Chat

Music video site Vevo is building several "Vevo Rooms" focused on allowing users to chat about videos from various musicians, including rooms dediated to Katy Perry, Lil Wayne and Snoop Dog.

6rounds--a Tel Aviv-based company which offers a real-time interactive video chat platform that allows users to video-chat while watching video, playing games and otherwise using online media in real time (note: the company, which was founded in 2008, has so far raised $2 million in venture capital from Rhodium and Startup Factory)--said Tuesday that it has rebranded itself as Rounds and that it has launched a version of its platform, called Video Chat Rounds, for Facebook.

Australian interactive TV company, Two Way Limited, has partnered with Australian pay-TV operator, Foxtel, to develop an interactive TV application, called "Chat On," that is accompanying the latest season of the reality show, "Australia's Next Top Model," on Foxtel's OpenTV-powered platform.

Oxygen Media, the company behind Oxygen, a US cable channel that targets a female demographic, said Monday that it has secured a fully integrated on-air and online sponsorship deal with IKEA for the fifth season of the reality series, "Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood." Among other things, the deal (which also includes on-air billboards, tagged tune-ins and in-episode integrations) will see the home furnishing chain becoming the first sponsor for OxygenLive, an online destination that is designed to add a two-screen social/interactive TV component to the channel's programming.

Vpype, which describes itself as a "social video company," announced last week that it has begun a public beta of its Vpype Live Broadcaster Facebook application (http://apps.facebook.com/vpypebroadcaster), which it says will enable all 350 million Facebook users to create and share live, interactive video. According to the company, the app is easy to use and, among other things, allows end-users to create scheduled or unscheduled interactive live shows, send video notes, store past broadcasts complete with audience participation, and share videos through Facebook.

A number of items of broadband-video and live-streaming news have come across [itvt]'s desk over the past few days. Here is a brief round-up:

Live Internet broadcast service provider, Ustream (note: the company recently announced the availability of a Ustream Live Broadcaster iPhone app in the iTunes App Store--see the article published on itvt.com, December 10th), contacted [itvt] Monday to let us know that it will be powering live, interactive feeds of today's (Tuesday) Golden Globes nominations and tomorrow's (Wednesday) premiere of the new James Cameron movie, "Avatar."

Broadband and mobile video platform provider, Kyte, contacted [itvt] Tuesday to let us know that it has launched a new solution, called Kyte LivePro, which it says brings high-definition (1080p), professional-grade live streaming functionality to its platform. According to the company, Kyte LivePro, which is designed to be used in conjunction with Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder, is an add-on component for the Kyte platform that enables publishers to deliver HD live streaming video from multiple sources, including digital video cameras and professional mixing consoles.

Adult content provider, Metro Content, has launched a broadband TV site, dubbed RedHotTV.com, that allows viewers to interact with one another while watching pornographic movies.