Babelgum was a free-to-view
Internet television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...
platform supported by
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
. The project was set up in 2005 by Italian media and telecommunications entrepreneur
Silvio Scaglia
Silvio Scaglia (born 14 October 1958) is a Swiss-born media and technological entrepreneur.
Scaglia is the founder of Fastweb, an Italian telecommunications company. He also co-founded Freedom Holding (formerly Pacific Global Management Group), ...
(one of the founders of Italian TelCo
FASTWEB) and scientist Erik Lumer, with the aim of developing interactive software for distributing TV shows and other forms of video over the Internet.
[Babelgum profile]
Babelgum uses
streaming TV technology to provide free, on-demand TV content to end users. The company aims to combine the “immersive viewing experience” and visual quality of traditional television with the features made possible by the internet. The beta version of the service was presented on 7 March 2007.
On September 1, 2007, Babelgum launched the Babelgum Online Film Festival, the first global online film festival dedicated to independent film. Viewers voted for the shortlists while a professional jury, chaired by Spike Lee, selected the winners.
[Babelgum's Contrarian Approach to Web TV]
In October 2008 the company launched the Babelgum Music Video Awards, another online competition with audience voting, focusing solely on
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
s from unsigned artists. The contest was run in partnership with Music Nation, and the jury included
French director
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...
.
In December 2008 the company launched Babelgum Mobile, a new mobile application bringing "web-tailored video content" to
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s such as the iPhone via
3G and
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...
.
In September 2009 the company launched the Babelgum Metropolis Art Prize, an online prize for the best Art videos. The winning videos were shown on jumbo monitors in
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
, NY on Dec 17th, 2009. The jury was chaired by actor/artist Isabella
Rossellini Rossellini is a common Italian surname. Other spellings include: Rosselini.
Rossellini may refer to:
* Roberto Rossellini, Italian film director
** Renzo Rossellini, producer, son of Roberto
** Isabella Rossellini, actress, daughter of Roberto
** ...
and included Howard Halle, art critic at
Time Out NY
''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide.
In 2012, the London edition becam ...
, Cedar Lewisohn, curator at the
Tate Britain
Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
and
Lee Wells
Lee Wells (born 1971) is an artist, independent curator, and a technology and art consultant based New York. He is a co-founder of Peanut Underground Art Projects in New York. He is a co-founder and director of IFAC-arts, and a co-founder of P ...
from PAM and
Scope Art Fair
SCOPE Art Show (SCOPE) is a contemporary art fair held annually in New York City, Miami Beach, and Basel. The art fairs, which focus on young galleries and emerging art, each include between 60 and 100 exhibitors.
History
SCOPE was founded by ar ...
.
In November 2009 it was reported that Babelgum was downsizing by closing its Nice office and Dublin HQ,
and consolidating its operations across the remaining offices in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
New York and
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
.
Name
According to the company's website, Babelgum's goal is "to act as an international 'social glue'", bringing a vast range of content to a global audience of different nationalities, like a "modern-day
Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages.
According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...
". The company's green bubble-shaped logo is therefore a
visual pun
A visual pun is a pun involving an image or images (in addition to or instead of language), often based on a rebus.
Visual puns in which the image is at odds with the inscription are common in cartoons such as ''Lost Consonants'' or ''The Far ...
on the name as well as a reference to Babelgum's interest in ecological issues.
Content
Babelgum only airs professionally produced content, focusing on indie film and music, comedy, urban culture, nature and the environment, presented through the five channels Film, Music, Comedy, Metropolis and Our Earth. In addition to mainstream TV content, Babelgum offers niche programming such as independent and short films, aiming to "serve
the Long Tail
In statistics and business, a long tail of some distributions of numbers is the portion of the distribution having many occurrences far from the "head" or central part of the distribution. The distribution could involve popularities, random nu ...
of viewers' interests".
[Introducing Babelgum (Joost isn’t the only game in town) , last100]
/ref> The platform also features branded channels set up through licensing agreements with content providers such as Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
, BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Babelgum also has partnerships with international film festivals such as the
.
Users can rate the programmes they watch and log their favorites in the system. Content owners can upload single videos or entire content libraries through the Babelgum Video Publisher.