San Francisco-based Sugar Media, which specializes in Web sites aimed at women, cut its ties with NBC Universal by buying back its shares and got a Series C funding of $16 million from Sequoia Capitol.

Sequoia has been an existing venture investor, having put $5 million into the start-up in late 2006. NBC, a unit of GE (GE), invested $10 million in 2007.

It is unclear at what discount the shares were bought back at, but it seems likely. NBC had been selling online advertising for the site, an arrangement which had previously ended.

Sugar, which runs the flagship PopSugar.com site, also announced it has bought video shopping start-up, Shopflick, and had hired its CEO to run a new Los Angeles-based entertainment unit called Sugar Digital Entertainment.

David Grant was former president of Fox TV Studios and his new unit will be charged with expanding into video, TV and film with Sugar-branded content.

Here’s a video interview BoomTown did with Sugar in 2007:

And here’s the full press release:

Sugar Inc. Launches Sugar Digital Entertainment with former Fox TV President

New Unit to Expand Sugar Brand into Video, TV and Film; Sugar has also Acquired Video Shopping Start-Up Shopflick.com and Completed a $16 million Series C Funding from Sequoia Capital

San Francisco, CA, June 1, 2009–Sugar Inc. announced today a series of steps to expand and diversify the fast-growing woman’s lifestyle media company.

Sugar is launching Sugar Digital Entertainment, an LA-based unit that will expand the Sugar brand into online video, television, film, videogames and other content formats. David Grant, former President of Fox TV Studios, Exec VP of the FOX Network and founder and CEO of Shopflick.com, joins Sugar as President of SDE with a mandate to work with talent and media partners on Sugar-branded projects.

Sugar has acquired Shopflick.com, the video-powered fashion marketplace founded by Grant in 2008. Shopflick is a pioneer in online video-driven shopping, with a critically-acclaimed brand that has quickly built a following with both designers and shoppers. Shopflick will enable Sugar’s ShopStyle–the leading social shopping destination for women–to pioneer a new video-driven commerce offering for its merchant partners.

Sugar also announced that it has completed its Series C funding by securing $16M from existing investor Sequoia Capital. Sugar intends to use the funds for acquisitions and international expansion to support the company’s growth into a major media company targeted to women’s lifestyle. In conjunction with the transaction, the Company has repurchased shares sold in 2007 to NBC Universal.

“These moves further our rapid growth into a leading media company,” said Brian Sugar, founder and CEO of Sugar Inc. “Sugar Digital Entertainment, run by an executive with a successful track record in television and digital, will leverage our brand and expertise into online video, TV and film. Shopflick’s team and online video expertise will enable ShopStyle to further leverage the powerful relationship between content and commerce, an area of vast potential online. In short, we have become a media company with exceptionally diversified revenue streams encompassing advertising, commerce and license fees.”

David Grant, founder and CEO of Shopflick.com said: “Sugar has tapped into the passions and interests of women in a way other media companies can only dream of, so I see this as a big opportunity to help the founders take an already successful company to another level. Sugar’s brand and expertise in women will play a role in creating great video content on all platforms, including online, TV, film and wherever smart, passionate woman are gathering. I am equally excited about finding a terrific home for the Shopflick team and the opportunity to turn our vision of video-driven shopping into reality for the millions of women who visit Sugar every month.”

Big, giant and prolonged sigh–as well as a cranky-old-lady shake of the fist–to our distant cousins over at the Fox television network, who dinged BoomTown’s favorite sci-fi show, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” today.

I am officially in a Summer Glau funk, with major gadget withdrawal.

After much fake agonizing over the fate of “Sarah Connor,” Fox programmers finally stuck a fork in the series after two seasons. Loosely based on the movie franchise, the show garnered a passionate fan base online and off, but not enough to merit being renewed.

It’s ironic since the latest film in the cyborg-versus-man epic, “Terminator Salvation,” will open this Thursday.

It is the next blockbuster in a tech-heavy summer movie season, following the boffo reception that the new “Star Trek” has gotten (next up: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”).

But the arrival of “Terminator Salvation,” with its noisy, Armageddon-is-nigh theme, could not save the more thoughtfully dark “Sarah Connor.”

Thank goodness, then, for YouTube and a very pissed-off and half-naked young actor named Thomas Dekker, who plays a teenage savior of humanity, John Connor, in the TV series.

In this perfect online video clip he did himself, the real-life (and very wild-eyed) Dekker calls Fox’s viewer comment line to express his support for the show in no uncertain terms:

Full disclosure: News Corp. (NWS) owns Fox, as well as Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.

News Corp. will officially announce its shaken-but-not-stirred digital lineup this morning, as former AOL head Jon Miller takes over as the media giant’s new chief digital officer.

And Peter Levinsohn–his predecessor at Fox Interactive Media, which Miller will inherit in a new form, along with a larger portfolio, all based in New York–will also officially take up his new post as the key digital exec at News Corp.’s film and television studios in California.

In the press release, the company said Miller “will be charged with driving digital strategy across News Corp. businesses.”

In a statement, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said: “Our focus moving forward is twofold: to enable our digital businesses to flourish as individual entities and to bolster the digital strategies of our core media properties by treating them as central to, and not separate from, the enterprise.”

The release went on to say that Miller will have sway over News Corp.’s standalone digital businesses, including MySpace, IGN Entertainment, Photobucket, as well as Jamba and the Hulu joint venture with NBC Universal, and will “collaborate with operational heads and digital executives through all lines of business around the globe to develop and refine digital efforts.”

Last Friday, BoomTown and others outlined the moves, part of Murdoch’s efforts to make significant changes related to how the company’s digital efforts are managed.

The shifts come in the wake of the previously announced upcoming departure of COO Peter Chernin, who was in charge of digital efforts at News Corp.

Miller (pictured here), whose noncompete agreement with Time Warner (TWX) from his AOL stint just ran out, will report directly to Murdoch. Besides the chief digital officer title, he will also be chairman and CEO of the newly created News Digital Media group.

Levinsohn, a longtime News Corp. exec, is also getting a significant new job as president of new media and digital distribution at the Fox studios, coordinating delivery of its film and television assets on all mobile and digital platforms.

It will be his task to create sustainable advertising and other business models in this fast-moving arena, as well as create innovative new content for those platforms.

In his new post, Levinsohn (pictured here) will report to Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, co-chairmen and CEOs of Fox Filmed Entertainment.

News Corp. said that Levinsohn will oversee “Fox Filmed Entertainment’s entire content portfolio across all digital distribution channels, including Hulu and third party platforms in the broadband, mobile and gaming markets. He will direct all policy decisions regarding new usage and business models, content protection, and will further develop the studio’s original and derivative content businesses by working with creative talent, distributors and brands to bring short and long-form digital entertainment to audiences worldwide.”

It’s definitely a complex, challenging job–although a big opportunity–for the affable Levinsohn, who never sought the limelight as some who worked for him have, most especially MySpace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe.

Both previous FIM heads, Ross Levinsohn and Peter Levinsohn, many sources said, had to deal with DeWolfe’s own sphere of influence within News Corp. (NWS), especially his close ties to Murdoch. Both FIM and MySpace are located in Beverly Hills, Calif.

As I previously wrote, relations between DeWolfe and both those execs could be described, at best, as tense.

Miller now inherits that relationship at the social-networking site. And he must also navigate the complexities of the global media giant, as well as figure out ongoing relationships with digital companies, such as Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and his former company, Time Warner (TWX) unit AOL.

The same, of course, goes for Levinsohn.

And, especially with the weak economy, which often slows innovation at large companies, it is likely the pair will end up having to work together closely if News Corp. is to have a cohesive and successful digital strategy under the new set-up going forward.

(News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.)

Here’s the press release, after the jump:

News Corporation Establishes Digital Leadership Roles

Jonathan Miller named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Digital Media Group and Chief Digital Officer for News Corporation

Peter Levinsohn named President New Media and Digital Distribution, Fox Filmed Entertainment

New York, NY April 1, 2009–News Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch today announced the company has named former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Digital Media Group and Chief Digital Officer for News Corporation. Based in New York and reporting directly to Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Miller, 52, will be charged with driving digital strategy across News Corp. businesses.

In this newly created role, Mr. Miller will direct News Corp.’s stand-alone digital businesses, including MySpace, IGN Entertainment, Photobucket, as well as Jamba and the Hulu joint venture with NBC Universal. He will also collaborate with operational heads and digital executives through all lines of business around the globe to develop and refine digital efforts.

“Our focus moving forward is twofold: to enable our digital businesses to flourish as individual entities and to bolster the digital strategies of our core media properties by treating them as central to, and not separate from, the enterprise,” Mr. Murdoch said. “With his strong background in media and entertainment, coupled with a deep understanding of the digital business, Jon Miller is–hands down–the best equipped executive to provide the vision, oversight and operational experience to truly transform our offerings.”

“’I'm fortunate to join the world’s most dynamic media company at a time when digital opportunities are shaping our business in new and exciting ways,” said Miller. “News Corporation has shown a unique ability to excel globally in all forms of media and I look forward to working with its leadership as we position the company for continued growth and innovation.”

Peter Levinsohn has been named to the new position of President New Media and Digital Distribution, Fox Filmed Entertainment, the unit that controls the company’s film and television content worldwide. He will report directly to Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, chairmen and CEOs of Fox Filmed Entertainment.

Levinsohn will oversee Fox Filmed Entertainment’s entire content portfolio across all digital distribution channels, including Hulu and third party platforms in the broadband, mobile and gaming markets. He will direct all policy decisions regarding new usage and business models, content protection, and will further develop the studio’s original and derivative content businesses by working with creative talent, distributors and brands to bring short and long-form digital entertainment to audiences worldwide.

Mr. Murdoch said, “Peter Levinsohn did an extraordinary job running Fox Interactive Media, having steered MySpace’s trajectory to the world’s leading social media portal. He is the perfect executive to place at the heart of our global content business as we look to further exploit our movie and television properties over new and yet to be discovered platforms.”

“As one of the leading suppliers of content worldwide, we’ve made huge strides in giving consumers an array of choice when it comes to consuming digital content,” said Levinsohn. “I look forward to working with Jim and Tom and their teams to further our commitment to building distribution models that are both sustainable and durable over the long term.”

“With a newly minted portfolio that combines the absolute best in film and television entertainment, I’m thrilled to have Peter return to the studio to lead this very important initiative as we deepen our commitment to propel our digital businesses forward,” said Jim Gianopulos, co-chairman Fox Filmed Entertainment. Tom Rothman, co-chairman Fox Filmed Entertainment, said, “We look forward to leveraging Peter’s deep knowledge of emerging markets as we bolster our strategies to bring viewers new content built explicitly for these expanding platforms.”

Levinsohn, a 20-year News Corp. veteran, returns to the studio after running Fox Interactive Media, where he oversaw MySpace, IGN, Photobucket and FoxSports.com, among other web properties. Prior to Fox Interactive Media, Levinsohn held a number of senior positions at the company, including president of Fox Digital Media, and president of Worldwide Pay Television and Video on Demand for Fox Filmed Entertainment.

Mr. Miller was most recently a founding partner of Velocity Interactive Group, a digital media and communications investment firm. From 2002 to 2006, he served as Chairman and CEO of AOL, where he restructured the company’s core business lines, focusing on online advertising. Through his leadership, AOL delivered record annual profit growth of 21 percent and increased online advertising growth, the centerpiece of its new business model, by 46 percent. Previously, Miller was CEO and President of USA Information and Services, now IACI and Expedia (the company split in two in 2005), where he helped build industry-leading positions in such areas as online travel, ticketing, and electronic retailing.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Miller spent several years as Managing Director of Nickelodeon International, a unit of Viacom’s MTV Networks. He also served as the Chief Executive of Paramount’s first branded international channel, launching the Paramount Comedy Channel in London. He spent five years at NBA Entertainment where, as Vice President of Programming, he expanded the NBA’s TV production business as well as its overall brand image.

BoomTown has confirmed a report by Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily that former AOL head Jon Miller is set to take over as digital head at News Corp., replacing Peter Levinsohn.

The move was also mentioned in a blog post by Miller’s partner in an investment company, Ross Levinsohn, who once held a smaller version of the job Miller is taking.

But Miller has not actually signed up for the job officially, since he is still under a noncompete agreement with Time Warner from his AOL stint. It runs out in three days, in fact.

As some might recall, Miller was barred from taking a board seat at Yahoo last year by Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes.

But sources said News Corp. is likely to announce Miller as head by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

Once he does sign, which seems likely, Miller will become News Corp.’s chief digital officer, reporting directly to the media giant’s head, Rupert Murdoch. Based in New York, he will also be chairman and CEO of the newly created News Digital Media group.

Sources noted that this is a a different and larger platform for Miller, bigger than just the Fox Interactive Media job that Levinsohn held. It will go across all properties held by News Corp. across the globe.

“The idea is to mainstream the digital initiatives, which have been all over the company,” said one source close to the situation.

Levinsohn will move to another job within News Corp. (NWS) at the film and television studios, to coordinate delivery of its assets on mobile and digital platforms, sources said. It will be his task to create sustainable business models in this fast-moving arena.

News Corp. has, in fact, been searching for a new digital head for the past several months, talking to a number of well-known Internet execs, including Joost head Mike Volpi, former AOL exec Jim Bankoff and former Facebook exec Owen Van Natta.

The decision to rejigger News Corp.’s digital assets came after the announcement that President and COO Peter Chernin was leaving his job and has largely been pushed by Murdoch.

Previously, Chernin had been in charge of digital efforts at News Corp.

The search for the position was, in fact, conducted by well-known head tech and media headhunter Jim Citrin of Spencer Stuart.

Ironically, Miller is still essentially taking a job once held by his current partner, Ross Levinsohn, at the investment fund, Velocity Interactive Group. As I noted above, Levinsohn confirmed the Miller offer from News Corp. in a blog post called “Thunderclap.”

The move is a fascinating one, and one of many in the digital arena of late among its top execs. Former Google (GOOG) exec Tim Armstrong recently took over as CEO of the Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL, for example.

Also, even though the job will cover all the the many News Corp. Web properties, even more compelling will be how Miller will deal with its largest and most prominent asset: social-networking giant MySpace.

More to the point, it will be riveting to see how he will handle managing MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe.

Both previous FIM heads, Ross Levinsohn and Peter Levinsohn, many sources said, had to deal with DeWolfe’s own sphere of influence within News Corp., especially his close ties to Murdoch. Both FIM and MySpace are located in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Relations between DeWolfe and both those execs could be described, at best, as tense.

But Miller, who is a much bigger Internet player in his own right, with a more powerful charge from Murdoch, certainly is likely to shift that balance of power.

More to come…

(News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.)

Here’s a longish video BoomTown did over the weekend at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, the famous annual independent film gathering now taking place in Park City, Utah.

I was there to moderate a panel on Saturday titled, “Where Do We Go From Here? Icons of the Digital Age.”

It was a great session, with a lot of insights as to where things are headed in the online video space and how that would impact the movie industry. Main conclusion: Significantly.

The trio of panelists were: Chad Hurley, the co-founder and CEO of the Google (GOOG) video service, YouTube; Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, the premium online video service that is a joint venture of News Corp. (NWS) and GE (GE) unit NBC Universal; and Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix (NFLX), the largest online DVD rental service, which has been moving into an ever wider range of distribution of movies on the Web. (News Corp. is the owner of Dow Jones and this Web site.)

I did interviews with each of them, as well as a chat with my only indie celebrity friend, Jane Lynch, some scenes from the festival and an intro and outro from my own little stars, Louie and Alex Swisher.

Here’s the video:

BoomTown is headed to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival today, an annual journey I make to moderate panels about the tech industry.

The festival officially opened yesterday in Park City, Utah. And while still largely a confab of independent filmmakers, Hollywood deal types and various celebrities rifling though swag orgies, a lot of geeks are there too.

Since Sundance also has taken a keen interest in all things digital, ATD moves its HQ there for a few days every January, to the New Frontier on Main digs, to talk to those gathered–for what have become standing-room-only events–about whither tech and how and when it is eventually going to eat the entertainment industry’s lunch.

Oh yes, my friend: Silicon Valley will eat lunch in this snowy town again!

And for good reason, given that the entire movie industry has long worried about how digital distribution will impact its business, especially as every year, the encroachment continues at a relentless pace.

This year, we’re going even more futuristic, with a panel tomorrow at noon titled, “Where Do We Go From Here? Icons of the Digital Age.”

In fact, the panelists are that: Chad Hurley, the co-founder and CEO of the Google (GOOG) video service, YouTube; Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, the premium online video service that is a joint venture of News Corp. (NWS) and GE (GE) unit NBC Universal; and Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix (NFLX), the largest online DVD rental service, which has been moving into an ever wider range of distribution of movies on the Web. (News Corp. is the owner of Dow Jones and this Web site.)

Here’s the panel description:

“Remember the world before the Internet, email, and cell phones? Now we try and picture it 15 years from now. If we are currently in the greatest information revolution since the printing press, what can we expect next? How will media, entertainment, and our digital lifestyles change? This roundtable assembles visionaries of the digital revolution to discuss the limits of our imagination.”

It should be an interesting exercise in creative prognostication, although I for one cannot remember the world before the Internet, email and cellphones.

I am also dragging my two young sons there, along with ATD majordomo Ed, so expect lots of filming of our own, with my shaky Flip Mino, to be posted all weekend.

Until then, here’s one of the two videos I did last year, including an interview with MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe and a visit to the trendy party he threw on Main Street with my celebrity friend Jane Lynch as tour guide (and she’ll be back this year for another special guest star appearance!):

How much is AOL really worth?

Well, its own owner, Time Warner, has been trying to put a big, shiny $10 billion price tag on the much- beleaguered online unit for months now, as it dribbles out tiny leaks about hot-and-cold- running acquisition talks with both Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT).

But after yesterday’s less-than-impressive results for AOL, which dragged down the crowing Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes could deservedly do over his company’s “The Dark Knight” and “Sex and the City” film successes, can it even hope to get that much?

Of course, $10 billion is about half as much as AOL was valued in late 2005, when Google (GOOG) forked over $1 billion for five percent of the unit.

At the time, no one actually believed the $20 billion was a real figure, but that it was due more to Google’s incentive to overpay in order to clinch a renewal of its search deal with AOL and ward off Microsoft’s aggressive efforts to steal that business away.

But AOL’s weakening performance in a tough economy makes figuring out a sale of AOL to Yahoo–its most sensible partner–more difficult than ever.

Let’s do the math, shall we?

(This analysis was suggested to me by someone familiar with both companies and makes a lot of sense.)

Let’s begin by assuming that Time Warner (TWX) would want to trade AOL for a stake in a merged newco entity, and by using the $10 billion value the media giant seeks.

This, by the way, does not include the profitable Internet access business, which Time Warner officially announced yesterday it would cleave from the AOL ad and content business and sell separately for $2 to $3 billion.

Next calculation: At $20 a share, Yahoo is worth $27.6 billion at yesterday’s close.

So with a new valuation of $37.6 billion ($27.6 billion plus $10 billion), Time Warner would then own 26.5 percent of the company, which is jokingly dubbed Yahol.

Maybe it is just me, but I can’t see Yahoo agreeing to this. Or its big and mighty disgruntled investors, such as Capital Research Global Investors’ Gordon Crawford, either.

To appease him and other shareholders, Yahoo might first, say, sell off those much-touted Asian assets and deliver a wad of cash to shareholders.

This move would yield about $8 billion, leaving a $19.6 billion market cap for Yahoo. In a combo in that scenario, Time Warner would then own 33.7 percent of the remaining company.

And while Time Warner could throw in some other assets to add value, like video rights or content from its other properties, it’s still a leap to imagine Yahoo would trade away that much of itself for a merger that has a 50-50 chance of succeeding.

That’s because both Yahoo and AOL have been feeling the pain of the downturn in the ad market and are each particularly vulnerable.

Yahoo’s second-quarter earnings, announced a few weeks ago, were weak, which management blamed on the economy.

And yesterday, Time Warner did the same, noting the ad business at AOL had stalled.

Revenue fell 16 percent in the second quarter to $1.06 billion, largely due to a massive fall-off in its subscription business, resulting in a 36-percent drop in net income.

But online advertising revenue grew only two percent, which is–let’s just say it–depressing, largely because of a 14-percent decline in the more lucrative display business, versus its healthier but lower-margin third-party ad business.

In addition, AOL still has to figure out how to properly monetize its newly acquired Bebo unit, which it woefully overpaid for, in an even more difficult environment for social networks.

And while turning to Microsoft for a better deal might seem a good idea, the software giant is also unlikely to want to overpay in this market.

Nonetheless, Time Warner must sell AOL, which was abundantly clear yesterday, as it does not fit in with the rest of its businesses and its weakness is dragging down the stock.

Unfortunately, it could turn out to be a fire sale. Using the old AOL catchphrase, to describe the odds of getting a huge pile of dough for AOL: You’ve Got Fail.

“Google is now officially our best friend.”

Oh no.

Instantly, an image popped into my brain– that of the slithery Kaa singing “Trust in Me (The Python Song)” to Mowgli from the Disney classic animated film, “The Jungle Book.”

“Trust in me, just in me
Shut your eyes and trust in me
You can sleep safe and sound
Knowing I am around

Trust in me, just in me
Shut your eyes and trust in me.”

You know what happens next, of course. A big squeeze, but not the good kind.

While Yahoo (YHOO) might not have wanted to be acquired by Microsoft (MSFT), its alternative to goose its revenues by relying on Google (GOOG) in an outsourced online search-ad deal is one it might regret even more if struck.

Why? Aside from the potential antitrust issues, which are distracting at the very least, it fundamentally puts one of Yahoo’s main businesses–search advertising–directly into the hands of the very company that killed off Yahoo’s chances of ever succeeding in the arena in the first place.

By its inability to innovate search–not exactly Google’s strong suit–and also not moving quickly enough after acquiring the once-superior technology from its Overture acquisition, Yahoo had perhaps already nailed itself into its own coffin.

But by now signing an outsourcing deal with Google, it will be saying that it cannot compete at all in the key arena of the Internet going forward.

AOL (TWX) did this kind of deal with Google and saw its search share dwindle, even though it collected Google’s payoffs. Now it is essentially a vassal state of Google, as its display businesses has weakened with the economy and its access business is to be cleaved off.

Speaking of pythons, Infectious Greed blogger Paul Kedrosky compared Yahoo to the crack suicide squad in Monty Python’s hysterical “Life of Brian.”

Still, Yahoo is putting lipstick on the pig.

In a statement today after news of the Microsoft pullout was revealed, Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock asserted that Yahoo was “steadfast in our belief that Microsoft’s offer undervalued the company and we are pleased that so many of our shareholders joined us in expressing that view.”

Those supposedly pleased shareholders will be hard to find Monday after the market opens and Yahoo shares hurtle downward.

Whether Yahoo’s management has the talent to pull the stock out of the basement remains to be seen, although Bostock added that Yahoo is “profitable, growing, and executing well on its strategic plan to capture the large opportunities in the relatively young online advertising market.”

Actually, it is Google that is executing well and that has always been Yahoo’s problem. Now it must apparently turn that disadvantage into a virtue, while it is under enormous scrutiny from everyone and everywhere to perform.

And that kind of pressure could crush just about anything.

For a more amusing take on being squeezed, here’s a video–courtesy of Google’s copyright-infringing YouTube–of Kaa singing to Mowgli (which might soon seem very familiar to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang):

And here is the video of the crack suicide squad from “Life of Brian”:

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

This is my third year at Sundance, where I moderate tech panels for the independent film festival.

Obviously, issues related to technology are becoming ever larger for the film community and most especially for the independent filmmakers, as they seek to get their material wider distribution than Hollywood’s current chokehold system provides.

The Sundance Film Festival is held annually in Park City and focuses on screenings of new indie films. Still, Sundance has been expanding additional offerings in the digital arena with panels throughout the festival.

The panel I moderated (see video here) was about online video, called “Webolution!–Hollywood Adapts to the Web.”

Here’s the video:

Tech is getting a lot of attention in Hollywood, so talking about online video is a key area for the independent filmmakers who are here this year.

Topics on the panel were wide-ranging, including: social networking, politics, the writers’ strike and the need for more broadband.

Better yet, here’s the description of the panel:

“The writing is on the wall–the industry must adapt to new media or face extinction. Today’s studios and independents are finally embracing the challenge of porting content and revenue to new distribution strategies. Join Hollywood power brokers and new media superstars to discuss their strategies for the Web.”

The panelists included Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Dmitry Shapiro (founder and CEO of Veoh.com), Dan Glickman (MPAA), Jason Kilar (CEO of Hulu.com), Mike Volpi (CEO of Joost.com), Erik Flanagan (EVP Digital Media MTV Networks/Comedy Central/South Park Studios) and tech strategy adviser Phil Lelyveld.

In other words, me and seven guys, which is about par for the course in Silicon Valley!

Here’s the video:

And here is my video touring the festival.

I just got to Park City, Utah, for my annual visit (well, this will be my third year here) to the famous film festival that takes place in this lovely mountain resort.

While I like a good movie as much as the next person, I am no film aficionado, nor do I have a screenplay stuffed in a drawer, nor do I hope someday to direct. I do like celebrity sightings, of course.

I am here because the Sundance Film Festival has understood early and often that technology is becoming increasingly important to the future of the film industry.

Because of that, they’ve been expanding additional offerings in the digital arena with panels throughout the festival.

The panel I will moderate is a great one about online video, called “Webolution!–Hollywood Adapts to the Web.” It will take place tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. at the New Frontier on Main here.

Here’s the description:

“The writing is on the wall–the industry must adapt to new media or face extinction. Today’s studios and independents are finally embracing the challenge of porting content and revenue to new distribution strategies. Join Hollywood power brokers and new media superstars to discuss their strategies for the Web.”

The panelists include Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Dmitry Shapiro (founder and CEO of Veoh.com), Dan Glickman (MPAA), Jason Kilar (CEO of Hulu.com), Mike Volpi (CEO of Joost.com), Erik Flanagan (EVP Digital Media MTV Networks/Comedy Central/South Park Studios) and tech strategy adviser Phil Lelyveld.

Videos, of course, to come, along with visits with various tech players here, who are increasing in number annually. And, maybe, a Hollywood celeb or two.

So I took a trip up to Rochester, N.Y., over the summer to visit Kodak, the once powerful film giant, which has been struggling in recent years to make the difficult transition from film to digital.

I made a few videos there and then neglected to post them in the rush of other breaking news.

But this glimpse at the declining city Kodak once ruled, along with an interview with Philip Faraci, who was recently named President and COO for all of Eastman Kodak, is illuminating as the company tries to transform itself drastically. (In a side note, Faraci previously worked at Hewlett-Packard for a little more than two decades.)

Here is the first video with Faraci:

That’s a lot harder when you are talking about a business with such a massive legacy as Kodak has carried, even though it was once considered to be the tech marvel of the day. That’s especially true when it is compared to its current competitors, the shape-shifting digital entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley.

Under current CEO Antonio Perez (also a former H-P exec), whom I interviewed at D4 in 2005, Kodak has been trying to dig itself out of a hole and into consistent profitability. (Full disclosure: Kodak has been a regular sponsor of the D: All Things Digital conference that I run with Walt Mossberg.)

That shift has obviously been painful, including huge cuts in its employee base, due to the sharp decline of its market might. Since 2004, Kodak has cut its employee head count from about 64,000 to 30,600 as it has undergone a massive restructuring.

Things are looking up, though. In its most recent quarter, reported in early November, Kodak had a profit on a small sales decline. Its digital sales, from products like inkjet printers and digital cameras, rose to $1.59 billion, up 12%, and represented 60% of revenue. Film-based revenue was down 16%, to $698 million.

Whatever happens, Kodak is an interesting tech turnaround to watch.

(Here is my second Kodak video.)