• by March 3, 2006

The Associated Press has a new video service powered by Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Video. The AP's Online Video Network allows member Web sites of the world's oldest news-gathering service to offer free video clips and share ad revenue generated from the service. Initially, the video clips will reach an audience of some 45 million unique visitors.

When it went live Wednesday, the service got lucky. Less than 10 hours after it launched, the AP's Online Video Network posted video of President Bush, Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff, and other administration officials discussing Hurricane Katrina just as the crisis began to unfold. MSN is handling ad sales for the AP venture and providing a MSN Video Player for some 40 video clips a day that are promised with the new service.

Speaking to the Minute from Los Angeles yesterday, Rob Bennett, MSN's general manager, entertainment and video services, says the Bush video, coming as it did at the launch of the AP service was a coup: "you can't plan that kind of thing." Bennett says that in Seattle, local TV stations did on-air teases of the video.

Bennett says MSN began talks with the AP last fall. "They were very aggressive and excited about doing something with Microsoft. They wanted to get a deal done," he says. "This is a great way for them to unlock all this great content and to monetize that content with their member sites."

Next up, MSN will work with the AP to create a system that enables local affiliates to submit their own video content. "So with more and more local content in the system, you'll attract local ad sales, so it becomes a true affiliate member network," Bennett says.

Taking a page from AOL's successful Live 8 production, along with other properties under the AOL Music umbrella, MSN Video is also trying to power special concert and festival events.

More deals like MSN's partnership to power the Billboard Latino music site (http://billboard.latino.msn.com/) are in the offing. MSN will offer content related to the 2006 Billboard Latin Music Conference Awards, including live performances, video interviews, and Spanish language Billboard articles. The awards are April 24-27. MSN recently offered a free live broadcast of the 13th Annual Bob Marley Festival "Jam Rock" from Miami at http://music.msn.com/music/marleyfest.

 "Live events are certainly something that we're seeing consumers look for more and more," Bennett notes. "People want to participate and experience them. AOL definitely showed there's a very healthy demand for this type of content online, and it's something we're going to be investing in very heavily this year."