South Asian content site TinselVision has shut shop, reports PaidContent. Tinselvision had signed numberous deals, including with Zee TV, STAR India, Zoom TV, NDTV, UTV and even Yash Raj Films. Tinselvision began with offering Bollywood videos on download for $1.99, with membership priced at $9.99. Movies were priced at $3 each, with $10 for 5 movies. Eventually, the company took some content outside the paid subscription wall, and made some available for advertising supported free streaming. Remember that earlier this year, niche TV content site Jump TV had decided change focus from regional content to sports content. The shutting down of TinselVision should also serve as a warning for other content streaming sites like Saavn, Big Flicks, Rajshri Media, Erosondem, Rediff iShare, among others. Most content owners may be giving them content for free, though some may be accepting a minimum guarantee, but bandwidth is a significant cost. Monetization via advertising hasn't yet quite arrived, despite claims of significant paid downloads, and some projections for video advertising networks. The launch of video advertising networks like Jivox and VDOPIA should help, but given the current advertising market scenario, are advertisers biting? Users are forever willing to view free content, but growth in viewership should be supported by the growth in revenues. Saying that the world will figure out a business model doesn't really inspire confidence. More on Tinselvision: Executives: We just checked on LinkedIn, and it appears that the site shut down at the end of September - in November, former Tinselvision Chairman and CEO…
