Ridley Scott

Due to the large volume of interactive TV-related news generated over the past few days by the IFA and the run-up to the IBC, we are covering stories in this issue in round-up format. We anticipate that it will take a couple of days for us to catch up with all the recent news: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us. Our regular news coverage will return shortly.

YouTube on Wednesday 1) beta-launched YouTube Leanback, a version of its service that is optimized for viewing on a TV screen (i.e. in "leanback" mode); 2) relaunched the browser-based mobile version (m.youtube.com) of its service; and 3) announced a user-generated content (UGC) collaboration with directors Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald that will invite users of its service (and other people around the world) to help create a documentary, entitled "Life in a Day."

YouTube Leanback

Ag8, an independent studio that was recently founded by David Bausola (who previously created "Where are the Joneses," a "social media sitcom" for Ford Motor Company, in which the audience influenced the daily production of a road trip to seek out 27 sperm donor siblings, and which was billed as "the first and largest branded media production to be licensed under the Creative Commons commercial license") and Tom Himpe (who was previously senior strategist at communications consultancy, Naked Communications), announced Thursday that it is working with