Newsplayer

Newsplayer Limited (a company dissolved in May 2012) was a streaming video website of historical news footage. The service provided online access to newsreel video clips and television news reports spanning the last 100 years.[1] The online digital archive featured over 14,000[2] video clips of licensed material from the libraries of ITN, Reuters, Pathe News and EMI.[3]

Newsplayer
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo
FoundedOctober 1999
DefunctMay 2012
Headquarters
Saint Sampson
,
Guernsey, Channel Islands
Key people
Niall Donnelly, Brendan Morrissey

Background

Newsplayer allowed users to browse and retrieve video clips by keyword, topic or year. The Newsplayer library included news footage of key moments in history from the 20th Century from 1896 to the early 2000s.[4] Videos were streamed on demand via Adobe Flash progressive download.

Company history

First launched in October 1999.[5] Newsplayer broadcast Paramount News, Pathe News, ITN and Reuters video archive to users on a subscription-based model. Original board members of the Newsplayer group included co-founders Paul Duffen[6] (the ex chairman of Hull City association football club) Barry Llewellyn and Steven Smith. Original directors also included David Frost who granted Newsplayer access to his onscreen interview archive spanning four decades.[7] By 2003, Newsplayer faced a funding crisis.[8]

In 2008 Newsplayer was acquired by Niall Donnelly and Brendan Morrissey.

On December 8, 2008, Newsplayer beta was re-launched as a free to view video streaming website. The company announced on their website that a fully featured version of Newsplayer was planned for January 2009. The company expanded its video archive by forming alliances with media and technology partners, alongside its license with ITN and Reuters.

Closure

The last date that the Internet Archive captured a screenshot of the Newsplayer site was March 17, 2013. Newsplayer is now offline.[9]

Newsplayer Limited was dissolved on May 22, 2012.[10]

References
  1. Schofield, Jack (9 March 2000). "Web Watch". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  2. Macalister, Terry (31 May 2000). "Newsplayer starts a healthy clip". The Guardian.
  3. Milmo, Dan (27 November 2001). "MTV Meets the Rock 'n' Roll Years". The Guardian.
  4. George, Jemma (6 July 2001). "Have we got Newsplayer for you". Citywire. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012.
  5. "Launch of Newsplayer". Business Week.
  6. "Catalyst denies change". The Guardian. 10 June 2004.
  7. Beard, Matthew (15 December 2000). "Frost's old interviews go online for £1m". The Independent.
  8. Gibson, Owen (30 July 2003). "Newsplayer in funding crisis". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  9. "Index of /". Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  10. "NEWSPLAYER LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK".
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