While at Northern Voice this year, one thing that was brought up was the quality of online video. I mentioned how I thought Stage6 with their online version of DivX was the best, and unfortunately, it seems I promoted it too late. Stage6 is set to be shut down at the end of this month. The reason they published on their press release was that the site was using up too many resources and that they couldn’t find a suitable buyer.

I would be surprised if that’s the full story, as Stage6 has also become a success in the copyrighted video world, and I am sure that those that have been streaming content using the Stage6 platform will be very disappointed at this news.

Here are some details from the release:

We created Stage6 with the mission of empowering content creators and viewers to discover a new kind of video experience. Stage6 began as an experiment, and we always knew there was a chance that it might not succeed.

In many ways, though, the service did succeed, beyond even our own initial expectations. Stage6 became very popular very quickly. We helped gain exposure for some talented filmmakers who brought great videos to the attention of an engaged community. We helped prove that it’s possible to distribute true high definition video on the Internet. And we helped broaden the Internet video experience by offering content that is compatible with DVD players, mobile devices and other products beyond the PC.

So why are we shutting the service down? Well, the short answer is that the continued operation of Stage6 is a very expensive enterprise that requires an enormous amount of attention and resources that we are not in a position to continue to provide. There are a lot of other details involved, but at the end of the day it’s really as simple as that.

I am going to miss Stage6. Does this mean the end for online DivX?

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