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Sony is Hoping Crackle Will Pop

Techstination feature for Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Sony is hoping Crackle will pop. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. Sony should have resources like no other when it comes to merging digital content with digital devices. But convergence hasn't always been easy. Now with a site called Crackle…Sony Pictures….is making a foray onto the edgy side of the Web. Crackle is a re-branding of Grouper….acquired by Sony a year ago….and president Josh Felser says …it's all new….

"So we started out as a place for you to share the video you've created with your friends and family. And now, we couldn't be more different than that. We are a place for aspiring producers, directors, writers, actors to kind of show their more professional video to the world. Really bare their professional souls to the world with video."

Crackle is holding quarterly contests….where aspiring movie makers can win a 15 thousand dollars development deal…and a trip for a sit down with a Columbia Pictures executive…to pitch a feature film concept. There are other contests as well. And the object is to attract great content….and as a result a big audience on the Web…

" It's a new medium. It's a different format. You have to cater to a small screen, the PC monitor. You've got to catch people…you're video has to really pop very quickly."

Crackle is dividing the content up into eight channels ranging from film shorts to comedy bits and music videos. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.