It’s curtains for DivX’s showcase site for high-definition video, Stage6. The last day is Thursday. DivX already has unplugged the popular site’s upload functionality, so this looks like it’s for real.
The site was basically a YouTube for people shooting in high-def. Which could be just about anyone, given the low cost of HD gear these days. It also included other typical YouTube-type fare, which as trailers, anime and music videos.
The latest traffic figures show something like 17 million users a month.
So why kill the site?
Tom (aka Spinner) of DivX wrote on the online video site: “The short answer is that the continued operation of Stage6 is a very expensive enterprise that requires an enormous amount of attention and resources that we are not in a position to continue to provide. There are a lot of other details involved, but at the end of the day it’s really as simple as that.”
The well-connected blog Tech Crunch talks about those details, saying the shutdown came after “a ridiculous battle of egos at the DivX board level” that caused the show-runners to quit. It’s a complicated story concerning a deal to sell the video service; you can read about the boardroom battles on that blog. DivX had no comment on the report.
Stage6 was launched after DivX went public in late October 2006, and went into beta the next summer. Since then, wanna-be filmmakers and real ones have packed the site with content.
Meanwhile, DivX stock took a pounding after Monday’s announcement.
The video content reportedly is being sent to other unspecified content sites.
I’d recomend taking a quick look at the site before tomorrow — this is what we’ll all expect to see from video-sharing services in the future. Right now, the shutdown is a real loss to the cause.
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