In a week that saw more companies shedding jobs and packing it in for the recession, there was also a lot of positive including news of digital syndication deals designed to push more content to more screens.

I may be a contrarian, but I’m looking forward to the “Internet Winter.” The constriction of available capital should force companies to focus on revenue and refining business models Here’s a roundup of what we saw this week:

• ESPN’s John Skipper announced at EconSports that ESPN.com will launch a redesigned site in January and expects to generate 2 Billion video views in 2009.

• MLBAM CEO Bob Bowman had some interesting things to say about online video subscription models and MLB’s digital licensing philosophy and opening up to signing more digital distribution deals. “You’re seeing a loosening up. In the ESPN deal, we gave them a lot more content than we did before that, I think you’ll see a lot more leagues do more of that.”

• American Business Media’s Gordon Hughes said that its members’ revenue from print dropped from 48% in 2000 to 38% in 2008 and said that streaming media “has become a new robust revenue stream.” CNBC meanwhile has nearly 200,000 users across its enterprise and consumer subscription online video services.

• From DPAC II: Tremor Media’s Randy Kilgore says “Pre-roll has gone full cycle. It got its bad rap, and now its come back and is very popular.” But “Standard metrics is still key” says Sean Finnegan of Starcom Mediavest.

• Revision3 and 60Frames made layoffs joining Seesmic, ManiaTV, and a growing list of online video startups that are tightening their belts. Notably missing from the list is Next New Networks which got $15 million in funding just in time.

• Online video technology firm Clearleap has secured 3.3 million in venture debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank. The Clearleap platform is designed to deliver online video content to the TV, most likely in the form of yet another set top box.

• Netflix will syndicate content to TiVo boxes, following the announcement last week that it would deliver content to Samsung Blu-Ray players, and earlier announcements about Roku and xBox LIVE.

• Strike.TV, formed during the WGA strike late last year launched this week at Digital Hollywood. The digital network debuted 10 original series with professional production values and Hollywood talent. Content is available in HD delivered by BitGravity. Check out Global Warming featuring Aasaf Mandvi (The Daily Show) and Kristin Wiig of SNL and Knocked up fame below.

Whew. Busy week. Don’t forget to turn back the clock on Sunday.

Blockbuster stock is in the toilet. West Coast Video, Hollywood Video and other similar chains have been in and out of bankruptcy, and have closed down many stores, remaining chain and independent video store days are numbered.

Now that video can be delivered efficiently online, retail store costs and even sorting and shipping facility overhead are a recipe for a failed business. We’re still in the middle period - costs to mail Blu-Ray discs are arguably lower now than they are to deliver over broadband. But the costs of online content delivery continue to drop, codecs continue to improve and as more U.S. households sign up for higher-speed access the inconveniences related with downloading or streaming films in high quality continue to decrease.

So we’re not too far from an entirely digital content delivery ecosystem, though the electronics industry may have something to say about it and may throw up a roadblock or at least a speed bump before we get there.

The LA Times reports today that Netflix will shut down their independent film division Red Envelope. Led by head of acquisitions Liesl Copeland it offered a completely independent channel for distributing DVDs to a base of millions, without studios, no small thing.

This may be the right move financially, but it’s a blow to independent producers considering the few remaining indy film studios are already in bad shape. Copeland acquired a number of award winning films including Born Into Brothels which would not otherwise have reached the audiences they did.

Yeah, the title’s pretty bad but I’m coming off of a vacation so give me a break. Microsoft which has already announced numerous content deals for XBox Live this year announced today at E3 that they will will soon offer access to the 10,000 + titles in the Netflix streaming library to existing subscribers.

The blogosphere has been quick to declare this a blow to AppleTV, but the deal is more a case of two companies that were already already in bed together getting a little closer. Netflix has reportedly spent more than $40 million on development to create its streaming service using Silverlight, Microsoft likely fronted a substantial portion of that. Netflix CEO Doug Hastings is on the Microsoft board.

Content will be delivered by Limelight, another company with close Microsoft ties. Microsoft plans to roll out the service when their upgraded XBox live interface is released this Fall.

The service will also have a unique interactive component allowing multiple users to watch simultaneously, useful for when all those guys in their parents basements get tired of Halo and decide to watch Star Wars together.

On the morning of the StreamingMedia East show here in NYC, Netflix made the largest consumer facing announcement early. They have debuted their first set top box, the first in a series of hardware products set for release this year.

Manufactured by Roku, specialists in network audio devices to date, 5″ x 5″ the box features composite, component, s-video, HDMI and a digital audio connection, pretty much covering the bases for today’s and tomorrow’s delivery of streamed movie content.

Speaking with reps from Netflix earlier this month, it was clear to me that Netflix is committed to offering the widest variety of movies anywhere, period. And, building on the “if you build it RIGHT, they will come,” theme, their first entry into the set-top box market is cheap - $99 - compared to the competition, and more importantly, backed by the content to enjoy it.

Oddly enough, I had spent this past weekend catching up on some episodes of the Showtime series “Weeds” using Netflix’s current “Browse Instant” capabilities. For programming that isn’t high impact, fast moving car chases or a uniformly monochromatic color, like a baseball or football field, their current streaming platform works quite nicely. I had no stuttering of the stream, a clear picture at full screen (42″ plasma) and digital sound. There was some slight pixelation in very dark scenes, but that was the only major complaint that I had. I’d like to continue to test it with some high action summer blockbuster fare, but I think I’ll wait until I can compare it head to head with the net set top box.

Ok, see you at the Streaming Media show!

Yes, thats vague. But I could tell you that my weekend pick was Matzah and gefilte fish, but thats not what I’m looking forward to at all.

Over the past week, I’ve spoken with reps from a number of the major video aggregators and streaming providers about their recommended settings for outputting video from the web to TV. I also purchased a monthly subscription to the MLB.TV Premium Package for their 1.2MB stream. I’ll be tweaking my video card and TV and starting OVW’s own convergence video shootout.

Beyond the novelty factor, what online video can really replicate - or even hold its own - against a TV offering? On my previous experiments, I’d been using an s-video output into a regular CRT display. Now we’ve added DVI/HDMI outputs to the mix, and a 1080p plasma TV to the mix, which may not be as forgiving. We’ll just have to see.

We’ve yet to decide if we’ll do a comprehensive comparison, or share our thoughts on a rolling basis, but I’m looking forward to Arrested Development on Hulu, a few movies on Netflix’s Watch Now, and maybe Veoh’s most popular content, Star Trek (ok, maybe less so for the Star Trek, but I’m sure I’ll find something to enjoy). I’ve had some issues with Microsoft’s Silverlight player with my previous MLB experiments, but I’m hoping they’ve worked through them. Do the TV networks have a leg up when the screen you watch on is a TV? My sofa and I look forward to finding out…..just as soon as we’re done with our Seder.

The Hollywood Reporter (via Yahoo! News) reports that Blockbuster is seriously considering a set-top box of their own. As we previously wrote, AppleTV is already well entrenched in the space, and Netflix already turned to LG to provide them with a box for delivering movies.

While there is certainly no shortage of companies fighting for space in your entertainment center, there is definitely a shortage of space. While flat screen TVs have eliminated the need for the behemoth living room furniture, I can’t help but wonder where we are supposed to put all of these boxes. More importantly, though, I can’t understand the need for a dedicated box just to deliver one subscription service, particularly one that faces still competition from boxes that already own some real estate in your living room. Lets not forget that the ISPs and MSOs are directly competing with their on-demand movie services, and I’m doing just fine streaming movies from Netflix.com to my plasma through my PC.

As HTPCs get smaller and cheaper, and convergence hardware is incorporated into more entry level PCs, I’m doubtful that any of the branded set-top boxes will see an overwhelming amount of success. Apple can always count on their loyal fanbase to adopt new products to some extent, but there will be very little reason to pick one box/service over another, if you choose to buy one at all. Bundling the subscription services as a cable package with MSOs would probably be a more cost effective direction for Blockbuster, and others, to look.

In addition to exploring a Netflix enabled set-top box with LG, Netflix is also exploring a partnership with Microsoft and their X-box to deliver streamed movies to user’s TVs.

Steve Swasey, a company spokesperson, said Netflix was interested in getting its movies to consumers’ TVs “in as many ways as possible.” And this certainly seems to be a much smarter way that getting users to buy an additional box to sit….where, exactly? With LCD and Plasma screens taking up less and less space in the livingroom, the once ubiquitous, ominous entertainment center is going the way of the dodo. Where are we to keep our cable boxes, tivo boxes, x-boxes, and sling boxes among all the other old-school media boxes like CD and DVD players, receivers, and - gasp - VCR?

As I started writing down my thoughts on how I spent my Christmas vacation, this headline was added to my newsfeed. Netflix and LG are teaming up to build another set-top box designed to bring web video to the livingroom.

Joining the ranks of Slingbox, AppleTV and others, the duo intend to let subscribers watch movies streamed directly from the Web to their TVs. What does this have to do with my vacation?

I spent a large amount of time doing just that. Watching movies (and the first season of Heroes) on my television, in my living room, through my surround sound receiver, using Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” feature. And it didn’t cost me $299 or $399 for a box. In fact, all I used was my plain old video card that didn’t cost me anything ($50 w/ $50 rebate nVidia 7600).

Now not everyone has a PC that is close enough to their TV or receiver to pull this off. But for roughly the same price as one of these boxes, you can have a HTPC (home theater PC), not just for streaming, but for your edited home movies, other video content you’ve downloaded, and still have plenty of hard drive space for backing up your entire MP3 collection, and listening to your favorite tunes in the whole house as well.

I compared episodes of Heroes streamed from Netflix with those available from NBC’s site and found the quality to be significantly better at full screen with Netflix. Additionally, content from Netflix is ad-free, thanks to my monthly subscription. This proved to be a benefit of course, but slightly differently than I expected.

The ad experience on NBC - large format, interactive rich media - automatically takes their player out of “full screen mode,” as well as requiring user input to resume. Without a wireless mouse, that means getting up off the sofa to maximize your browser and player, as well as clicking “continue” to get back to your program.

Real convergence, which the consumer electronics industry has been touting for years, doesn’t occur until you can truly lean back and enjoy the experience with a minimum of additional accessories required. While hardly a big deal, this was the first time that I’ve compared identical content in both a “lean forward” and “lean back” experience and discovered, specifically, how differences in the ad experience (not just the quality of the stream) impacts the overall experience.

I also began to question the value of “engagement” as a metric for measuring ad effectiveness within long-form content. For 30-seconds, I was forced into a “Punch the Monkey” style advergame from a leading cell phone provider. Yes, while watching Heroes on my PC, I threw some of those snowballs at my opponent while I waited for the countdown to hit ‘0,’ but when I watched on the “big screen,” I would have preferred a straight forward mid-roll ad. Something that didn’t require me to get off the sofa. Besides, does playing a branded advergame that is forced upon you for 30-seconds really mean anything when it comes to choosing a cell phone provider? I’d like to know how many of those impressions spent more than the required :30 seconds with the brand.

But I digress. With all of the choices available on how to consume your video content, there is going to be a tremendous battle over delivery and monetization strategies. My conclusion is nothing original. Content is still king. The challenge will be for the distributors and syndicators who will need to detect not just what platform you are on (PC vs. Set-top vs. mobile vs. small screen vs. big screen) and deliver the best ad experience possible. The big winner is the user, who has more than enough choices on when, where and how to watch.