Backchannelmedia

International Herald Tribune

By Saul Hansell

America Online has reached an unusual arrangement with a start- up company that will allow almost any producer of video content to distribute programming on its service, splitting revenue from advertising or fees.

AOL made its arrangement with Brightcove, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is building a system that gathers and distributes video content. The plan was announced Monday.

Brightcove gives producers a way to put video on their Web sites while also making the video available on other sites, the first of which is AOL.

AOL, which is part of Time Warner, has cut several deals to distribute text, and, more recently, video, from a variety of sources, paying for the content or splitting the advertising revenue with the publishers. This arrangement is unusual because it allows video producers an automated way to put content on AOL without having to negotiate a separate deal.

Brightcove is focused on gathering content from independent filmmakers and smaller cable networks.

"Brightcove gives us access to content from small and medium- sized publishers and allows those publishers to get into the game with broader distribution," said Kevin Conroy, an executive vice president of AOL Media Networks. AOL, he said, will have the right to reject programs if they are deemed to be inappropriate or duplicate already existing AOL content.

To use the system, producers will upload their video through a Web site run by Brightcove, and specify the terms of its distribution.

They can select which sites, like AOL, will have access. Eventually, they will be able to select how they want to get paid. When the service starts early next year, Brightcove will offer only advertising-supported video. Later, it will allow publishers to charge fees for people to rent or buy videos.

On AOL, users will mainly be able to find the programs through the video search feature.

Separately, Brightcove announced Monday that it had raised $16.2 million from AOL, Hearst, Allen & Company and IAC/InterActive. Brightcove also said that Barry Diller, IAC's chief executive, would join its board.

IAC, which runs businesses, including the Ask Jeeves search engine and the HSN shopping network, has not made a major push into Internet video programming.