• TechCrunch, Monday, July 16, 2007 11:15 AM

Sony Corp. has turned its video site into a recruiting ground for top talent, giving it a new name: Crackle. The site formerly known as Grouper will transfer all of its old accounts to the new site, which contains 12 branded channels for different show concepts, from comedy to music news, animation, etc. Crackle features a channel guide and a high-quality 16x9 embeddable video player. Advertisers can buy 5- to 15- second ads between the site's videos and banner units.

Crackle's channels will also contain more than 1,000 professionally-produced videos, adding top user-generated content to each category, as selected both by the community and the site's editorial staff. Amateur video producers will be compensated in a variety of ways, from revenue shares to full seven-figure production deals. All winners will be distributed across Sony's hardware and film properties. How do you become a winner? By climbing the so-called "Fame Pyramid." The top two user picks are then chosen for production deals. ony's distribution network and 60-person ad team really pushes this open studio model beyond anything other video startups can currently offer."

Among the channels: "Judgment Day," where hosts judge other people in the public and find out if their judgments are right, "Scrambler", a video music magazine for indie rock, "High Wire", a virtual stand-up comedy stage, "Moving Targets", a sketch variety channel, and "Wet Paint", an animation channel.

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