According to recent reports, the future will not be televised or at least it seems that way. A few weeks ago, Seesmic announced some layoffs. Today we receive news that Revision3, one of the most online video producers, also announced cutbacks. One of the casualties from a Revision3 distribution deals, EPIC FU creator Smashface Productions, also announced a few layoffs. Revision3 also announced they will no longer distribute WineLibrary, the uber-popular show by Gary Vaynerchuk.

The real question that remains to be answered is what happened to these video startups? Is this the beginning of a major contraction for the video startups? One segment that seems able to avoid these problems is the independent video producers. YouTube is continuing to do fine, and Gary Vaynerchuk is still popular. So, is the problem within the new video networks and services? Or is this fairly typical for a space that has become flooded with startups?

Given that the economy will be at this level or lower for a while, I have a feeling that we will see some consolidation and some more contraction within video networks. You have to feel bad for some of these companies because there is some great potential in these startups. Hopefully, these companies can continue to get partnerships and distribution deals to keep themselves afloat.