Category — iVOD/iTV

For  years I have called for video-download services to be provided directly to a TV-connected consumer electronics product such as the Xbox, TiVo or PS3. This Variety article discusses how the Xbox 360's new Internet-based video-on-demand service is having relative success (where others have failed) due to its available HD content and its direct connection to the TV.

The relative success of video downloads on Microsoft's Xbox Live and disappointment of Amazon.com's Unbox point to two factors that differentiate Xbox from Amazon and its many other competitors — consumers who download a movie want a simple way to watch it on their TV, and those with high-def TVs want high-def content.

A primary reason for its success lies also in the fact that DRM is not a relevant consideration for most users when the content is delivered directly to the display unit of choice. iVOD services to PCs have largely failed because most people do not want to watch TV and movies on their computers. And the DRM used by most of those services preclude users from copying the movie onto a DVD for playback where they want to watch them – in the living room. 

FYI: Joystiq has a pretty good preview of the system here including a YouTube demo. Note that the demo was done early-on. As I understand it the slow-downloads and other glitches experienced in the early days have been resolved.

Sources: Variety | Joystiq | XBox 360 Fanboy

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Ars Technica: Why Piracy is More Common than Legal Video Downloads

Warez.com: Piracy, the clear choice for 2006 

Dale's Comment: Each of these articles make the same essential point. Piracy of video content is pervasive because it provides consumers with a product they want – a vast selection of high quality content, meeting the tastes of both the masses and the long tail – with the ability to use/view the content on any device and with any software/service of their choosing. Something the TV and movie-industries fail to provide to the very consumers eager to purchase it from them – if only it was conveniently available at fair prices and under fair use terms.

This oft-quoted remark by Disney co-chair Ann Sweeney made at a conference in October, shows at least that the industry is finally starting to grapple with the issue: 

"We understand now that piracy is a business model. It exists to serve a need in the market for consumers who want TV content on demand. Pirates compete the same way we do – through quality, price and availability. We we don?t like the model but we realise it?s competitive enough to make it a major competitor going forward."

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Davis' interview of DivX, Inc.'s CEO Jordan Greenhall is interesting. There isn't much here that is new to me but it is topical given DivX's recent public offering. One bit that was new to me was his explanation of why the inclusion of DivX encoding technology within CE devices like PVRs didn't make much sense until recently. Unlike decoding, encoding media to DivX is computationally intensive. Until a couple months ago DivX encoding chips where far more expensive than the inexpensive larger hard drives needed for use with less efficient codecs. With the emergence of cheap encoding chips it now makes sense for manufacturers to start embedding them within CE devices in conjunction with the DivX codec. 

The interview covers the history of the company, the current status and trends (YouTube, convergence) and where this promising, yet controversial, company and its technology are headed.

Dale's Comment: I had to smile when I read Greenhall's answers. Having lived in Silicon Valley for a few years, and having left it, his "Silicon Valley-speak" reminds me of the good old bubble days.  Take this snipped for example:

So the fact that DivX technology is associated with that path is a really interesting physical manifestation, but the reality of the value proposition is that the market, the community itself is a value proposition, so what you’ll find is, if you map our progress on a go forward basis …

Silicon-valley-speak notwithstanding, its an interesting interview of an interesting man in control of an important technology. Good work Davis!

Sources: Davis Freeberg

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This is a terrific Business 2.0 article (linked inot a CNN Money.com story) identifying why YouTube and Google are not the subject of as many copyright infringement lawsuits as had been predicted. Namely, Big Media is finding that YouTube can be a net postitive to their ratings and bottom lines.

Sources: CNN Money/Business 2.0

Related Posts:

• Why Google & YouTube are Not Getting Sued Out of the Water (December 11, 2006)
• YouTube Faces Heightened Copyright Scrutiny Since Google Buyout Announcement (October 30, 2006)
• YouTube Sued by L.A. News Service (July 17, 2006)
• How YouTube Avoids the Internet Copyright Police (July 17, 2006)
• RIAA Sends Cease and Desist Letters to YouTube/Google Video Users (June 15, 2006)
• YouTube's Looming Fair Use Battle (May 5, 2006)

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With some of the $25m recently raised from investors, BitTorrent, Inc. is set to purchase µTorrent. µTorrent has become an enormously popular, best of breed, BitTorrent client given its very small footprint, efficiency and minimal use of system resources.  µTorrent and Azureus have long eclipsed the original BitTorrent client invented by Bram Cohen. Details of the acquisition have not yet been made public. In an open post to users in the µTorrent Forum, Bram Cohen said:

BitTorrent has acquired µTorrent as it recognized the merits of µTorrent’s exceptionally well-written codebase and robust user community. Bringing together µTorrent’s efficient implementation and compelling UI with BitTorrent’s expertise in networking protocols will significantly benefit the community with what we envision will be the best BitTorrent client.

BitTorrent clients such as these have been enormously controversial as, in conjunction with tracker websites, they have become the primary means by which movies, TV shows and other video content is shared over the Internet since the RIAA and the MPAA successfully shut down most of the major P2P Networks through litigation. 

Production studios have discovered that the technology underlying BitTorrent clients is an enormously efficient method of distributing large files over the Internet and, as you can see from the related posts below, Hollywood has started to embrace this technology as a means of legally distributing movies and TV shows over the Internet.

Sources: Techcrunch | DailyTech | ComputerWorld (IDG) | InfoWorld | MacWorld | Playfuls | P2PNet| Wired Blogs | Announcement/Discussion on µTorrent Forum

Related BitTorrent Posts:

• BitTorrent to Purchase µTorrent (December 8, 2006)
• BitTorrent Signs More Download Deals with Major Hollywood Movie & TV Studios (November 30, 2006)
• Techcrunch » BitTorrent Raises $25 Million (November 29, 2006)
• Warner Bros. and BitTorrent Partner to Download Movies (May 9 2006)
• BitTorrent and MPAA Reach Agreement (November 23, 2005)

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Video: Streaming Media West 2006: Keynote by Evan Young, Dir. Broadband Services, TiVo

TiVo's Director of Broadband Services, Evan Young, gave this interesting keynote address to the Streaming Media West 2006 conference. I learned a few new things about TiVo's nascent TiVoCast service and I am concerned with the seemingly walled-garden-only approach TiVo seems to be going with the TiVoCast service.

CONTINUE READING →

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On the heals of raising $25 million in capital, BitTorrent has reportedly signed video downloading deals with 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Lionsgate, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, Palm Pictures, G4, Kadokawa and Stars Media. Last year BitTorrent had done a similar deal with Warner. The service will use BitTorrent's proven peer-to-peer technology. The technology makes the distribution of large video files faster and less expensive by offloading much of the bandwidth requirements to its users. Pricing details have not yet been announced.

Starting next February you'll* be able to download-to-own (DTO) films and TV shows, or rent films on a video on-demand (VOD) basis. Most of the entertainment content in question will be made available on the day it is released on DVD or shown on television. These videos will be playable on PCs, laptops or other portable devices.

The service's DRM will limit playback to the device you originally record the content on. So recorded DVDs will not play on consumer DVD players. Some titles will only be viewable a limited number of times before the central DRM store disables your key. For this, you'll likely be paying full DVD retail prices.

So far as I know, BitTorrent has no such deal with consumer electronics companies like TiVo, Microsoft, Sony or Apple for downloads to a TV-connected device. 

Dale's Comment:  While any news story like this is heartening, insomuch as Hollywood is slowly advancing into the future, I agree with ars technica that DVD-purchasing consumers will not be impressed with this service. As with iTunes, it limits the user's right to use the content to the device it was downloaded on – hardly useful for long term video purchasers.  But, for one-time viewing, the method by which the vast majority of video consumers consume such content, this will probably have limited success for those wanting to view such content on laptops, PCs and portable devices.  But, as I have contended for years, downloadable media sales will only really take off once consumers can purchase/rent the content for viewing on their TVs – just as Microsoft is now doing with its Xbox 360 Marketplace movie/TV show service and as Apple has announced it will do with its forthcoming iTV product.

*Caveat:  While I have not yet had my suspicions confirmed, my guess is that this service will ONLY be available to U.S. consumers at launch.  This seems to be the way of the world these days!

Sources:  Information Week | Gizmodo | ars technica | Hollywood Reporter | Wired Blogs | USA Today | Forbes (AP) | TechWeb  Playfuls | LA Times | BitTorrent Pres Release

Related BitTorrent Posts:

• BitTorrent to Purchase µTorrent (December 8, 2006)
• BitTorrent Signs More Download Deals with Major Hollywood Movie & TV Studios (November 30, 2006)
• Techcrunch » BitTorrent Raises $25 Million (November 29, 2006)
• Warner Bros. and BitTorrent Partner to Download Movies (May 9 2006)
• BitTorrent and MPAA Reach Agreement (November 23, 2005)

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Source: Techcrunch 

Related BitTorrent Posts:

• BitTorrent to Purchase µTorrent (December 8, 2006)
• BitTorrent Signs More Download Deals with Major Hollywood Movie & TV Studios (November 30, 2006)
• Techcrunch » BitTorrent Raises $25 Million (November 29, 2006)
• Warner Bros. and BitTorrent Partner to Download Movies (May 9 2006)
• BitTorrent and MPAA Reach Agreement (November 23, 2005)

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I don't know what is in the air these days, but Internet-TV aggregators seem to be popping up all over the Internet. I recently blogged about Tioti and the TVUPlayer, each of which have received substantial press coverage owing to their controversial nature. 

Over the last few days, I have become aware of dozens of online TV, movie and other aggregators running the gamut from sites streaming literally hundreds of live TV channels over the Internet to others indexing and hosting thousands of TV shows and movies for instant viewing over the Internet. 

Many of the live broadcast feeds are likely accessed from Internet feeds supplied by the content owners themselves. But, I'm guessing, others are likely redirected Slingbox or similar streams. As you can read in my TVUPlayer post, the company's CEO, Paul Shen, believes he can escape U.S. copyright infringement liability using the DMCA's ISP safe harbor. He argues that the streams are made available from the service's users and not hosted directly by his company.   

peekvid and QuickSilverScreen in particular, seem to be the most blatantly infringing services of the lot. They directly index over a thousand TV shows, movies, cartoons etc. for instant viewing. Users can select a particular TV series from a list and then directly view selected episodes – on demand. Movies can similarly be selected and viewed on demand. If peekvid is located in the U.S., I suspect it won't be long before the link fails to work owing to NAB and MPAA legal actions. QuickSilverScreen was located in the U.S. until Fox sent it a cease and desist letter. The proprietor has sold it to someone offshore and it continues to operate unabated from an offshore location. 

In no particular order, here are only a few of the dozens of live TV aggregation sites that have popped up recently.

• ChooseAndWatch
• Streamick.com
• Freetube
• ChannelKing
• Channelchooser.com
• Worldtvpc
• OMGfreeTV
• wwiTV
• medinalia.com

• They all actually worked when I tried them
• Of the dozens of other aggregators available, these sites required no prior signups or passwords. 
• Unlike Tioti and the TVUPlayer, no plugins or downloads were required for these sites to work – simply show up, click and watch.
• My browser, Firefox 2.0, is set to disable popups and redirects – all worked without popups or redirects 
• Many of the video streams were resizable – even to full screen in many contexts

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TIOTI (Tape it of the Internet) is another web service in beta that intends to provide legitimate TV and pointers to TV show torrents for download through BitTorrent clients such as uTorrent and Azureus. According to the TIOTI Website:

We currently index 1,600+ TV shows – 90,000+ episodes – and we are matching everything up with content sources like iTunes, AOL and Amazon Unbox – with more to come.

Our beta feature set allows you to do exactly what it says on the tin and do it in style. With integrated message boards, groups, personalised badges and an extensive API, we have lots more great stuff coming soon too.

Dale's Comment: It appears the TIOTI founders believe they can steer clear of the many recent lawsuits brought against torrent host sites by including only pointers to torrents hosted elsewhere rather than the torrents themselves. I have little doubt that this presumed 'safe harbour' will be quickly tested in the courts if TIOTI becomes at all successful.

I have added myself to the waiting list to test this out once it expands its beta. I'll report back what I see if/when I join the beta.

Sources: TIOTI's Website | Techcrunch 1 | Techcrunch 2 – Paul Cleghorn (Founder) Interview | PVRWIre | TorrentFreak Interview with founder Paul Pod | Guardian Unlimited

Related Posts:

• TIOTI – Another Web-based TV Service Combining Legitimate TV with BitTorrent Feeds (November 15, 2006)
• TVUPlayer – Watch Most Any TV Station Anywhere (October 19, 2006)
• Judge Shuts Down UK-based Streaming Football Site (June 14, 2006)
• Canada Blocks Free Net TV – iCrave TV (January 17, 2003)

 

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As you can see from the "Related Posts" links, below I have blogged about YouTube's copyright liability in the past. It seems like the deep-pockets behind YouTube's new parent, Google, have brought out the copyright infringement vultures, and those that wish to speculate on the future (or demise) of YouTube specifically and copyright infringement on the Internet generally. The stories linked-to below are only a few of the avalanche of stories and blog posts on this topic over the last week.

Faced with an increased level of DMCA take-down notices, YouTube is busily working on taking down 10's of thousands of copyrighted works as requested by media owners. It's a difficult chore. Some 60,000 new videos are posted on YouTube every day. Offending materials are often put back up as soon as they are taken down.

YouTube says it will take a tough action to avoid such problems in the future and has committed to developing and deploying technology that can sniff out copyrighted video clips and bits of music. YouTube will also provide "copyright owners with user identification information" of users that post infringing content – after receiving a valid subpoena (See this CNet article).

While there may be some bumps and no doubt many legal hurdles and lawsuits along the way, if I were a betting man, I'd bet that YouTube will survive all legal challenges in-tact. This is a new and emerging area of the law. The DMCA provides the s. 512(c) safe harbour for this (the take-down scheme). YouTube is complying with its take-down obligations under the DMCA and similar laws around the globe.

More interestingly, YouTube's 10 minute video clip limit can dovetail with the self-interest of Big Media – those most likely to sue, and have the resources need to sue, Google. After initially fighting with YouTube over the posting of this Natalie Portman skit on Saturday Night Live, in the face of a furor from Internet bloggers, NBC backed-off, and allowed the post to remain on YouTube for awhile. NBC discovered that YouTube was a terrific way to promote its show as new and hip to a coveted younger demographic. Ahhhhhhhhh —- self interest (with strong lobbyists) … wins every time!

Sources: New York Times | ABC News | BBC | Forrester | PVRWire | Information Week | Fox News | ars technica | Mark Cuban 1 | Mark Cuban 2 | Mark Cuban 3 | Register | Variety | Forbes (AP) | CNet 1 | CNet 2 | Slate

Cranky Geeks Videocast on Topic (Episode 31) John C. Dvorak, Sebastian Rupley, West Coast Editor, PC Magazine, Matt Mullenweg, Founder, WordPress.org, Gary Messiana, CEO, Netli, Inc.

Related Posts:

• Why Google & YouTube are Not Getting Sued Out of the Water (December 11, 2006)
• YouTube Faces Heightened Copyright Scrutiny Since Google Buyout Announcement (October 30, 2006)
• YouTube Sued by L.A. News Service (July 17, 2006)
• How YouTube Avoids the Internet Copyright Police (July 17, 2006)
• RIAA Sends Cease and Desist Letters to YouTube/Google Video Users (June 15, 2006)
• YouTube's Looming Fair Use Battle (May 5, 2006)

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Hearkening back to the days of iCrave.TV, the TV networks and studios have another imminent battle on their hands. The TVU Player (downloadable here) from TVU Networks in Shanghai, China. TVU Player allows anyone to place a broadcast signal on the Internet for view by anyone.  See Review here: (WebTVHub)

November 6, 2006 Update: Paul Shen the CEO of TVU Network was interviewed by CNET:

He acknowledged that much of the content on the TVUPlayer belongs to others but denied being a video pirate. Users of his technology are responsible for any copyright violations, Shen said, and they are the ones who stream the TV broadcasts–though he conceded that they are able do this only through the use of his technology.

Mr. Shen also claims that his technology was intended as a demonstration of technology only and that it "can help broadcasters mine a rich new distribution platform and advertise to new customers".

Dale's Comment: Given the Chinese jurisdiction, this one may be harder for the MPAA et. al. to shut down. However, PVR Wire says that Paul Shen lives and works in Northern California. Mr. Shen may wish to talk to the folks behind iCrave TV and SportingStreams.com to see how receptive the broadcast industry will be to this kind of help!

Original Sources: Gizmodo | Web TV Hub | PC Magazine | ABC | P2P-Weblog | Digital Journal | PVRWire

Related Posts:

• TIOTI – Another Web-based TV Service Combining Legitimate TV with BitTorrent Feeds (November 15, 2006)
• TVUPlayer – Watch Most Any TV Station Anywhere (October 19, 2006)
• Judge Shuts Down UK-based Streaming Football Site (June 14, 2006)
• Canada Blocks Free Net TV – iCrave TV (January 17, 2003)

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Post a few seconds of you or your friends dancing to an RIAA-member song on YouTube or Google Video? Expect a cease and desist letter from the RIAA.

Sources: ars technica | techdirt

Dale's Comment: I wonder how the RIAA is going to justify how a video of my sister contorting to the Chicken Dance is going to hurt their members' bottom lines.

Related Posts:

• Why Google & YouTube are Not Getting Sued Out of the Water (December 11, 2006)
• YouTube Faces Heightened Copyright Scrutiny Since Google Buyout Announcement (October 30, 2006)
• YouTube Sued by L.A. News Service (July 17, 2006)
• How YouTube Avoids the Internet Copyright Police (July 17, 2006)
• RIAA Sends Cease and Desist Letters to YouTube/Google Video Users (June 15, 2006)
• YouTube's Looming Fair Use Battle (May 5, 2006)

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In a decision reminiscent of the Canadian 2000/2003 iCrave TV decision, UEFA and BSkyB took three people behind Sportingstreams.com to the High Court where the judge upheld their claim that the site’s re-broadcasting of Champion League football games was unauthorized and breached copyright legislation.

Sources: Out-law.com | The Register

Related Posts:

• TIOTI – Another Web-based TV Service Combining Legitimate TV with BitTorrent Feeds (November 15, 2006)
• TVUPlayer – Watch Most Any TV Station Anywhere (October 19, 2006)
  
• Judge Shuts Down UK-based Streaming Football Site (June 14, 2006)
• Canada Blocks Free Net TV – iCrave TV (January 17, 2003)

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Warner Bros. and BitTorrent announced a partnership that will make Warner movies and television shows available for rental or purchase using peer-to-peer technology. The move makes Warner the first major studio to embrace BitTorrent technology, which has long been associated with the illicit swapping of video content. More than 200 WB movies and TV shows will be available this summer. New content will be available the same day DVDs are made available in stores.

Sources: ars technica | New York Times | L.A. Times | Forbes | Times Online | Wired | Fox News (Reuters) | Red Herring | CBC Canada | MSNBC/Business Week | Houstin Chronicle (AP) | International Herold Tribute | Playfuls | Inquirer | CNN Money | Engadget | BBC | CNet | ZDNet | Hollywood Reporter | Wall St. Journal

Note 1: BitTorrent and the MPAA had previously reached an agreement on November 23, 2005 whereby BitTorrent agreed to remove torrents for unlicensed movies from it's site. On that day BitTorrent (the company) became legitimate in the eyes of Hollywood.

Note 2: Of note, this distribution will use still another proprietary DRM system. See related article.

Related BitTorrent Posts:

• BitTorrent to Purchase µTorrent (December 8, 2006)
• BitTorrent Signs More Download Deals with Major Hollywood Movie & TV Studios (November 30, 2006)
• Techcrunch » BitTorrent Raises $25 Million (November 29, 2006)
• Warner Bros. and BitTorrent Partner to Download Movies (May 9 2006)
• BitTorrent and MPAA Reach Agreement (November 23, 2005)

Related P2P Going 'Legit' Posts:

• iMesh Raises BearShare from the Dead and Takes it 'Legit' (August 23, 2006)
• Kazaa Settles for $100+ and Goes 'Legit' (July 27, 2006)
• Warner Bros. and BitTorrent Partner to Download Movies (May 9, 2006)

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In this interesting Engadget article, YouTube's fair use defenses are discussed in the context of an inevitable big media law suit alleging use of video clips infringes their copyrights. YouTube has been very conscientious about establishing copyright policies and removing infringing videos in their entirety, as required by the DMCA. For example YouTube quickly removed the Natalie Portman SNL video when NBC demanded this. But, the more interesting challenge will be when YouTube asserts that use of short video clips/snippets from big media sourced video (eg: a disputed penalty in a sporting event, the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, a snippet from a David Letterman interview or top 10 list, etc.) is fair use under copyright law for educational, parody, commentary and/or criticism purposes. Assuming YouTube's current million-dollar-a-month burn rate doesn't take them down first, every fiber of my body tells me they are in for a fair use fight with broadcasters, organized sports and/or the MPAA at some point down the line.

Source: Engadget

Related Posts:

• Why Google & YouTube are Not Getting Sued Out of the Water (December 11, 2006)
• YouTube Faces Heightened Copyright Scrutiny Since Google Buyout Announcement (October 30, 2006)
• YouTube Sued by L.A. News Service (July 17, 2006)
• How YouTube Avoids the Internet Copyright Police (July 17, 2006)
• RIAA Sends Cease and Desist Letters to YouTube/Google Video Users (June 15, 2006)
• YouTube's Looming Fair Use Battle (May 5, 2006)

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Slingbox is an Internet TV streaming device from Sling Media that enables consumers to remotely view their cable, satellite, or personal video recorder (PVR) programming from an Internet-enabled computer with a broadband Internet connection. This is commonly referred to as “space shifting”. HBO’s CTO, Bob Zitter, has said that content owners believe Slingbox violates their copyrights. Whether or not Slingbox violates copyrights, content owners perceive it as a competitive threat because: (i) they themselves are interested in monetizing the delivery of their programs via broadband connections; and (ii) Slingbox threatens their retransmission-consent arrangements by enabling out-of-market viewing of network and syndicated content. So, the question is, will Hollywood sue Sling Media for competitive reasons, arguing that the Slingbox, which does not copy or store content and only allows consumers that purchase content to access their content remotely, infringes its IP rights?

Sources: LightReading.com  |  ars technica  |  Broadcasting & Cable  |  Information Week  |  CEA Press Release Praising Slingbox  |  Wikipedia Entry on Slingbox

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Fox network has signed a six-year agreement with its 187 affiliated stations that will let it show reruns of its television programs on the Internet. The affiliates will be paid 12.5% after costs and Fox will be able to make 60 percent of its prime-time schedule available online the morning after the shows air.

Sources: Reuters  |  TechCrunch  |  L.A. Times  |  Business Week  |  Red Herring  |  Related ars technica April 25, 2006 article.
 
Dale’s Comment: While networks making limited amounts of content available over the Internet is all the rage these days, what is particularly interesting about this development is that this is the first long term, comprehensive revenue share deal by a major network with its affiliates on how they will share revenues derived from Internet sales of a substantial portion of network content. The exclusive rights granted to network affiliates and to syndicated content purchasers have long been a sticking point for networks that were otherwise interested in making their back catalogue of content available to consumers over the Internet. This could be an important precedent for the eventual availability of all network content over the Internet.

TiVo, flush with your victory over Echostar, PLEASE negotiate a deal with Fox, and the other networks, so we can purchase reruns via iVOD through our TiVos! I for one, would love to order up the first two Seasons of The West Wing that I missed years ago.

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Six major studios are starting U.S.-based Internet services to sell movies that buyers can download and keep for watching at any time. New movies will cost about $20 to $30 to download; older titles will cost as little as $10. The downloads will be available on the same day that the DVD is released – quicker than rentals, which are put online about 45 days later and cost $2 to $5. Customers will be able to store movies for as long as they like on computers, as well as transfer them to two other computers and burn them on DVD, but only for copying to the two other PCs. Note: Regrettably, burned DVDs will not be playable on conventional DVD players. These DVD’s will be protected with Microsoft’s Windows Digital Rights Management software.

Sources: Herold Tribune | New York Times | L.A. Times | CNet | BBC | MSNBC | Times Online | Fox News | FT.com | Washington Post | Business Week | USA Today | MovieWeb | Red Herring | MSN Money | ABC News | Forbes | CNN Money | Reuters | Engadget | China Daily | San Jose Mercury News | Hollywood.com | SiliconValley.com | Examiner.com

Dale’s Comment: This is a solid step in the right direction but the Holy Grail of online movie purchase/rentals remains movie downloads to TV-centric devices such as a TiVo, XBox 360 or PS3 where the user calls all up movies via an imdb.com-type interface on their TV (or their PC) for download and ultimate interactive viewing through home networks on their TVs. Given that Windows Media Center functionality is to be built into Vista, and the XBox 360 will be able to access content from Vista-powered PCs, I expect a movie download service announcement from Microsoft around the time Vista is released (in early 07). Selling (rather than renting) first run titles on DVD release dates, is a major shift for Hollywood and they must be given credit for finally making this decision. But, in my opinion, they are making a blunder by not permitting users to burn copies of PURCHASED movies to DVDs for playback by the owner on conventional DVD players.

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A law being proposed in France would force companies like Apple to open up content downloaded from, say, the iTunes Music Store to be used on non-Apple devices. If they don’t comply, customers would be allowed to break the DRM.

Sources: PC Magazine | engadget | Yahoo! News | Inquirer | Reuters | Boston Globe | ars technica | Globe & Mail | MobileMag | Playfuls | Silicon.com | Business Week | Red Herring | PC Pro

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Over the last decade, the growth of satellite service, the rise of digital cable, and the birth of HDTV have all left their mark on the television landscape. Now, a new delivery method threatens to shake things up even more powerfully. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) has arrived, and backed by the deep pockets of the telecommunications industry, it’s poised to offer more interactivity and bring a hefty dose of competition to the business of selling TV.

Source: ars technica

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How Steve Jobs can put a hammerlock on digital video.

Source: Slate.com

Note: Within 3 months of launch, Apple sold over 3 million TV shows/videos through iTunes.

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Sony has launched their new Portable TV rental service for owners of the Sony PSP in Japan. Users will be able to download TV shows, music videos and trailers for from $1 to $3 each.

Sources: Engadget  |  Gizmodo  |  MobileWhack

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BitTorrent and the MPAA reach an agreement under which unlicensed copyright movies will be expeditiously removed from BitTorrent.com's recently launched search engine

Sources: Wired | ZDNet | Reuters | BBC | The Register | Los Angeles Times | Forbes

Related Posts: 

• BitTorrent to Purchase µTorrent (December 8, 2006)
• BitTorrent Signs More Download Deals with Major Hollywood Movie & TV Studios (November 30, 2006)
• Techcrunch » BitTorrent Raises $25 Million (November 29, 2006)
• Warner Bros. and BitTorrent Partner to Download Movies (May 9 2006)
• BitTorrent and MPAA Reach Agreement (November 23, 2005)

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TiVo did not obtain ABC or Apple’s prior-approval for this feature. It could adversely impact ABC’s recent arrangement with Apple to make TV shows available for download to iPods for a fee.

Sources: ZDNet | Financial Times

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