source:siliconvalley.com
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Hollywood studios for the first time will allow people to legally play movies purchased over the Internet on a standard DVD player.
In a deal expected to be announced today, online video distributor CinemaNow will begin offering about 100 films from major entertainment companies to consumers, who will be able to ``burn'' one version of the movie on discs that can be played on machines connected to their televisions. The agreement will include films from Buena Vista, Lionsgate, MGM, Sony Pictures and Universal Studios.
``Why this is so significant is that studios are directly distributing to the customer,'' said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a research firm. ``They are taking the Blockbusters and anybody who sells DVDs out of the loop.''
On Monday, Movielink, an online service co-owned by five Hollywood studios including Warner Bros. and Sony, announced a licensing agreement with Novato-based digital media software company Sonic Solutions to provide a similar service, though no time frame was given for when download-to-burn films will be available.
The quickly changing entertainment landscape has more to do with Hollywood's faith in digital rights management technology, which ensures copyrighted material isn't copied over and over, than breakthrough technology, said Mark Ely, executive vice president of strategy for Sonic Solutions. He has spent 2 1/2 years working to persuade Hollywood to begin digital distributions.
``These are the early days,'' he said. ``Studios are more and more on board with the idea that you can download and burn at home.''
CinemaNow, jointly owned by Microsoft, Lionsgate, Cisco Systems and Blockbuster, spent a year negotiating with the studios and developing the technology, said Curt Marvis, the company's chief executive. CinemaNow recently announced $20.3 million in additional funding from investors EchoStar Communications and Index Holdings.
``No one else has done this. If anyone claims to have done so, it would be illegal,'' Mavis said.
In the long run, download-and-burn video will enable studios to offer much more content through the Internet than they can in traditional retail stores, which have limited shelf space, Marvis said. It can also reduce the costs of producing and packaging the DVDs. ``They give us one. We digitize it and put it on a server,'' Marvis said. ``If one person buys it, good. If 100,000 people buy it, great.''
Apple Computer pioneered legal digital downloads through its online iTunes music and video store, though it does not yet offer movies for download sales. Sales of network TV shows online have been a hit, and analysts expect the Cupertino company to eventually get into the movie business, as well.
The burn-to-DVD movies, which can take two to three hours to download with a good broadband connection, start at $8.99. Titles include ``Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle,'' ``Scent of a Woman'' and ``Barbershop.'' Consumers will be able to print disc and jewel-box labels of the purchased films. Eventually, Marvis hopes CinemaNow will partner with a storage company to create a storage network for consumers faced with limited hard drive space to contain big video files.
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unfortunately it won't be succesful in india
what do you think?
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