Disney's MovieBeam offers first HDTV online movie rentals
02-14-06, 10:38 AM
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Disney's MovieBeam offers first HDTV online movie rentals
http://yahoo.reuters.com/stocks/Quot...5&symbol=DIS.N
Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:19 AM ET
Robert MacMillan/Gina Keating
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A video-on-demand movie service spun out of Walt Disney Co. will introduce the first online delivery service of high-definition films to U.S. homes on Tuesday.
With top Hollywood and Silicon Valley partners, Burbank-California based MovieBeam said it plans to offer first-run films from six of the seven film studios in standard digital-video format and high-definition films from Disney (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Warner Bros. studios.
The video-on-demand service is aimed at heavy movie renters and initially will be offered in 29 U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, at prices competitive with renting the same movie at video retailer Blockbuster Inc. (BBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
"They appear to be ready to deliver true high-definition movies. That's a breakthrough," said Gerry Kaufhold analyst In-Stat/MDR.
MovieBeam, which was founded by Walt Disney four years ago, appeared to have run out of steam when Disney took a $24 million write-down on the company last summer. It was revived last month with a $48.5 million cash infusion from Disney, Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research), Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and three venture capital firms.
MovieBeam bypasses network bottle-necks through a technology called "datacasting", which broadcasts up to 10 new movies a week to subscribers using an exclusive transmission deal to send data signals over the Public Broadcasting System network.
Delivering high-definition (HD) videos to consumers has been restricted by the limits of high-capacity networks needed to deliver feature-length videos to millions of consumers via satellite, phone or cable TV networks.
MovieBeam's delivery also gets a jump on the emerging high-definition video disk market, which has been hampered by battles over standards.
Cisco (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) will sell the MovieBeam film storage boxes under its Linksys consumer electronics brand through U.S. electronics retailers Best Buy Co. (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) CompUSA and Sears (SHLD.O: Quote, Profile, Research).
The Linksys box, with capacity for 100 movies, is priced around $200, after a rebate, and a $29 activation fee. It's meant to be stacked on top of a cable TV set-top box and comes with a paperback-book sized antenna to receive movie updates.
First-run standard format videos will rent for $3.99 and high-definition videos rent for $4.99. Older movies in the catalog cost $1.99 for standard format and $2.99 for high-definition format movies -- rates roughly in line with those at video stores.
"If you're somebody who rents an awful lot of movies, this is potentially attractive," Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff said.
"But, for the great mass of the movie-viewing public, getting a separate set-top box just to get movies is an awfully big stretch," he said.
JUMP-STARTING ONLINE MOVIE DELIVERY
Despite frequent obituaries for the video store industry, seven out of 10 movies are still rented at retail outlets. An estimated 85 percent of rentals are for first-run videos -- the 50 or 60 latest releases prominently featured in stores.
It's this piece of the video market that MovieBeam is targeting.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX.O: Quote, Profile, Research), which offers DVD rentals for a monthly subscription fee from a library of 55,000 films, postponed the planned 2005 launch of its own movie download service, because of problems acquiring content, according to Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings.
Hastings said in October that Netflix was working to develop technology to deliver online movies so the service can be ready to launch "when the content climate begins to thaw."
Media companies had resisted allowing widespread online downloading of first-run movies for fear of cannibalizing the huge profits they make on DVD sales and of losing DVD sales to piracy.
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter said on Monday that there is also a question of whether U.S. broadband penetration is sufficient to make online downloading a significant revenue generator for the studios.
"You can't rent high-definition films today," said investor Matthew Howard of Norwest Venture Partners, a co-investor with Mayfield Fund and VantagePoint Venture Partners. "The beauty is that everyone else has to work out network access in order to offer anything similar," he said of potential online rivals.
(Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in San Francisco)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Chris
Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:19 AM ET
Robert MacMillan/Gina Keating
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A video-on-demand movie service spun out of Walt Disney Co. will introduce the first online delivery service of high-definition films to U.S. homes on Tuesday.
With top Hollywood and Silicon Valley partners, Burbank-California based MovieBeam said it plans to offer first-run films from six of the seven film studios in standard digital-video format and high-definition films from Disney (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Warner Bros. studios.
The video-on-demand service is aimed at heavy movie renters and initially will be offered in 29 U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, at prices competitive with renting the same movie at video retailer Blockbuster Inc. (BBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
"They appear to be ready to deliver true high-definition movies. That's a breakthrough," said Gerry Kaufhold analyst In-Stat/MDR.
MovieBeam, which was founded by Walt Disney four years ago, appeared to have run out of steam when Disney took a $24 million write-down on the company last summer. It was revived last month with a $48.5 million cash infusion from Disney, Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research), Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and three venture capital firms.
MovieBeam bypasses network bottle-necks through a technology called "datacasting", which broadcasts up to 10 new movies a week to subscribers using an exclusive transmission deal to send data signals over the Public Broadcasting System network.
Delivering high-definition (HD) videos to consumers has been restricted by the limits of high-capacity networks needed to deliver feature-length videos to millions of consumers via satellite, phone or cable TV networks.
MovieBeam's delivery also gets a jump on the emerging high-definition video disk market, which has been hampered by battles over standards.
Cisco (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) will sell the MovieBeam film storage boxes under its Linksys consumer electronics brand through U.S. electronics retailers Best Buy Co. (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) CompUSA and Sears (SHLD.O: Quote, Profile, Research).
The Linksys box, with capacity for 100 movies, is priced around $200, after a rebate, and a $29 activation fee. It's meant to be stacked on top of a cable TV set-top box and comes with a paperback-book sized antenna to receive movie updates.
First-run standard format videos will rent for $3.99 and high-definition videos rent for $4.99. Older movies in the catalog cost $1.99 for standard format and $2.99 for high-definition format movies -- rates roughly in line with those at video stores.
"If you're somebody who rents an awful lot of movies, this is potentially attractive," Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff said.
"But, for the great mass of the movie-viewing public, getting a separate set-top box just to get movies is an awfully big stretch," he said.
JUMP-STARTING ONLINE MOVIE DELIVERY
Despite frequent obituaries for the video store industry, seven out of 10 movies are still rented at retail outlets. An estimated 85 percent of rentals are for first-run videos -- the 50 or 60 latest releases prominently featured in stores.
It's this piece of the video market that MovieBeam is targeting.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX.O: Quote, Profile, Research), which offers DVD rentals for a monthly subscription fee from a library of 55,000 films, postponed the planned 2005 launch of its own movie download service, because of problems acquiring content, according to Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings.
Hastings said in October that Netflix was working to develop technology to deliver online movies so the service can be ready to launch "when the content climate begins to thaw."
Media companies had resisted allowing widespread online downloading of first-run movies for fear of cannibalizing the huge profits they make on DVD sales and of losing DVD sales to piracy.
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter said on Monday that there is also a question of whether U.S. broadband penetration is sufficient to make online downloading a significant revenue generator for the studios.
"You can't rent high-definition films today," said investor Matthew Howard of Norwest Venture Partners, a co-investor with Mayfield Fund and VantagePoint Venture Partners. "The beauty is that everyone else has to work out network access in order to offer anything similar," he said of potential online rivals.
(Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in San Francisco)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Chris
02-14-06, 12:51 PM
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Well, this is quite an interesting idea. If I understand the article correctly, they will be broadcasting over the air. What I don't understand, is if you will be required to download the movie to the box before you can watch it (it says you can store 100 movies) or if you watch them as they are broadcasted (and it records while you watch)?
Mark me down as someone who is interested.
Mark me down as someone who is interested.
02-14-06, 01:04 PM
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Originally Posted by joshd2012
What I don't understand, is if you will be required to download the movie to the box before you can watch it (it says you can store 100 movies)
How does MovieBeam work?
The MovieBeam Player comes with a small indoor antenna and a remote control. The player also comes pre-loaded with 100 movies, with up to 10 movies updated each week using MovieBeam's digital signal. Customers automatically receive the new movies via the small indoor antenna that accompanies the MovieBeam Player. Movies are then stored digitally on the player.
The MovieBeam Player comes with a small indoor antenna and a remote control. The player also comes pre-loaded with 100 movies, with up to 10 movies updated each week using MovieBeam's digital signal. Customers automatically receive the new movies via the small indoor antenna that accompanies the MovieBeam Player. Movies are then stored digitally on the player.
Only a select set of movies on MovieBeam are available in HD.
02-15-06, 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by nevermind
What spectrum from PBS are they using to send this throught the air?
02-16-06, 07:35 AM
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Well, Im interested, but obviously will wait until 1. prices drops 2. more hd movies. Definitely looking forward to seeing how this pans out because I would love to try it out.
02-16-06, 08:26 AM
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The hard drive on the box is reportedly only 160 gigs, so much more HD is really unlikely, at least until they swap out the hardware.
02-20-06, 12:06 PM
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Apparently the first six movies available in HD through MovieLink will be:
Batman Forever
Cold Mountain
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Deep Blue Sea
The Perfect Storm
Sacred Planet
(That last one is an IMAX movie.)
Batman Forever
Cold Mountain
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Deep Blue Sea
The Perfect Storm
Sacred Planet
(That last one is an IMAX movie.)
