Babelgum

Babelgum was a free-to-view Internet television platform supported by advertising. The project was set up in 2005 by Italian media and telecommunications entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia (one of the founders of Italian TelCo FASTWEB) and scientist Erik Lumer, with the aim of developing interactive software for distributing TV shows and other forms of video over the Internet.

Babelgum uses streaming TV technology to provide free, on-demand TV content to end users. The company aims to combine the “immersive viewing experience” and visual quality of traditional television with the features made possible by the internet. The beta version of the service was presented on 7 March 2007.

On September 1, 2007 Babelgum launched the Babelgum Online Film Festival, the first global online film festival dedicated to independent film. Viewers voted for the shortlists while a professional jury, chaired by Spike Lee, selected the winners.

In October 2008 the company launched the Babelgum Music Video Awards, another online competition with audience voting, focusing solely on music videos from unsigned artists. The contest was run in partnership with Music Nation and the jury included French director Michel Gondry.