Reply from Dr Michael Lynch of Autonomy

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Microsoft launching web TV service MSN Video

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 30-Jul-09, 09:20

LONDON - Microsoft is launching an online TV player called MSN Video that will stream full-length television episodes such as 'Peep Show' and 'The Young Ones' after striking a content deals with the BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide and independent producer All3Media.

The video-on-demand service will initially offer over 300 hours of old and new content from BBC Worldwide and All3Media.
Viewers will be able to watch free episodes of shows including 'The Young Ones', 'Mock The Week', 'Skins', 'What Not To Wear', '10 Years Younger' and 'How To Look Good Naked', as well as factual programmes
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/923880/Microsoft-launching-web-TV-service-MSN-Video/

Microsoft and Yahoo seal web deal

"Yahoo and Microsoft have announced a long-rumoured internet search deal that will help the two companies take on chief rival Google.

Microsoft's Bing search engine will power the Yahoo website and Yahoo will in turn become the advertising sales team for Microsoft's online offering."

from BBC news

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Comment: let's hope that Blinkx is involved somehow, eh?

And of course hope is all we have, since the company isn't saying jackshit about jackshit...

More on that blip.tv news...

"NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- What does the TV network of the future look like? A version of it is coming into focus at New York-based startup blip.tv."

from Advertising Age

Blip.tv Announces Expanded Distribution Network, Including YouTube, Vimeo, NBC Local Media New York and Roku; Launches New Show Creator Dashboard

"NEW YORK, NY -- 07/28/09 -- Online media company blip.tv today announced expanded distribution capabilities, new partnerships to monetize and track advertising and viewership across its distribution network, and a completely redesigned show creator dashboard. Show creators using blip.tv can now reach viewers across the Web and on the TV set with a single upload.

The blip.tv distribution network grows significantly today with the addition of new partnerships with YouTube, Vimeo, NBC Local Media New York and Roku, Inc., makers of the Roku digital video player. The new partnership with YouTube enables show creators to send episodes directly from blip.tv to their YouTube account. Blip.tv can traffic advertisements on shows syndicated to YouTube, with a revenue share back to content creators.
...
In addition to the new distribution partnerships announced today, blip.tv already distributes to iTunes, AOL Video, MSN Video, Blinkx, Facebook, Twitter, Sony Bravia televisions with Bravia Internet Video Link, TiVo, Verizon FiOS Video On Demand, iPhones and the Internet Archive. Blip.tv's partnership with TiVo expands today, as show creators can now syndicate shows to the pioneering DVR service with just one click on the blip.tv dashboard. "

From blip.tv

Comment: Nice to see Blinkx mentioned in the same breath as iTunes, AOL Video, MSN Video, Facebook and Twitter. Just wish Blinkx had the same market cap as those players...

Blinkx gets mention in New Media Age

In an article entitled simply 'video advertising'. Relevant paragraph is:

"Video search engine Blinkx has also launched an online video ad format called Un-roll. The unit begins with a branded curtain that draws back to reveal the video. As this plays, touchpoints such as overlay ads and logos appear within the video, and the viewer has the option to continue the experience on the brand’s website. At the end, users can replay or share the video.

Network specialist Cisco is one company using Un-roll. “We get high impact contextual placement of our messages and this kind of innovation will become more important as video continues to dominate web growth,” says Tim Shorrocks, Cisco UK and Ireland marketing director."

from New Media Age, 23rd July 2009

Bing to Power Yahoo Search?

"It’s already been more than a year since Microsoft’s deal to outright acquire a Yahoo for a staggering $44.6 billion fell apart. But much speculation has remained as to whether or not the two companies would still end up working together in some capacity, with comments from executives on both sides adding fuel to the fire at different points..."

from Mashable

YouTube Lets Partners Insert Their Own Ads in Videos

"It’s well-documented that YouTube (YouTube) has had a profit problem (although the company says they’re just fine). In order to generate more revenue, YouTube has experimented with multiple advertising formats (i.e. brand sponsors and user-generated hompage ads).

However, there is one place where YouTube has been drawing the line: third-party ads. In May, YouTube put a halt to brand placement advertising in YouTube videos, as they were advertisements that didn’t bring YouTube any revenue. The company promised, however, to launch their own process for integrating ads and brand placement within videos. It looks like today, YouTube delivered. Sort of."

from Mashable

Spotify sets its sights on iPhone

"The Swedish music streaming service Spotify is planning to launch its first mobile application within weeks.

The company has submitted the application to Apple's iTunes App Store for its approval.

If given clearance, Spotify's service will then be available for users to download onto iPhones."

BBC News

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Comment: Mobile apps are a total no-brainer to reach millions of eyeballs quickly, easily and at low cost - so where is the Blinkx iPhone app? Or maybe the management of "the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine" don't have brains?

BBC Trust publishes additional information on Project Canvas

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/2009/canvas_additional.html

In order to help stakeholders the Trust is today publishing additional information from the BBC Executive on the following areas:

• The choice of technical standards to be adopted by Canvas;
• The proposed way in which the BBC would work with industry bodies;
• Control of the Electronic Programme Guide;
• Governance arrangements for the joint venture;
• The use of editorial controls.

Hulu in talks with ITV for UK start

Hulu, the US video-on-demand venture, has begun talks with British broadcasters including ITV as it gears up for a UK launch later this year.

By Amanda Andrews

Published: 9:59PM BST 25 Jul 2009

A launch in the UK has been much anticipated following the website's huge success in the US, where it has attracted more than 24 million users a month. Hulu users can watch episodes and clips of popular TV programmes and films from a range of broadcasters via the internet.

Following the failed attempt at getting Project Kangaroo – the video-on-demand (VOD) venture planned by broadcasters including ITV and Channel 4 –past regulators, Hulu has recognised that there is a gap in the market for an ad-funded on-demand offering which brings together content from major broadcasters.

A UK Hulu site is also likely to include a significant amount of US content and would provide a one-stop shop for VOD content.

Hulu was thought to have had some reservations about entering the UK market because of concern about a stringent regulatory environment.

However, the talks suggest they are keen to move quickly. An ITV source confirmed that talks had begun with Hulu.

Project Kangaroo, a venture also involving BBC Worldwide, was blocked by the Competition Commission earlier this year on the grounds it posed too much of a threat to the development of a new market.

"The case is essentially about the control of UK-originated TV content," the commission said at the time.

The ruling was a blow to ITV and Channel 4, which had hoped an internet TV service would provide a new revenue stream, as the recession hits already-dwindling advertising income.

Arqiva, a broadcasting transmission company, bought the assets of Project Kangaroo last week, including software technology and intellectual property last week. The company plans to start its own video-on-demand service in the coming months.

Project Kangaroo cost BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the broadcaster, £9.1m and ITV has said its costs relating to the venture would be around £12m.

The BBC's director general has suggested other broadcasters could share its iPlayer VOD service, which allows viewers to watch BBC shows online at a time of their choosing.

From Telegraph.co.uk

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Comment: If Hulu launches in the UK it could well be game over for Blinkx. Maybe if Blinkx hadn't wasted so much time - for example on the complete fiasco of the Miva 'bid' - they'd be further down the road and Hulu would be less of a threat.

Still, maybe Hulu will make an offer for Blinkx, to add Blinkx's 35m+ hours of indexed video to Hulu's own content indexes? Hulu could probably get Blinkx for 70-100p a share, and become by far the largest internet video site in terms of indexed content.

Interesting thought...

Letter to Dr Michael Lynch about glassdoor reviews

Dr Michael Lynch,

CEO, Autonomy Corporation,

Cambridge Business Park

Cowley Rd

Cambridge

CB4 0WZ

27th July 2009

Dear Dr Lynch.

You may recall I wrote to you in June, expressing my concerns about the way that Blinkx was being managed.

I was of course disappointed not to receive a response from yourself.

I am afraid I must write again, as my concerns have grown rather than diminished.

The Blinkx share price continues to decline. The complete lack of news and PR continues. Even while rivals make good progress (for example Arqiva’s purchase of the Kangaroo assets, with the intention of launching a VoD service, announced this past week) Blinkx continues to give every appearance of being completely moribund.

I would also draw your attention to the enclosed, a print-out of an article from glassdoor.com – a site which allows employees (and, of course, ex-employees) to rate the companies they work(ed) for.

Of course it could be a fake, and of course it could have been written by a disgruntled ex-employee: but I must say that the picture it paints of life within Blinkx – of a weak, insecure management, of over-promising and under-delivering, of a focus on delivering cool demos rather than working products – certainly chimes with my perception of Blinkx in the past year or so.

Nor is the enclosed an isolated instance: if you go to glassdoor.com, Dr Lych, and search for reviews of Blinkx, you will see that there are many similar reviews. I haven’t imposed on your time by enclosing those other reviews, but if you take some time from your busy day to read them – or task one of your employees with doing so – I think you will see common themes emerging: management incompetence, insecurity, inability to deliver, chaotic office life.

Again, this chimes with my own perception of Blinkx’s inability to deliver the deals, applications, products and services to drive the company forward to sustainable profitability.

Where, for example, are the apps to monetise Blinkx’s 35m+ hours of indexed video by getting that index in front of the tens of millions of eyeballs that will be required to monetise profitably? Where are the following products?

Blinkx iPhone app

Blinkx Android app

Blink Pre app

Blinks Facebook app

These are all complete no-brainers and should have been built and released a long time ago. So where are they? And where is Transaction Hijacking? Shareholders were told nearly a year ago that it was ready to launch – so where is it?

In conclusion, Dr Lynch, let me ask you this one simple question: are you happy with how your investment in Blinkx is being managed by Chandratillake and the rest of the Blinkx management team? Can you be completely sure that all of those reviews on glassdoor.com are either fakes or from embittered ex-employees – of is this, perhaps, a case of ‘no smoke without fire’? And do you not owe it to Autonomy shareholders – who also have a large stake in Blinkx – to investigate exactly how Blinkx is being managed?

Yours sincerely

xxxxx xxxxxx

[enc: print out of http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Blinkx-RVW255114.htm

So where's Chandratillake?

Below are scans from Revolution magazine of the 'Future 50' from their latest issue - 50 movers and shakers in the digital world who will have an impact on technology and the way we live.

So where's Suranga Chandratillake, CEO of Blinkx, the self-proclaimed "world’s largest and most advanced video search engine"?

He spends much time in the USA lately - and that's probably as it should be, the US is a massive market - but I always thought that's precisely what PR companies are for!

I see this as yet another failure of the Blinkx PR people. They should be getting the Blinkx brand, and Chandratillake personally, out there so that when features like this are being put together it would be unimaginable for the company and the individual not to be featured.

Blinkx may or may not need a new CEO (but you know my view, right?) - but they sure as hell need a new PR company...

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New Blinkx web site redesign

http://www.emilypluong.com/web.php

A useful resource for Blinkx design info.

New designs look good, I think.

Do I detect signs that Blinkx is starting to get its act together? I sure hope so. But even if it is, until that feeds through into the share price and it's back to IPO levels, or higher, I remain skeptical. Every time I wonder whether I'm being unfair to Blinkx management and Chandratillake, I just remember the complete fiasco of Miva. After a total balls-up like that it is now for him to persuade us that he does actually know what he's doing.

And then of course there are the Blinkx-related postings on glassdoor.com...

Way to go Suranga!

More of the high ground lost!

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Arqiva ties down Kangaroo

Broadcast technology firm Arqiva has bought the assets of Project Kangaroo, the defunct broadband TV joint-venture from BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4. The move comes after C21 revealed in May that the firm was the only remaining bidder.

The company, which counts the former Kangaroo partners among its clients and has been at the heart of the UK's digital switchover, has bought the hardware, software and all related intellectual property developed for the planned service.

Arqiva will use the assets to provide the basis for a new video-on-demand service that it will launch in the next few months. In a statement announcing the sale, Arqiva said the service would provide high-quality, longform content from both "leading broadcasters" and "independent content providers".

http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=1&article=50974

Beginning of the campaign to remove Chandratillake...

This email went to Suranga Chandratillake this evening, CC'd to julia@blinkx.com and BCC'd to 11 financial journalists (which 11? Ah. that would be telling...)

Enough is enough. Time for SC to be removed and replaced with someone who has a clue, can deliver a clear strategy and roadmap for the company, make a personal investment by buying shares to demonstrate confidence, and get the share price motoring...

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Mr Chandratillake

As a long-standing shareholder in Blinkx I continue to be appalled at the destruction of shareholder value which I have seen since buying into the company 18 months ago; I continue to be appalled at the company’s utterly woeful PR and newsflow management, at the lack of major, transformative deals – and most of all I remain appalled at what I see as your complete failure as CEO to deliver shareholder value, or even to acknowledge the need to!

I’ve seen you shouting your mouth off in the press about profitability next year: but then you said to Martin Sorrell early last year that the company was ‘very close to break even’ and that never happened, did it Mr Chandratillake? If talking got the job done Blinkx would be wildly profitable already – but sadly it takes more than words. It takes the right skillset – one which in my view you are sadly lacking.

The total fiasco of the Miva ‘bid‘ finally persuaded me that you don’t actually have a clue what you’re doing, and that your inexperience and inability to guard your mouth is one of the reasons the markets have so little faith in Blinkx, as evidenced by the company’s share’s continual weakness. As I write it looks as though the share price is heading (back) to single figures – and this for the self-proclaimed “world’s largest and most advanced video search engine” in the middle of what you have quite rightly described as a “perfect storm of opportunity” – a perfect storm which in my opinion you seem utterly incapable of exploiting to shareholder benefit.

One other bone of contention, Mr Chandratillake: why have none of the Blinkx management team, so far as I am aware, bought a single share in the open market to demonstrate confidence in the company’s future (and their own future wealth)? You were happy to sell shares at the IPO two years ago for 45p, and yet management isn’t buying at less than a third of that now. Were they overpriced then? If they represent good value now why aren’t you buying? Or do you think perhaps they are still overpriced?

Enough is enough. You have had more than two years now to deliver your vision for Blinkx, and as a shareholder I see absolutely no sign of any master plan. What I do see is an endless stream of pissant little news releases about pissant little partnerships (Bobvila.com? Please!) none of which can make the company much money.

I have no intention of selling my shares at a large loss. I do have every intention of doing my very best to get you removed as CEO and replaced with someone who can focus obsessively on delivering shareholder value - and, if they can’t do that, then putting the company up for sale to the highest bidder. The company belongs to US, the shareholders – not you, the managers who have never even put their hands in their pocket to buy a single share.

You better deliver, big-time and soon. Otherwise I wouldn't like to be in your shoes at the AGM - the one day of the year when you have to face your critics: and at the moment they are many and very, VERY angry...

xxxxx xxxxxxx

http://blinkxshareholders.blogspot.com/

A good overview...

Private Punter - July 14


A NUMBER of canny investors who jumped on board local company Autonomy could be forgiven for feeling a little smug today (Monday, 13 July).

This is one mouth-watering success story, where the shares have, in the last three years alone, risen from £2.40 to a current £13.20.

At a time when others have seen their market value decrease substantially, Autonomy by contrast now boasts a valuation of more than £3bn. Of course, this is a remarkable success story and long may it continue, however it is to other pastures that I turn this week, where Autonomy holds a 10%.

The name Blinkx - shares currently 14.5p - will no doubt fail to register for many reading this article, or even give rise to an understandable frown or sceptical shake of the head.

OK, so this may well be another (currently) loss making AIM listed stock, but as a speculative punt, it could pay off handsomely. A spin-out from Autonomy House on Cambridge Business Park, Blinkx has no doubt already made a number of Autonomy employees significantly richer.

But as far as its business goes, Blinkx has positioned itself as the world's most advanced video search engine via the internet, a market that is still evolving and should continue to grow substantially in the coming years.

Having originally been born out of a concept developed from within Cambridge University, Blinkx has subsequently seen $150m ploughed into research and development over a 12-year period prior to flotation and holds more than 100 patents on its technology.

After demerging from Autonomy and floating just two years back, the company is already making its mark, with sales for last year jumping significantly from a previous $6.5m to $13.9m and that figure should increase again this year.

Importantly, Blinkx now holds some 35m hours of searchable video content along with more than 500 media partnerships which see it cementing its position in the market and taking on the business giants. Since the beginning of this year video views per day have doubled each week and currently stand in excess of 2m.

While the concept was designed and aimed initially for computer use, Blinkx has been quick to exploit opportunities in what is a fast-moving market and has already made the important transition into the living room. As recently as May this year, the company revealed it had signed a deal which will enable its video search and interactive services to be viewed on TV across the UK - a big step forward which could not only substantially boost revenues but may also ignite the share price.

TV search is achieved via set top boxes and will be available, initially, for Sky and Virgin Media customers.

The company has also recently revealed a deal with Fox Sports that will deliver easy access to sports and various video clips using Blinkx's unique search engine.

With a current AIM market cap of £40m, Blinkx has around $20m in the bank and at the current price of 14.5p, looks worth a punt to me.

Although it may need to raise further funds, it should be in a much stronger position as it moves closer to profitability. Losses have been reduced and progress should continue as revenues build and gather pace.

It is also conceivable that a larger market player may move to snap up Blinkx, which is already ruffling feathers and attracting attention.

A number of large institutions hold the shares, including Lloyds, Fidelity and JP Morgan, along with Autonomy founder and chief executive Dr Mike Lynch who, as a non-exec director, sits on 8% of the company.

Good to see Blinkx on Cooliris

Share of total time on entertainment sites by content type

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From New Media Age, 9th July 2009 edition, page 10

Is Veoh the Next Big Video Site to Give Up?

"Now that Joost has given up the ghost and bailed out of the Web video portal business, who’s next?

A good bet: Veoh, one of the best-funded would-be YouTubes. Multiple sources tell me the company is aggressively marketing itself in hopes of finding a buyer.

And if a deal does go through, it will result in a loss for the company’s high-profile backers, who include former Disney (DIS) CEO Michael Eisner and Goldman Sachs (GS). I’m told that CEO Dmitry Shapiro has been shopping the company at prices below $70 million, which is the amount investors have sunk into the portal since 2005"

from All Things Digital

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From New Media Age, 25th June 2009 edition