Microsoft's YouTube rival, Soapbox, is washed away

 

Gallery

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 23 Jul 2009 at 09:20

Microsoft has killed off Soapbox, its little known YouTube competitor.

Only last month, Microsoft admitted that it was reconsidering the role of Soapbox, which never emerged from beta nor found much of a place in the public conciousness.

The company suggested it could be rejigged as a place where "bloggers and citizen journalists can post videos relevant to areas in which MSN focuses, categories like entertainment, lifestyle, and finance," possibly for a fee.

However, with a tough economy making every penny count it appears Microsoft believes the best course of action is to shut down the site it launched in September 2006, a week before Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube.

"We've notified customers that on 31 August, MSN will no longer offer MSN Soapbox," the company says in a statement.

"Beginning 29 July, customers will no longer be able to upload videos to Soapbox and we encourage any Soapbox user that wants to keep their videos to download them off of Soapbox.

"We will be communicating to our valued Soapbox community using several different methods to ensure that people are able to keep any video that is important to them."

However, Microsoft was keen to point out that the move doesn't mean it's giving up on video: "Online video will remain a key part of the MSN offering. MSN Video has 88 million unique users around the world, who watch 480 million video streams each month," the company says.

"We remain committed to delivering amazing experiences for consumers while keeping a keen eye on our business objectives during this tough economic climate."