Mark Halper, in an article in Hollywood Reporter entitled “Nokia links up to direct-dialed video,” tells of a deal that mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has struck with several content providers.

Nokia sells a million phones a day. A small percentage of those handsets are capable of receiving video. The phone maker has struck a deal directly with some content providers to supply content accessible via the company’s N95 multimedia phone.

News Corp., Sony Pictures and CNN have struck a deal to distribute video directly to Nokia handsets, sidestepping mobile carrier decks.[…]

The media companies’ hookups with Nokia represent the latest end run around carrier decks, which media companies have complained can be crowded, confusing places that take too high a revenue share.

And then, from The Times (London) Online, there is an article that wonders, in the sub-head, “Are clip websites the future of comedy or a threat to stand-up?”

“There are many comics who are wary of performing their best material on television,” explains Marcus Brigstocke, stand-up and guest on Radio 4’s The Now Show. “They know they can get maybe 1,000 British pounds a week on the circuit, playing clubs and using the same material month in, month out. These days, comics are finding their routines appearing online, from comedy-club video cameras or even audience members’ mobile phones, and complaining that they are losing their livelihood.”

No examples are cited. The numbers probably don’t add up. No one’s entire set is being recorded by a mobile phone held aloft in a club. Only snippets– usually rather badly recorded snippets at that– make it onto file-sharing and user-gen sites. Clubs are almost always above-board enough to seek and obtain permission to videotape and comics are almost always ready to turn them down when permission is sought.

Someone uploading vast swaths of material from DVD-quality discs onto these sites– someone not authorized to do so– is another matter altogether. The author claims that DVD sales, which were initially robust, are “falling off.” No stats are provided, but this claim is similar to the one currently being made by the music recording industry. And it’s probably valid. Just as in that sector, though, the websites that offer comedy clips are also offering links which enable the visitor to purchase the DVD or other disc, encouraging consumers to not just watch but purchase the materials offered. Such is the new landscape in the world of peer-to-peer and digital quality and broadband connections.

Perhaps more worrisome is the situation that is detailed in the HR story on Nokia striking deals with content providers to feed the N95. The last paragraph of that story:

Other content contributors to N95 include India’s IBN Live, London-based mobile specialists ROK TV and San Francisco-based stand-up programr(sic) Rooftop Comedy.

Rooftop represents itself as a comic-friendly, edgy cyber clubhouse that hosts video clips and hands out the occasional cash prize for online comedy contests.

We are for comics. What if you could reach a bigger audience than The Tonight Show and still swear? RooftopComedy.com is broadcasting the best comedy from around the country, and soon the world. It’s an opportunity for comics to build their followings, establish a professionally produced video archive of their favorite sets, and win money along the way.

And each and every comic who uploads a clip to the site must, somewhere along the line, click on a button that says “I AGREE,” which gives the site permission to:

…use, distribute, duplicate, and exhibit the Recorded Performance (including your name and likeness) for commercial and advertising purposes; and

(iii) license the above rights to Rooftop’s authorized agents and licensees

Language like this is standard stuff. And we’ve cautioned folks about it in the past. Inspect the Terms of Use, weigh the benefits, use your imagination to see a couple of months or years into the future and then either click or don’t click that button that says, “I AGREE.”

Rooftop appears to be affiliated with eleven comedy clubs (“Check back for more coming soon.” says the copy) which allow the site to videotape performances, slice and dice the shows into mobile-phone-/website-sized nuggets, and then “use, distribute and exhibit” those clips. So, inspect those releases carefully when you venture into those venues.

If it seems like we’re “going after” Rooftop, we’re not. We just noticed that they’re mentioned in the HR article and their agreement is representative of a trend– The convergence of live performance, broadband access and multimedia mobile phone technology is terribly relevant to standup comics these days. And at the intersection of those forces is a giant sack of cash. And cash is always relevant.

So, read those releases carefully.