Apparently, not everyone leaves Yahoo (YHOO) to join Microsoft.

On Friday, sources said, it was announced internally at Microsoft (MSFT) that Karl Siebrecht (pictured here), the former president of Atlas at aQuantive, is joining AdReady at the end of the month as president and COO.

AdReady, based in Seattle, bills itself as an “advertising technology company focused on making online display advertising accessible and effective for advertisers of all sizes.”

The start-up has raised a total of $12 million in venture funding from Bain Capital Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Madrona Venture Group.

Aaron Finn is its current CEO and president, but is apparently giving up one title to Siebrecht.

And–probably no coincidence–aQuantive’s former CEO is Brian McAndrews, who is now managing director at Madrona.

But, sources said, Siebrecht was introduced to Finn through David Rosenblatt, an advisory board member of AdReady–and who competed with Siebrecht as CEO of DoubleClick, which was bought by Google (GOOG).

Also interestingly, Jason Kilar, CEO of premium video site Hulu, is on AdReady’s board.

Oh, it is a small tech world, after all.

Microsoft bought aQuantive–which is now called Microsoft Advertising–in mid-2007 for $6 billion and Atlas was one of its units.

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!):

While recently in Los Angeles, I paid another visit to Jason Kilar, who has been quietly making the Hulu premium online video service one of the brightest spots in the Web 2.0 space.

The joint venture between News Corp. (NWS) and General Electric (GE) media unit NBC Universal has shown an astonishing growth since its launch in late 2007.

Yesterday, for example, comScore reported that it had risen to No. 6 in online video market share in October, after big players like the Google (GOOG) video service YouTube, Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO), and in front of both Disney (DIS) and Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL.

According to comScore (SCOR), Hulu served up 235.1 million videos in the month, grabbing a 1.7 percent market share, while Google sites garner 39.7 percent of the share and No. 2 Fox Interactive Media sites just 3.8 percent.

In addition, the October comScore numbers showed that Hulu has almost 24 million unique monthly visitors, who watch an average of almost 10 videos.

While it is not quite a little-engine-that-could story–after all, it has access to some of the most popular premium content, such as “The Simpsons”–Hulu’s fast growth and innovative experimentation with advertising in online video is being watched carefully by Internet and media players alike.

While some still don’t agree with its strategy of creating a one-stop destination site and think both News Corp. (owner of this site) and NBC Universal should send its content far and wide (the “promiscuous” strategy of players like CBS), others wait for the most massive video site of all–YouTube–to introduce some sort of premium service as a copy of Hulu very soon.

Already, YouTube has been trying to add on more premium offerings in its main juggernaut, even though the bulk of its popularity is due to short videos and user-generated content. But such inroads have been harder for Google, given the continued antipathy–and fear–toward it by Hollywood.

Not so for the homegrown Hulu, which has its HQ in Santa Monica, surrounded by a gang of entertainment and Internet outfits.

So, here’s my latest video interview with Kilar about where Hulu is going next (with two videos from my previous visit in April below it):

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

While in Los Angeles, BoomTown visited the offices of Hulu, the online video service that has been an unexpected bright spot for two Hollywood behemoths–NBC Universal (GE) and News Corp. (NWS) (owner of this site)–who launched the premium online video service as a joint venture last year.

Helmed by former Amazon exec Jason Kilar, not much was expected of Hulu, given that traditional entertainment companies have been slower than slow in embracing the digitization of their businesses.

But, armed with the clout of its partners, along with $100 million in private equity from Providence Equity Partners, as I wrote back in late October, Hulu has been a pretty decent effort and has gained surprising traction, both in its distributed content and also on its site.

Yet despite its clean look, easy-to-use tools, relative openness and also addition of more and more premium content, it will still be a long slog for Hulu, as it tries to make a big business out of all of it and battle the increasing power of bigger sites like Google’s YouTube.

Nonetheless, so far, so good. And, so we visited its HQ in Santa Monica, Calif., with our No. 1 son, Louie Swisher (Hulu’s true audience) in tow to see how the service is put together and meet some of its employees.

Thus, this fine video, in which Louie does a very good dance interpretation of the service at the start–although what else would a mother say?

(Also, here is a longer interview with Kilar about Hulu and its future.)

Here’s BoomTown’s longer interview with the deceptively sharp Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, which I did while I was visiting the start-up recently.

In it, we discuss a wide range of topics about the premium online video service, which is a joint venture of NBC Universal (GE) and News Corp. (NWS) (owner of this site).

In it, he talks about everything from the reasons for the early success of Hulu to the state of content online in Hollywood to where it is all going to the sticky question of monetization (or lack thereof).

Also, when the heck is “Law & Order” going to be on Hulu? And “Seinfeld,” please.

(In addition, here is a video and post of my tour of Hulu HQ in Santa Monica, Calif., with Louie Swisher, who gives a very fine dance interpretation of the service at the start, I think you will agree.)

After a few months of private beta, Hulu will open itself to the public tomorrow with a full-court press of publicity.

Hulu kind of deserves at least a little more attention, despite efforts by some to look for warts in the online video service, which is a joint venture between NBC Universal (GE) and News Corp. (NWS)–owner of Dow Jones, which owns this site–with $100 million in private equity from Providence Equity Partners.

But, as I wrote back in late October, Hulu has been a pretty decent effort on the part of slow-moving media companies, despite some problems here and there that I noted.

Still, I wrote: “Hulu’s willingness to send its content far and wide from the get-go, with very little friction and using easy tools to do so, is perhaps the most compelling aspect of its debut.

Finally, someone in Hollywood has realized that ubiquitous distribution, which is being driven by consumers’ desire to move their media anywhere they want, whenever they want, is the future.

To shine itself up for new U.S.-only users, Hulu is adding more premium content, including about 100 full-length movies and also upping its television offerings to 250 full-length episodes.

The new licensing deals include Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, NBA and the NHL, and the movies include cult hits like “The Big Lebowski.”

In addition, Hulu is launching a new ad offering that lets users pick their own products to learn about and linking full movie trailer ads with content it relates to, which would then be streamed without interruption. For example, a trailer for the movie “Juno” might be seen before the television series “Arrested Development,” since both star actors Jason Bateman and Michael Cera.

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said he knows there needs to be a lot more professionally produced content on online video sites like Hulu from a wider range of content creators.

Hulu, for example, doe not have popular NBC shows like the “Law and Order” franchise, since it still has not reached an agreement with its powerful producer, Dick Wolf.

“We are trying to build the kind of audiences where we can monetize it well for all content creators,” Kilar said in an interview, noting the site had attracted five million users over the last 30 days. “When we have that economic power and an even larger audience, I think level heads will prevail in getting more and more content to consumers.”

And when that happens, as I wrote back in the fall, Hulu has done a nice job so far in designing the easy-to-use service, including allowing users to grab their own clips, although there are some small quibbles with its player (it can be slow, for example, but–to be fair–every Internet video site is slow).

In addition, Hulu’s business model, in which it shares ad revenues with content creators (for content that comes mostly from its owners), is still nascent and potentially problematic (see this interesting analysis from Silicon Alley Insider, for example).

But I do love those movable clips and I think the public will too, ads and all.

For example, here is a recent entire episode of my new favorite show, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (How much do we love Summer Glau’s flat affect as a teenage cybernetic organism? So much), which I easily embedded here:

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.

OK, I will admit, I was busy sharpening up the knives at BoomTown HQ to prepare for the debut of Hulu this week.

Let’s just say that I have been dubious that two lumbering media companies–in this case, News Corp. (owner of this site!) and NBC Universal–could make more than a mishmash of premium video, especially given Hollywood’s glacial and cloddish approach to the Web.

Not so with regard to Hulu, whose name is still arguably as goofy as ever.

From a demo (here are some screen shots of pages) I was given Friday by Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, the boyish former Amazon exec who seems to have learned to swim well with the Hollywood sharks, I am impressed thus far.

I will, of course, reserve judgment until I get to test-drive it for a while, but in concept and tone and aims–that is, more open than I ever expected the service to be–it is off to a good start. (Actual reviews of these sites I will leave to Walt Mossberg.)

By way of background, Hulu was announced to much fanfare and much more dubiousness, given that joint ventures between media behemoths tend to be like two elephants dancing gracefully. That is, not.

Even within the companies, there was much pooh-poohing of the idea, with some divisions silently vowing noncooperation, even though bosses–like NBCU’s Jeff Zucker and News Corp.’s Peter Chernin–backed it strongly.

In addition, there are a plethora of competing efforts to digitally distribute premium content, of all different types, including the much-hyped Joost, Veoh, Babelgum and many others. Major networks are also offering streamed shows.

Let’s just say, it’s crowded and confusing out there, beyond the obvious news that consumers seem to like YouTube’s short user-generated videos and sampling all those tasty stolen clips from TV shows and movies. (Keep in mind, NBC pulled its channel off YouTube recently and still has no licensing deal with the Google-owned site.)

So how much premium content people are willing to consume in a legal setting–given all the restrictions and lack of ability to access and manipulate great content–is still unclear.

But it is a market major media companies need to wade into and fast, given another clear trend: most media will become digital in the next decade, desperately needing the much wider distribution only the Web can provide.

Enter Hulu, a venture that is approaching the market with a free, ad-supported browser product, offering premium video content, including TV shows, clips and a small handful of movies.

“We hope to grow over time in terms of content and functionality,” said Kilar (pictured here). “We obviously have to respond to the consumer from day one.”

Actually, there will not be many consumers quite yet. The site will not come out of private beta for some months, although its offerings will be available on portals, such as AOL, this week.

Here are some highlights and info:

• There will be no user-generated video. Sigh.
• There will be no download of material. Whine.
• Videos can be embedded in any Web site and shared using email. In the niftiest feature, you can cut your own clip.
• The player is one created by Hulu, using Adobe technology. Very nice.
• Content on Hulu, which is pretty good to start, is mostly made up of TV shows from Fox and NBC, and more than 15 cable channels including Bravo, E!, FX, SciFi, Sundance and USA.
• The site has most of the prime-time hits from FOX and NBC, including “Heroes,” “30 Rock” and “The Simpsons.” But I prefer the oldies like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Lost in Space” and “Kojak.”
• Movies–there are only under a dozen–will come from Fox and Universal, as well as from Sony and MGM (who will also provide TV fare). More movies please!
• TV shows will become available after they have aired on regular broadcast television. The new ones will only be the last five episodes, which is not a good thing and should be changed.
• Other cool tools: You can leave reviews and vote shows up and down; you can pop out a video from a window; you can darken the rest of the page, for better viewing.
• Advertising varies: sometimes in the video, sometimes overlaid on top or sometimes nearby. Standard, and it would be nice to see some innovation here.
• Major initial advertisers are Cisco, Intel and a bunch of car companies (Toyota, Nissan and General Motors). Cisco?
• Major portal partners include: AOL, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo and Comcast’s Fancast.

Along with the private beta rollout, Hulu also announced confirmation of a well-known $100 million investment by Providence Equity Partners for the joint venture.

There are, of course, a lot of open questions, such as how costly all these media rights are and how to make advertising pay for them. And it is not clear consumers are willing to embrace yet another destination site.

But Hulu’s willingness to send its content far and wide from the get-go, with very little friction and using easy tools to do so, is perhaps the most compelling aspect of its debut.

Finally, someone in Hollywood has realized that ubiquitous distribution, which is being driven by consumers’ desire to move their media anywhere they want, whenever they want, is the future.

Now if Hulu could just bring back “Arrested Development”–Steve Holt!–we could all be happy.

Here’s why: No users, no track record and no revelations about what it is actually going to look like. Also no firm launch date either, it now seems.

And did I mention no name?

Well, at least as of yesterday, the No-no-no-no-no company had a new CEO–former Amazon executive Jason Kilar (right).

The 36-year-old left the online retailer last year, after almost a decade at the Seattle-based company. While there, he had a lot of different jobs, including heading up Amazon’s foray into the video and DVD businesses. Before Amazon, he worked for a short time at Walt Disney.

He’ll need all the digital and Hollywood mojo he has to get this project flying, I suspect, given that it is an attempt to get two traditional media companies–neither of which is exactly a shrinking violet–to cooperate to try to catch up in the race to distribute video on the Web.

While No-Name is often called a YouTube-killer (and good luck with that, given that the powerhouse MySpace can hardly keep up), that’s not really its aim nor should it be.

The company is probably more like Joost, except without the closed-system approach that effort is using, to find the best ways to put their professional television and film content across the Internet. As I understand it, there will be no new original or user-generated content at first.

As one smart online exec with knowledge of the venture told me, it is much more about compiling a distribution network rather than creating a destination site, which is a good idea, because there are very few of those that succeed.

Since few big Hollywood companies want to rely on YouTube and its owner Google to get their fare out there and reap the ad dollars hoped, it is imperative that they find as many ways as possible to make their content available digitally.

According to News Corp.’s COO Peter Chernin and NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker, the project has 30 employees in new offices in Santa Monica, Calif., and a dozen charter advertisers.

Some possibly worrisome news: It might or might not launch in September, as some had suggested.

“We’ll launch when we’re prepared to launch with a world-class product,” said Chernin on a conference call yesterday.

At least, he didn’t say no.

Please see this disclosure related to me and YouTube (which is owned by Google).