Webcastr.com covered the festivities at the Bikini’s Travel Channel’s ‘Get Out’ 100th Episode on Mark Cuban’s HD Net party at the famed Les Deux nightclub in Hollywood, California.

The results are as follows:– YouTube topped the General / Viral Video category, but following close behind are Blinkx, Webcastr, StupidVideos and Toxic Junction.

Interview with Tim Devine, founder of Webcastr.com, a new company whose slogan says it all - ‘the Best of Internet TV.’

Why would a well-known music business executive walk away from a successful career (and a seven-figure salary) to become the next Internet entrepreneur? Just ask Tim Devine, founder of Webcastr.com, a new company whose slogan says it all - ‘the Best of Internet TV.’

A year ago, Devine was sitting at the top of Sony’s Columbia Records West Coast operation as GM and SVP, Artists and Repertoire. A man whose shrewd skills as a talent scout, dealmaker and corporate player helped plump record company coffers to the tune of half a billion dollars across the last two decades, he’d been instrumental in the careers of such diverse artists as U2, Prince, Devo, Bonnie Raitt, the Beastie Boys, Blind Melon, The Offspring, Train, Switchfoot and dozens of other name acts. But now he found himself awash in an entertainment technology sea change that was swamping the traditional label model.

“There was a seismic shift happening,” Devine recalls. “It was painfully obvious – especially with the video revolution – that the frontier of opportunity in entertainment is in digitization and the web.” With every URL now the platform for a potential media empire, Devine opted out to build and rule his own.

Now sitting in the offices of The Devine Company at the center of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, Devine is excited about the pioneering feel of his new enterprise. “It’s early days,” he says with a gleam in his eye. “We’re helping to create a whole new kind of media.” Turning to his computer, he navigates briskly through a portfolio of web commerce ventures he’s currently developing that range from real estate to automobiles to entertainment. Webcastr.com, the crown jewel the collection, is focused on is the burgeoning field of internet television. Devine is quick to explain what that is.

“There’s a lot of misconception about this still nascent field. To most people, the phrase ‘internet television’ simply means user-generated uploaded clips (a la YouTube or Revver) or perhaps traditional television repurposed for the web, like say, Hulu. We believe it is something wholly different than that.”

With production costs plummeting and web distribution on the rise, “Channels are popping up everywhere, many of which are branded, focused and really serve a specialized audience,” Devine explains. “We’re creating a portal, a network if you will, for these branded channels to exist in an environment much like the early days of cable TV, but on the web.”

“The biggest challenges in the web video environment are dealing with production values that are all over the map as well as just the sheer volume of material,” he continues. “How can viewers conveniently determine what should be on their programming menu without wading through a vast junkyard of marginally watchable stuff? I felt there was a need for a site that made it easy – one-stop shopping for only the best and latest on-demand video content on the web.”

Devine points to the familiar names that have already signed on to his network. From the Wall Street Journal to Vanity Fair; from TV Guide Broadband to FHM magazine, traditional media are launching internet video channels to expand the reach of their brand with quality content that acts as an extension of their principal outlets.

But Webcastr is not just for established brands. “We have exciting new content creators like CelebTV, Young Hollywood, Automotive TV, the Green Energy Channel, the Space Channel, the Bike Channel, Digital Daily and others that sit right alongside names like CBS, MTV, TMZ and the NHL.”

Beyond the channel experience, Webcastr also offers a selection of up-to-the-minute news, show business, and informational clips from around the web, as well as lifestyle clips on gaming, technology, art, animation, travel, cooking, health – plus the requisite sexy fashion videos and bikini babes. “The web generation has a certain lean. They want information, but they also want to be entertained,” says Devine. “Today’s audience defines news very broadly. They want news that reflects their social culture and their special interests – stylish and sexy, but also smart. Webcastr is designed to be their video newsstand.”

From moment to moment, the site’s front page may feature anything from global warming, to the situation in Darfur, to the Victoria’s Secret lingerie show to the latest celebrity meltdown – or all of the above. Paris Hilton and Pervez Musharraf are suddenly on equal terms. Devine’s role as chief curator of this eclectic mix brings a skill set to bear that’s been honed on literally thousands of record album projects. “I learned long ago that you don’t sign a band just because you like their music. It’s all about understanding what the audience wants and serving them.”

Webcastr’s ability to do just that differentiates it from the rest of the video aggregation pack, and the concept appears to be working. With nearly 200 content providers already on board and an Alexa ranking that is up 1,500% in the just last four months alone, the site is rapidly gaining traction around the world. “We have viewers tuning in from over 100 countries. When people come to visit us, I hand them the remote and say, ‘find this stuff on your regular TV.’ They can’t do it.” says Devine.

Though currently in beta, Webcastr has already garnered attention on the webpages of Forbes, MarketWatch, the LA Times and others who took notice when a tsunami of traffic overwhelmed the site’s server capacity due to the exclusive debut of Britney Spears’ video from her latest album. How they managed to scoop the competition remains a trade secret, but as technological and creative refinements continue, Devine and his team are busy at work building the post-YouTube video experience.

“Growing up, my heroes were always guys like (CBS founder) Bill Paley and later Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch; guys who seized the moment that allowed them to quickly build media empires in an age of technological expansion, first with transcontinental terrestrial broadcasting, then later with satellites.” Clearly Devine feels that just such a moment has arrived for Internet TV.

“We believe the next five years are going to show enormous growth in the advent and development of both specialized and branded video channel-based programming for several reasons. First, there are well-defined constituencies for nearly every endeavor known to man – mountain biking, photoshoppers, mac enthusiasts, snowboarders, food and wine lovers – you name it. Just like in print, you also have advertising bases to support these fields. Secondly, unlike starting a cable TV channel, you can take advantage of lower production costs, and you don’t have to create a 24-hour slate of programming on a daily basis,” explains the web media maven.

Replete with state-of-the-art features – including widgets, bookmark links, RSS feeds, interactivity enhancements, Facebook and myspace fan sites, and more to come – which drive increasing engagement with the continuously mutating programming mix, Webcastr provocatively suggests that perhaps the future of television is evolving right before your eyes. Meanwhile, one thing is certain. With music, extreme sports and dream girls du jour alongside finance, politics and breaking world news, Webcastr is a seductive melange of eye candy, infobites, and specialty snacks ready made for today’s digital consumer.

“Let’s put it this way,” says Devine. “It’s not your father’s newspaper.”

To see exactly what this blend of video programming is all about, check out www.webcastr.com.

Mick Kleber is a Los Angeles-based creative director/producer specializing in the arts, health and faith. He is the former Chief Creative Officer for Spotlight Health and Capitol Records VP, Video and Media.

Website highlights best of professional clips on the web.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8

(Reuters) — Webcastr.com, a video website featuring professional video content from over 200 channel providers, today announced the winners of it’s Videos of the Year awards. Webcastr’s viewers, along with it’s editors voted amongst over 2,500 professionally produced videos on the website to pick the best video clips of the year for 2007.Thirty finalists were chosen by the staff of the webbery with the final clips being voted on during the last two weeks of December.The winners are:

• Heidi Loves Her Bazooms — (Victoria Secret promo spot featuring supermodel Heidi Klum)
• D*ck In A Box (The popular SNL skit featuring Justin Timberlake and Andy Samburg)
• Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert in the UK
• Acting for the Greenscreen (a comedy sketch from Body of Art)
• Bob Dylan Cadillac Commercial
• Britney Spears VMA Parody (featuring Chris Crocker from National Lampoon.com)
• Don’t Taze Me, Bro (from the John Kerry speech at Univ. of Florida)
• Snoop Dogg in the UK (where the US rapper was hassled by Heathrow authorities)
• The Chemical Bros. “Salmon Dance” (computer animated music video)
• Bush vs. Miss North Carolina (a comedy mashup)

Honorable Mention: SUV Driving Through a Shopping Mall (video surveillance tape)

Unlike the majority of video sharing sites, Webcastr features clips that come from licensed sources of professional and semi-pro content. “With so much of the user generated content out there being of questionable quality, we are happy to present these awards in recognition of the efforts of pro content creators who increasingly understand the value of the short form online video medium,” said Webcastr CEO, Tim Devine.

Webcastr features video clip content covering the fields of news, sports, music video, comedy, celebrity coverage, film, gaming, technology, animation and informational content updated throughout the day from a variety of content providers. The site is the opposite of user generated video sites that rely mostly on uploads of amateur video content from their members.”

We feel there is a whole new world of professional and semi-pro video producers whose work may or may not fit into traditional broadcast televisionmodels. We created the site for an audience that wants a more sophisticated web video experience including not having to wade through hundreds of clips tofind quality content on the web,” says Devine.

The site currently has deals with nearly 200 different content providers including CBS News, MTV News, Daily Variety, FHM, Dow Jones, CelebTV, Automotive TV, Warner Music, Sony/BMG, TV Guide Broadband, the Green Energy Channel, the Space Channel, Cycling TV, Ford Models TV, Election TV, ShortBrain TV, Vanity Fair and many others.Started in June of 2007 by former Sony Music exec, Tim Devine, Webcastr has seen it’s audience grow around the world as well as enjoying a 1,500% viewership increase in it’s ratings as determined by internet tracking service Alexa. “We now have viewers tuning in from over 150 countries.” The site, still in beta phase, expects to go public by the end of next month.

Webcastr.com now distributing content from over 200 name brand channel providers including CBS News, MTV News, Reuters, Vanity Fair, Daily Variety, FHM, Speed TV, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal TV, Celeb TV, AutoTrader TV, Sony/BMG Musicbox, and many more. Alexa rankings increased 1,500% among all websites worldwide.

(Get In magazine) — Honestly, I don’t really need to see episode 47 of “Dudes Tossing Themselves Down Staircases”. Nor am I really interested in the latest “What My Cat Did This Week”. As entertaining as YouTube and other video sharing sites can be, the influx of amateur video featuring whatever people find interesting in their day to day lives has gotten more than a little old (can you feel your IQ dropping?). With all the various digital recorders and web cams designed specifically with YouTube in mind, it’s bound to get worse.

But wait, salvation is in sight! Alright, not salvation, but at least something better. Webcastr.com is a new “worldwide internet portal for video channels”. Webcastr does not intend to be yet another YouTube clone. In fact, founder Tim Devine calls it “The Future of Television”, and it very well may be.

Webcastr is a collection of channels, each featuring its own content. Music, Politics, Fashion, Cars, Entertainment, Babes, Cooking, Sports and Tech represent just a small example of the diverse offerings to be found on Webcster.

Regular television outlets are also hopping on the bandwagon, with CBS News and MTV News featured on the site, with more deals in the works. Pretty much anything you could be interested in can be found on Webcastr. These are not random posts from grimy teens in their mom’s basement. These are professional (or semi-professional) videos, which makes all the difference in the world. Currently Webcastr already has over 200 content providers, and they intend to keep adding to that list.

Webcastr has already made a splash on the international stage. Earlier this month they got their hands on a pre-release version of the Britney Spears video “Gimme More”. The response was so massive, according to Devine “We had traffic from 93 countries in a little over six hours”. Of course, the site crashed – it was still in beta. Now upgraded to compensate for the increased traffic Webcastr is equipped to handle the teeming masses without a hiccup.

To make things even easier Webcastr offers a widget that can be added to your Myspace, Facebook or blog that will automatically update with videos from whatever is most popular at the moment.

Webcastr seems to be trying all manner of things to stay ahead in the popularity game, obviously hoping to capitalize off the success of leaking the Spears video. They recently released another leak, this time of Will.i.am’s Remix of “I Got It From My Mama” - featuring a sample of Daft Punk’s “Around The World” - which was shot before he learned the boys in Daft Punk denied him the right to use the sample. Oops.

The latest leaked video is a cheap and effective to keep attention focused Webcaster. On the Internet, being the first is often the best way to get noticed. If Webcastr can keep it up they may be able to focus that attention into a dedicated following. Like all Web 2.0 prodigies, Webcastr has a drive for World Domination. Or at the very least, Internet domination. Devine has said “We envision a day when you will be able to see all the world’s TV live and online. We plan to be a conduit for that.”Whether Webcastr succeeds or not is yet to be seen but this is definitely a cool new way to get your Internet video fix, so check it out!

(Forbes.com) — LOS ANGELES, Oct 11, 2007 - Webcastr.com, a new portal of Internet television programming set to launch next month, was inundated by viewers last Friday morning when it featured the new Britney Spears video, “Gimme More” prior to its official release this week. Word of the video leak quickly spread throughout the blogosphere, eventually landing on popular celebrity gossip sites like “Pop Culture Madness” and “Pink is the New Blog.” From there, interest in the video spread worldwide with people seeking a chance to view the new clip before its official release date, causing the site, which is still in beta testing, to crash before it even had a chance to officially launch. “We were totally caught off guard by the global magnitude of the response,” explains Webcastr founder Tim Devine.

“We had traffic from 93 countries in a little over six hours and had to immediately get more server capacity weeks before we anticipated needing it.”
While the service was being restored, Webcastr locked in additional coverage of the Spears’ video from TMZ.com to satisfy the thousands of fans that were still accessing the site throughout the weekend.

A second test came yesterday, when the site was mentioned in a front page story on the Huffington Post for airing a series of videos from the John Edwards’ campaign that had mysteriously disappeared from the web two years ago. This time the site was able to handle the surge in traffic generated via the popular blog.

Launching next month, Webcastr delivers the best of Internet Television covering the fields of news, sports, music, celebrity, politics and more with over 200 channel providers already on-board.

Founded by former Sony Music Executive, Tim Devine, the company serves as a counter to popular clip sharing sites such as YouTube and Revver. “We are an outlet for the explosive new area of Internet TV as well as presenting the best in clip coverage from professional and pro-am sources,” says Devine. “People are tired of sorting thru amateur clips just to find what they need. We seek to deliver the kind of quality content that viewers find most vital on a daily basis.”

Huffingtonpost.com

A set of short documentary film “webisodes” made for former Sen. John Edwards prior to his presidential candidacy continues to weave a curious web, this time involving the filmmaker.

The videos, which cost Edwards’ One America Committee $114,461, were produced in 2006 by an aspiring actress/producer named Rielle Hunter, who proposed the idea to the senator in a bar in New York City. The objective was to give viewers - and presumably voters - an authentic look at the North Carolinian. But shortly after Edwards declared his White House aspirations, the footage all but disappeared from public view. After the Huffington Post wrote about the webisodes, the videos resurfaced, both on YouTube and Webcastr.com, although the anonymous individual who reposted them (user name: “MissingVideos”) has not responded to emails.

Little was known about Hunter as well. Despite working in the movie business, she had virtually no Internet presence save for an article in Newsweek about her filming of Edwards and an uninformative IMDB entry for her work on the short film Billy Bob and Them (2000).

This anonymity, it turns out, wasn’t always the case. The Huffington Post has uncovered a deleted website that formerly belonged to Hunter. Titled “Being Is Free,” the site was last updated on April 22, 2007, roughly twenty days after Edwards’ One America Committee made its final payment to Hunter’s company, Midline Groove Productions.

There is virtually no mention of filmmaking or politics on the site. And there is little indication as to what Hunter did professionally - beyond an involvement in various spiritual quests - before she and her partner, Mimi Hockman, started Midline Groove Production in the spring of 2006. As Colin Weil, a consultant to the Edwards webisodes told the Huffington Post: “Neither of them had done tons and tons of stuff before hand… The whole [Edwards' taping] was pretty organic.”

On the deleted pages, the 44-year-old Hunter (formerly known as Lisa Druck) discusses her former hard partying days, her search for enlightenment, and her issues with drugs and debt. There is a 2005 interview she did with one-time boyfriend Jay McInerney, in which the celebrated novelist reveals that Hunter was the basis for Alison Poole, the main character of his book, Story of My Life.

“It was narrated in the first person,” McInerney writes in the intro to the interview, “from the point of view of an ostensibly jaded, cocaine-addled, sexually voracious 20-year old who was, shall we say, inspired by Lisa [aka Rielle].”

The two go on to discuss Hunter’s life after the book’s publication. Here’s an excerpt (the full interview is available here):

Hunter: I thought I was going to LA to be an actress and to get away from New York because I was doing so many drugs. We always think we’re going somewhere for some particular reason, and it turns out that that isn’t the reason at all

McInerney: Is LA less druggy than New York?

Hunter: Oh yeah. Actually the reason it was less druggy was because someone referred me to a healer who did a clearing on my energy field. I was in a state of ecstasy for about a week and realized what I was looking for, in terms of medication, was inside of me; it was a higher bliss. With that clearing, all desire for drugs or alcohol vanished. I became sober overnight. And then I became a spiritual seeker, addicted to a higher consciousness, addicted to enlightenment.

So why was Hunter’s website - which had no material related to her work with Edwards or the Edwards’ campaign - taken down? Emails and calls to Midline Groove Productions went unanswered.

Moreover, why did Edwards choose someone with limited film experience to document his behind-the-scenes campaign presence - “the real John Edwards”? The Senator’s campaign, likewise, did not return calls requesting comment.

And was the more than $100,000 spent by Edwards’ One American Committee - itself dedicated to fighting poverty and lifting Americans into the middle class - worth it?

According to several experts on the topic, the project was unique, portraying the senator in a positive informal light that could potentially benefit his presidential campaign. But the cost of the films, they say, was higher than that of traditional political video.

“In terms of politics it’s a lot. In terms of non-political production it is chump change,” said Jeremy Thompson, a Democratic media consultant, who works for the organization Reelpolitik. “The combination of how much was paid, the experience factor and how many pieces [Midline] made, made the whole thing a bit surprising.”