question that everyone has been asking: Does Tony Stewart truly love the WHOPPER®
The hour long broadcast, which was available on their Livestream channel page as well as Burger King®’s official site, featured Tony connected to a Polygraph while being asked questions that fans were able to submit and vote on in the weeks leading up to the broadcast. Tony was asked a number of questions ranging from NASCAR trivia to personal information, all leading up to the main event.
For the answer tune in tonight Tuesday October 20 at 9pm ET for a replay of the entire show on http://truthabouttony.com.
Here’s an excerpt of the live event powered by Livestream:
Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft and Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spoke on Thursday October 15 at the “World Food Prize Symposium” in Des Moines Iowa. The event was broadcast in it’s entirety by Gannett publication the Des Moines Register.
The World Food Prize is an award dedicated to the memory of Dr. Norman Borlaug, a scientist who pioneered many innovations in farming that are estimated to have saved over a Billion lives. He was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, making him one of only 6 people to have done so.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is heavily involved in the activities of The World Food Prize and Bill Gates spoke on behalf of the organization in order to recognize the achievements of this year’s recipient Gebisa Ejeta of Ethopia.
What the archive recording here below.
Last night, October 6, at 7:30pm PT / 10:30pm ET, the stars of the new movie ‘Law Abiding Citizen‘ arrived for the film’s red carpet premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, and Livestream was there to stream the entire event with Livepack.
The hugely successful broadcast featured stars such as Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler who came out in support of the new movie, and were interviewed by the Livestream team. Using Livepack, Livestream was able to bring the red carpet premiere to hundreds of people around the world who could not be there in person in a high quality format.
You can watch a replay of the entire broadcast from the custom ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ channel page: http://www.livestream.com/lawabidingcitizenpremiere
