Hypertext TV

Both Google and Yahoo launched beta versions their new video searches today. Google's is here and Yahoo's is here. Both searches are more like toe-dips into the video pool, but you don't have to be much of a sage to see this as a watershed day for communications. Hypertext TV is here.

As Blog Blog notes:

What happens, for instance, if you search for some video of a place or an event and it turns out that the best stuff you find comes not from a network but from a talented individual. That changes everything.

It sure does. But the networks HAVE the best stuff. The issue is freeing it up so that it is available and easily accessible. And if the networks (in fact, all the so-called mainstream media) miss this opportunity, they will have no one to blame but themselves.

ESPN does a decent job of extending its on-air presence and CBS has developed a workable template for how the future can look with its Survivor site. There fans each week are treated to additional footage not aired during the show, in addition to a ton of behind the scenes stuff, pictures, biographies, quizzes, etc.

Wanna survive? Free up the footage. Slap a logo on it. Keep the brand alive. Expand and extend your audience.