• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, June 1, 2010

Know it or not, we are in the middle of an historic moment in the evolution of online video. That live cam aimed at the relentless gusher of crude coming from the bottom of the gulf of Mexico is the Web's new streaming media superstar. We are obsessed with it. The gusher has become the first major Web-to-TV crossover hit. The underwater volcano of oil is accessible from multiple points on the Web, including remotely for several days via CNN's iPhone app. The leak-cam has become an editorial tool for TV broadcasters now. At President Obama's news conference last week, several outlets split-screened him with the live feed.

While it may be crass to suggest that the major media outlets are directly monetizing the leak-cam, clearly they are leveraging this spectacle. PBS announced last week that its Newshour crew had worked tirelessly to transcode the raw feed, which is not fully compatible with all browsers. Now it can be seen by all at PBS and NPR's sites and on You Tube and Google. PBS is also