Ustream

Ustream es un sitio web que consiste en una red de diversos canales que ofrecen una plataforma para lifecasting y video streaming en vivo de eventos en línea.Fundada en marzo de 2007, el sitio cuenta con más de 2.000.000 de usuarios registrados que generan 1.500.000 horas + de vivo streaming de contenido al mes con más de diez millones de visitas únicas al mes.  

se recibió $ 11,1 millones en financiación Serie A para el desarrollo de nuevos productos a partir de DCM (Doll capital Management) y los inversores Labrador Ventures y Band of Angels.  es propiedad por la empresa americana del mismo nombre, Ustream, Inc., con sede en San Francisco, California.

Durante la elección presidencial de Estados Unidos 2008, el sitio fue utilizado por casi todos los principales candidatos para ayudar a sus campañas, por lo que permite un mayor número de votantes para hacer preguntas políticas. El ex senador y 2008 Candidato presidencial Mike Gravel se convirtió en la primera candidato nunca para transmitir un debate alternativo en Ustream que permitió que el senador Gravel para responder a todas las preguntas que se hacen, así como comentarios sobre las respuestas de los otros candidatos a lo largo de un debate televisado a nivel nacional.

History

Co-founders John Ham and Brad Hunstable met while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point. Co-founder Dr. Gyula Feher later joined the team as Chief Technologist.

Ham (born June 9, 1978 in Torrance, California) had shown an early interest in being an entrepreneur, having started trading equities and options at 16 years of age. At West Point he interned with NASA and the New York Stock Exchange. He graduated from West Point with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, then was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army.

Hunstable (born on September 26, 1978 in Tarrant County, Texas) had shown an interest in technology since childhood, having started one of the largest Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) named, "The Dark Realms", at the age of 11. He graduated from West Point with a B.S. in Engineering Management, then was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While in the Army, he gained an MBA in Finance and Real Estate from Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.

Ustream Watermark Logo

While serving in the military, Ham and Hunstable teamed-up on a web-based digital photo enterprise developed and built by Dr. Gyula Feher, another Ustream founder. In 2003, the two were separated, forcing the photo venture to cease operations. Ham was deployed to Korea and Hunstable was assigned to work directly for the Department of Defense. After completing their tours of duty, Ham and Hunstable re-connected with Feher and began a new business venture: Ustream.

Birth of Ustream

Ustream was born when the founders (John Ham, Brad Hunstable, and Dr. Gyula Feher) wanted a way for their friends in the Army, who were deployed overseas in Iraq during the war, to be able to communicate with their families. A product like Ustream would provide them with a way to talk to all of their relatives at once when free time in the war zone was limited.

Previously, these three had worked together on an internet based event photo sharing website using technology created by Dr. Feher. In 2003, Ham and Hunstable were deployed separately, putting an end to this venture. After returning to civilian life, John and Brad discussed the idea of the general public using the Internet to share live video. Seeing this as a viable product, they contacted their former partner, Dr. Feher, in order to develop the technology required. Ustream was founded in 2006, as experiments in broadcasting Brad's brother's (Nathan Hunstable) band (Venture) proved successful. Early testing involved Brad in the audience with a camera wired to a laptop (with a cellular card) in his backpack, sending the stream back to their test server.

Launching their public beta in March 2007, Ustream is one of a series of live video sites, including Justin.tv, Livestream, Bambuser, and BlogStar (formerly Operator11.com). The company has seen significant growth in the political, entertainment, and technology fields,however, Ustream has grown much less quickly than its competitors.

Ustream has witnessed many notable people streaming from politicians such as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, to artists like Tori Amos and the Plain White T's.

Notablelifecasters such as Justine Ezarik & E-TARD The LifeCaster have made their mark on Ustream as well. The technology community has also adopted Ustream to include Robert Scoble, Leo Laporte, Chris Pirillo and Klasic Kumputerz.

Recognition

In 2007 and 2008, Ustream won a CNET "Webware 100" Award.

In 2008, Ustream won the SXSW People's Choice Award.

In 2010, Ustream, Inc. was recognized as one of the "Hottest Silicon Valley Companies" by Lead411.

Programming

• Arena Football League- Ustream partnered with the Arena Football League to begin streaming all AFL games beginning during the 2012 season through www.ustream.com/afl

• NASA TV- All three of NASA TV's free public channels were transitioned to Ustream in July 2012, replacing the hodgepodge of streaming media formats used in the previous decade.

• Our Mother of Perpetual Help Novena- UStream also partnered with the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran, Paranaque to stream all novenas and Holy Masses every Wednesday and Sunday and other occasions organized by the church.
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• Paid service

While Ustream's basic service is still free and supported by advertising revenue, Ustream started to offer Watershed, a pay-as-you-go version of their service. Watershed customers pay per viewing hour, charging from $0.25 to $1 per viewer. Watershed users don't have to display Ustream's advertisements and logos and can provide their own instead.

Methods

Ustream allows users to broadcast from the Web site once logged in or from a mobile device using Ustream's mobile broadcasting application. Users can watch streams live on the Web site and on the Ustream iPhone and Android applications. The Web site allows users to interact, such as vote in polls, rate, chat, and so on. The iPhone and Android applications allows users to watch and chat.

Automatic Content Blocking

Ustream uses a copyright enforcement service provided by Vobile, which uses a proprietary fingerprinting system to automatically detect copyrighted content. This system has been known to generate what are considered by some to be false positives, blocking content that should fall under fair use, or which has been specifically licensed by the stream originator. In one such incident, the official livecast of the 2012 Hugo Award ceremony was terminated because it incorporated authorized clips of nominated television shows and movies, causing "a flood of livid Twitter messages". The following day, Ustream apologized for the incident and temporarily disabled automatic blocking while they adjusted the system to "better balance the needs of broadcasters, viewers, and copyright holders".