Talk:Webcast

Comment
The first online video distribution (albeit on a proprietary IP network to fund managers worldwide) of an investor relations event took place in 1996 in London. It was conducted by a division of the Financial Times newspaper, called Veritas. The management team went off to set up their own business, RAW Communications, which pioneered the use fo video for investor relations on public companies. RAW was sold to Thomson Financial in 2006.

Why does netcast redirect to this page? Perhaps Leo Laporte's proposition for renaming podcast should have its own page: http://www.twit.tv/2006/09/22/a_cast_by_any_other_name --24.20.181.127 05:36, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

I have changed the opening sentence from:

"A webcast is similar in intent to a broadcast television program, however webcasts are not actually broadcast as this would be hideously inefficient from an engineering perspective."

To:

"A webcast is similar in intent to a broadcast television program but designed for internet transmission."

Basically, not to include the word 'internet' at the outset seemed a grave failing to me. --bodnotbod 13:41, Apr 30, 2004 (UTC)

What is webcasting ?
The word webcast is derived from "web" and "broadcast". Its use has varied over the past decade by different types of organisation and as the nature of the medium came into public use.

The generally accepted use of webcast is the "transmission of linear audio or video content" (like "normal" radio and TV). Another good way of referring to it is "internet broadcasting" since the internet is the carrier and it is analogous to broadcast.

The concept of linear here means "non-interactive" (ie. you cannot fast forward or rewind). The advent of time shifting viewing oon TV has led to a bit of a collision or terminology and licensing in the media world.

If a radio/TV station webcasts its broadcast transmission, this is referred to as a "simulcast".

Internet-only radio/TV stations are linear shows transmitted in real-time.

Webcast stations as such are totally dependent on streaming media technology, and as the market scales, will be dependent on multicast technology.

It is distinct from podcast, which is 'just' a downloadable file.

So to recap, the idea of a webcast falls into the ecosystem that contains;

Terrestrial Broadcasting Digital Broadcasting Cable Broadcasting Satellite Broadcasting --Gavinstarks 01:26, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Why does it define "A webcast uses streaming media technology..." when the neologism contains "cast"- an obvious reference to podcast which usually refer to downloading the content you would like to see. Therefore, the mere reference to streaming technology is insufficient. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Oas777 (talk • contribs) 12:54, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Capitalization of the term
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Milesinc (talk • contribs) 13:44, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Webcast should be capitalized when it is refering to transmissions made specifically over the Internet itself. This is consistent with the appearance of the term on Webopedia as well as logically inferred given the capitalization of the proper-noun, Web, itself (in the case of the World Wide Web).

--SWCastNetwork 14:10, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
 * The term "webcast" is not a proper noun, and therefore it should not be capitalized. There is a difference between "the Web" and a "webcast." BJ Nemeth 21:37, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

The Famous Videocast Coffee Pot
The coffee pot at Oxford or Cambridge, which was webcast (still images, not video, IIRC) over the internet in the late 1980s or early 1990s, deserves a mention. They had a camera pointed at the glass caraffe on a coffee maker in the break room, and from time to time someone would pour some out or you would see it refilling. Swoopest (talk) 20:08, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Services
Has anyone tried to compile some examples of webcasting services/software for this article? I came here looking for some examples for research, and was disappointed that there isn't a dedicated section or a wikipedia category dedicated to them. It would be most useful for people who want to get started doing it on a small scale. Petronivs (talk) 15:29, 19 March 2013 (UTC)

The term Webcast has different meanings at different times
All the historical mentioned elements could also be named "audio streaming" or "video Streaming" if you crosscheck with streaming. But before 2005 roughly these terms were mixed. If you however look today for books on "Webcast" it is solely a multimedia presentation distributed over the Internet, a university network or a company network. A better name today would be Web-Presentation but we will not get rid of Webcast. Being a presentation a Webcast today - check back with books under this name - covers also always slides and a feedback channel. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Whwb (talk • contribs) 01:07, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

1994 "world’s first Webcast"
On his blog, Bill Thompson writes:

"In March 1994 I did the world’s first Webcast from the ICA, putting the debate which took place at the launch of the book ‘Imagologies’ live onto the Web, with a transcription of the debate, audio files of selected highlights and a MOO version of the ICA where online visitors could meet and put questions which were then read out in the ‘real’ Nash Room."

Can we find an independent, reliable source for this? Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:59, 11 September 2021 (UTC)