CNET: U.K. digital film project hits Web snag

So you decide to create buzz about a film by announcing it as the first movie to be premiered online. As part of the build up, you do a bit of advertising, and a lot of PR. Then the big day arrives, and you get an unexpected amount of viewers, and your site crashes. In summary that is the sorry tale behind "This is not a Love Song," however to appreciate the extend of this farce, you need to submerge yourself in the detail:

The site, which was publicized widely in the United Kingdom before the film's debut, attracted about 25,000 unique visitors Friday, Green said. Only about 100 of those people were able to download and stream the film over their PC. Green said that the video servers streaming the media were unstressed, but that the single servers handling Web site traffic and billing processes were insufficient for the load.

One can but marvel at the irony. Roll the next web premiere.