Startup Helps Link Content Providers And High-Speed UsersStartup Helps Link Content Providers And High-Speed Users

Online entertainment has, until now, been hamstrung by a doozy of a Catch-22: Subscribers were reluctant to commit to broadband without being certain there was content to justify it, while content providers were hesitant to develop content designed for broadband because there wasn't a big-enough audience. Now that the number of U.S. households with broadband connections is reaching critical mass, it's time for content that can take advantage of that bandwidth.

Enter Maven Networks, a startup launching Monday with big-name entertainment customers in tow, including Virgin Records, Twentieth Century Fox, and the National Geographic Channel. Maven has developed a software platform that takes existing video content, creates a full-screen, DVD-quality appearance, and then layers interactive and transactional features that can be accessed easily during playback. The idea is to give entertainment companies a way to conduct interactive online advertising campaigns that could potentially be an alternative to controversial file-sharing networks, CEO Hilmi Ozguc says.

File-sharing technology was built seemingly to take advantage of broadband, Yankee Group VP Boyd Peterson says, but if content providers can deliver services that are easier to use and offer higher quality media assets, they may be able to lure file-sharing devotees. Now that the broadband audience is large enough--Yankee Group expects U.S. homes with DSL or cable-modem access to number 22 million by year's end--the desire to deliver broadband-specific content is on the rise, Peterson adds.

Virgin Networks is using Maven's technology as the basis for an incentive-based marketing campaign around the release of Ben Harper's new single, "Diamonds On the Inside." Each time consumers share the video clip with at least five other people, Virgin will unlock access to one of 21 unreleased tracks for them. At Twentieth Century Fox, the Maven platform is being used to promote the studio's new Russell Crowe film, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." National Geographic is using the Maven system to showcase content on its Web site and draw larger audiences to its cable offerings.

Ozguc says Maven also is taking the technology to corporate America, which he says is in need of better video applications to support customer service, employee training, and video Webcasting. The technology is Web services-compatible and can be integrated with billing systems, CRM databases, and ERP applications. But Peterson says big-name companies also are looking to video-over-broadband to counter changes in TV advertising models expected to result from the growth of personal video recorders such as TiVo. "They're looking around and saying 'What can I do to bolster my presence in front of the consumer?'" Peterson says.

The Maven platform, called the Maven Media System, consists of four software components: a user interface that essentially enhances the data being displayed via a traditional desktop media player to create a full-screen video display overlaid with interactive options; a set of content-management and production tools for building broadband content applications; a media sever that can handle the distribution of large numbers of video files, with digital-rights management built in; and analytics tools for tracking user habits, links, and transaction histories. The Maven system starts at $50,000, with the price largely determined by the size of the audience it must support.