Sony switches Grouper to Crackle

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By Stevie Smith Jul 18, 2007, 13:28 GMT

Following its $65 million USD buyout of online video-sharing service Grouper, Japanese electronics giant Sony Corporation has this week announced that it is to rename its acquisition as "Crackle" and officially re-launched it as an online talent agency.Reshaped to exist as a prospective talent feeder for Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), Crackle will undergo quite a departure from its prior Web 2.0 user-generated placement in the video-sharing arena. "We're out of the user-generated-video business and in the emerging-talent business," commented Josh Felser, Grouper’s original founder, in a Times Online report. Felser now sits as the co-president of Sony’s Crackle. In order to serve its new function, Crackle will host talent competitions designed to scout the world’s expansive population of hopeful wannabes and root out potential creative stars of the future. Specifically, budding stars will be able to submit videos showcasing their talent in order to impress Crackle viewers and judging panels, and ultimately vie for as much as $20,000 USD in project funding and the opportunity to pitch directly to Sony. Crackle will run quarterly competitions to find the best animated clips created by its contributing users, with the winner receiving a cash prize along with a visit to LA to pitch a feature-length concept to gathered Sony execs. Similarly, the winner of its quarterly short-film contest will be graced with a financing deal direct from Crackle along with a pitch appointment with Sony Pictures Television and Columbia Pictures. Crackle will also seek out a stand-up comedian deemed worth of taking to the stage at one of Improv’s comedy clubs and deliver a fifteen-minute routine to wow the audience with gut-busting comedy. Participating Improv clubs include those in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. The reach of Crackle’s content will be bolstered thanks to distribution deals with the likes of AOL, MySpace, and other social networking destinations. Animated clips, comedy routines, short films, and other content will also be downloadable via the PlayStation 3 videogames console, VAIO computers and Bravia TVs equipped with Internet access.Though distancing itself from the gargantuan traffic pull of Google’s hugely popular YouTube, which is virtually untouched in the video-sharing marketplace where popularity is concerned, Crackle will still accept original moviemaking content from its users. However, it will also craft its own material and split its content into various genre-based channels.

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