I’ve always been fascinated by the web’s potential to deliver innovative video (and if you listen to any of my podcasts, you’ll know that director Andrew Gillman is, too). Web video is probably the single hottest VC area right now, with serious sums being invested in numerous companies in this area (Brightcove arguably being the #1 player).
Very sad, then, to learn of the death of CNN Pipeline, an innovative live and on-demand news video service that I liked a lot. Nothing can beat seeing live, unedited streaming video from a developing news event (for the older British readers, do you remember watching the SAS and the Iranian embassy siege? Thought so!).
CNN pipeline was cheap – just a few dollars a month –and yet – it couldn’t survive. Not enough people were prepared to spend their hard cash to make it viable. There’s an important, cautionary lesson here for entrepreneurs in this area – yes, the public want every pioneering new idea you can throw at them in this area but… no, they don’t want to pay for it. Mark my words – or lose your money.
