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- Babelgum was a free-to-view Internet television platform supported by advertising. The project was set up in 2005 by Italian media and telecommunications entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia (one of the founders of Italian TelCo FASTWEB) and scientist Erik Lumer, with the aim of developing interactive software for distributing TV shows and other forms of video over the Internet. Babelgum uses streaming TV technology to provide free, on-demand TV content to end users. The company aims to combine the “immersive viewing experience” and visual quality of traditional television with the features made possible by the internet. The beta version of the service was presented on 7 March 2007. On September 1, 2007, Babelgum launched the Babelgum Online Film Festival, the first global online film festival dedicated to independent film. Viewers voted for the shortlists while a professional jury, chaired by Spike Lee, selected the winners. In October 2008 the company launched the Babelgum Music Video Awards, another online competition with audience voting, focusing solely on music videos from unsigned artists. The contest was run in partnership with Music Nation, and the jury included French director Michel Gondry. In December 2008 the company launched Babelgum Mobile, a new mobile application bringing "web-tailored video content" to smartphones such as the iPhone via 3G and Wi-Fi. In September 2009 the company launched the Babelgum Metropolis Art Prize, an online prize for the best Art videos. The winning videos were shown on jumbo monitors in Times Square, NY on Dec 17th, 2009. The jury was chaired by actor/artist Isabella Rossellini and included Howard Halle, art critic at Time Out NY, Cedar Lewisohn, curator at the Tate Britain and Lee Wells from PAM and Scope Art Fair. In November 2009 it was reported that Babelgum was downsizing by closing its Nice office and Dublin HQ, and consolidating its operations across the remaining offices in London, New York and Milan. (en)
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