Ustream, the live video streaming service that hit the mainstream recently thanks to a litter of Shiba Inu puppies, just announced Watershed, a new white-label streaming video service. Watershed features pay-as-you-go pricing, high-definition video, and extensive options to customize the viewers' experience. ]]>
Ustream is mostly targeting this new service at smaller enterprises, but also at colleges and universities that might want to use it to broadcast lectures, guest speakers, or college sporting events. Among the other use cases featured by Ustream are live streams from conferences, news coverage, and online personals.
Among some of Watershed's most interesting features are its granular security settings (down to limiting access to certain IP addresses), detailed analytics, and real-time chat and polls.
Competition
Other white-label video streaming services like Level 3 (pdf) or Move Networks offer similar solutions, though they generally only target larger enterprises and media companies. While Watershed's pricing model seems reasonable, the price itself feels rather high, though Ustream's CEO argues that it is comparable to services from other live streaming providers.
Other streaming services like Mogulus Pro tend to charge a monthly fee for their 'pro' services. Mogulus, however, also charges for bandwidth and Ustream argues that its pay-as-you-go service provides more flexibility.
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