Ustream under new ownership - IBM acquires Ustream

Hello guys,
I just wanted to let you all know that IBMhas acquired Ustream Inc. Recently, don't worry, it still seems to be free .

You can read the full story at:
[Only mods are allowed to see this link]

That is interesting news.


I hope it will remain free permanently and IBM doesn't change that.

yeah, but they will charge a huge amount for new features so they can make money

tester12 wrote:That is interesting news.


I hope it will remain free permanently and IBM doesn't change that.

1mtvfan wrote:yeah, but they will charge a huge amount for new features so they can make money

As of right now they have kept the free accounts. Though Ustream has had pro features/account for awhile now. I don't know if IBM will change anything on Ustream or not, it may just be one of those things where a big company buys something just so they can make the money that smaller company was making, provide long term finicial support to it and/or just so they can brag to compititors that they have it but, but won't interfere with the actual running of the company and will allow it to just keep functioning as it did before they bought it.

There is only thing that this acqusition of ustream assures us of:

Ustream is not going anywhere for a very very very LONG time, no matter how few users use it.

well, if they change things too much, it will cost them big in the way of accounts

1mtvfan wrote:well, if they change things too much, it will cost them big in the way of accounts

Yep, this is why I don't think they will change anything too much.

it's worth looking into, but it's a sad thing when there's no independent streaming sites anymore

1mtvfan wrote:it's worth looking into, but it's a sad thing when there's no independent streaming sites anymore  

No, there are still independent sites, in fact there are more now then there were doing the blogtv and stickam era. Stickam was actually run by a company and Blogtv formed its own company which it foolishly later agreed to merge with a smaller company that was less successful.

There are quite a number of independent sites, such as Youlivenow, Justcastlive, Vaughnlive, Ivlog, Kageshi, Twitch (yes it actually is independently owned) and there are several other ones that I can't think the names of off the top of my head.

only a matter of time before one of the big names make a bid for them

1mtvfan wrote:only a matter of time before one of the big names make a bid for them

I doubt they will make a bid for all of them and even if they did, the owners can rightfully turn it down. If I had streaming site I don't care how much you offer me, if it is not for sale I am not selling it to you.

I think if there is any site a big company may go after it is Twitch, however, those guys are probably making mega bucks as it is and they know what they are doing, before Twitch they had Justin.tv afterall, they have grown since then and will only continue to grow.

Besides, Ustream has been around for years, look at how long it took for a company to buy it. Companies are only interested in REALLY big sites.

well, they can still make a bid for them, which was my point

1mtvfan wrote:well, they can still make a bid for them, which was my point

I doubt they will though, most of the sites are big enough.

that's how the business world works, if something's popular, the non popular company will make a bid for it