Leo Laporte, aka ‘Chief TWiT,’ expands network into video with Mediafly partnership
Last week at the Blogworld keynote, the TWiT netcast network announced a partnership with the digital media distribution company Mediafly expands into video distribution across multiple video platforms.
TWiT, led by ‘Chief TWiT’ Leo Laporte, is home to many of the world’s most popular online audio shows about technology, including the popular roundtable podcast "This Week in Tech," and the most popular audio shows about Apple, Microsoft, Google, Web 2.0, computer security, and more. But to this point, Laporte had hesitated to make the jump to downloadable video, lest the effort be limited to only iTunes or iPhone users.
“I’ve always said that iTunes was the best and worst thing to ever happen to podcasting,” said Laporte. “It was great because it made downloading shows like TWiT easier. But it was bad because its success drowned out competition among other players, platforms, and devices. Now with Mediafly, we can expand beyond iTunes and the iPhone to big screen TV with devices like the Roku, and onto millions of other smart phones like the Palm Pre and the Android phones." "With Mediafly, we can now deliver the quality video experience we’ve been seeking," Laporte said.
Non-Apple smart phones represent a large, untapped market for digital content creators. According to a CNN report, BlackBerrys had a 55.3 percent share in the first quarter of 2009, compared to 19.5 percent for iPhones. That’s up from the third quarter of 2008, when BlackBerry devices controlled 40.4 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, compared with 30.1 percent for Apple.
In addition to mobile phones, Mediafly enables distribution to the rapidly growing market of Internet set-top boxes such as the popular Roku Digital Video Player (also known as the Netflix Player by Roku).
"Mediafly is an incredible platform because it allows content companies as diverse as the Motionbox home video sharing service and the TWiT netcast network to leverage the Roku platform quickly and easily,"said Brian Jaquet, director, corporate communications for Roku. "We’re thrilled to have Leo’s TWiT network as part of the Roku platform as we launch in the coming weeks."
On Friday, October 16, attendees at the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas got an early look at the new TWiT video shows using the Mediafly system.
Anyone with a Palm Pre or Android phone can get early access to the new TWiT mobile apps:
Text the word 'twit' to 30364 from your Palm Pre or Android phone
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Browse to www.TWiTonMediafly.com from a Palm Pre or Android phone
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Search for TWiT in the Palm App Store or Android App Market
In the coming weeks, the new TWiT video shows will also launch on iTunes/iPhone, BlackBerry phones, Internet set-top boxes, and more. "We decided to provide early access via the Palm Pre and Android phones to emphasize that a great multimedia experience is now easy to get on many platforms, not just iTunes and the iPhone," said Mediafly CEO, Carson Conant. "We’re thrilled to enable millions of people to be able to watch shows like TWiT on your HDTV from the comfort of your couch, or from your smart phone wherever you roam."
About Leo Laporte and TWiT
Leo Laporte is Chief TWiT of the TWiT netcast network and host of "This Week in Tech" (the world’s most popular technology podcast) and the nationally syndicated "Tech Guy" radio show. Laporte is the former host of "Call For Help" and "The Screensavers" on TechTV. Laporte and other hosts on his network create more than 40 hours of live technology programming each week, streamed live at http://live.twit.tv. Laporte himself usually broadcasts without interruption from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT five days a week.
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