“NBC Universal has struck a deal with technology and commerce specialist Wurld Media that will make selected movies available for on-demand downloading via peer-to-peer distribution early next year,” Cynthia Littleton and Chris Marlowe report for Hollywood Reporter. “NBC Universal said it marks the first time a major studio has licensed content to a P2P service… The companies have not yet determined the fees that it will charge for film downloads. NBC Universal said it would offer all of the titles that are available on its existing video-on-demand and pay-per-view services carried by cable and satellite operators. That means a range of contemporary releases — including ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin,’ ‘Cinderella Man,’ ‘Ray’ and ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ — as well as 75-100 older titles from the Universal library. The deal at present does not include any NBC Universal-produced TV series, but it does cover special programs that NBC Universal offers on VOD/PPV.”
Full article here.
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Just exactly how they expect us to watch this outside of the house:-)
It seems to me that the studios everything and anything to try to avoid joining the iTMS bandwagon. This seems a little like saying that you don’t want your product to be available in large shopping malls where people actually go to buy things. Short-sighted and futile.
Reminds me of the sign: “Closed until business picks up.”
MW: john-as in – might as well flush these attempts down the . . .
or soon…
This service will not be compatible with Macintosh.
So all of a sudden, a member of both the MPAA and RIAA (Universal) is saying that P2P HAS A LEGITIMATE USE??!!
Damn, wish they would have stipulated to that BEFORE Grokster was shut down…
Maybe it’s because NBC has such close ties with Microsoft? Could it be that they are being nudged in a different direction?
It requries WindowsXP or 2000. The list of people who love this technology include SONY and EMI to give you an idea of just how crappy it is.
“Nudged” by Miscrosoft you say? Sorta like an arm robber ‘requests’ that you give him your money.
DECEMBER 20th!! DECEMBER 20th!!
Can’t . . . f-cking . . . wait . . .
for this movie!
I think they try to go around iTMS so that later they have less problems with changing the prices.
Apple is too tough with Music Labels and that scares Video ones;
There seem to be a perception that once u join iTMS u are no more free to define the price of YOUR products.
Everyone should just start using the term “iTunes Killer” to describe all these alternate distribution attempts by the networks.
The phrase “iPod Killer” became a joke. These iTunes Killers are also jokes. They’re just waiting for the punch line. Let’s call it what it is.
Now THAT’S the MDN groupthink I know. Tear ’em apart as quickly as possible.. in this case, before it even exists. If Jobs wasn’t consulted, it can’t POSSIBLY be successful! And if it IS successful, it’ll be because everyone except you is so STUPID and doesn’t KNOW any better!
I was beginning to wonder where you all went.
Go get ’em!
The film industry is being a lot more active than Music was. I think they are determined not to end up in the same dependent on iTunes position but it remains to be seen if they can come up with as elegant of a solution.
Oh and if it does not work on the Mac and it is not available on ITMS then I think you would be almost justified in pirating it. No choice right? Idiots.
Those “killers” have nothing to “kill”; iTMS is still out of the business of selling movies on-line; iTMS offers TV shows and it is unclear whether and when there will be real movies;
“If Jobs wasn’t consulted, it can’t POSSIBLY be successful! And if it IS successful, it’ll be because everyone except you is so STUPID and doesn’t KNOW any better!”
Time and time again we’ve seen these “killers” flop. I think we can safely predict the future based on this history until the competitors prove otherwise.
Every time such a “legitimate” commercial use of P2P is proposed, someone on Slashdot inevitable makes the following (really good) point:
If the customers are using their own bandwidth to do NBC’s distribution for them, that price better be pretty low. Think about it: Every time someone downloads the file from your PC, NBC has used your resources to make money for themselves.
Jack A wrote: “it remains to be seen if they can come up with as elegant of a solution”
I may be quite more easy to do that with movies. Key elements of iTunes are 1)easy to buy, 2) and easy management of the database of bought tracks [for frequent playback].
Point 1) above seem to be complete by NBC; as for point 2) it is not that important with movies – u usually have less movies than music and play it less frequent; a barebone storing bought movies in Finder folders may be enough.
As such it may be easy for Hollywood to “kill” iTunes in that segment or “prevent its birth. All they have to do is to set up their own on-line stores (it is easy) and not to give iTunes any movies (it is even more easy).
FYI, recently Universal experimented with the technology of movie downloads when they released the first 9 minutes of Serenity via Vividas (since closed) It looked great, btw, and didn’t use p2p but streamed.
http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/
of Serenity is STILL available at iFilm BTW
and that was Universal’s international division making that experiment. some other movie is doing the same thing now–I forget which.
. . . is going to be HUGE on DVD — and deservedly so!
It is one hell of a great ride. Makes Sith look like Shit.
Funny thing is, if Uni were to release this to iTunes the same day as the DVD release (12/20), the downloads would be MASSIVE!
They just don’t get it. No, they shouldn’t make it available on iTMS. Why pay for it? Its a free show. Make it available online for free. Have the show sponsored by something to pay for the revenue. Does it matter if I fast forward through the show? I still see the product being offered. Make it available in h.264 with no DRM.
To all of you paid studio/label posters.
Apple has done it right with music and could do it right with TV shows and movies. In a year or so when Apple has 10 plus million portable video capable iPod players in movie/tv show buyers hands and your pathetic windows only attempts have died on the vine, you’ll come a knockin’.
Serentity is the only movement that I’ve ever watched where in the first five minutes, I already wanted a series of prequels (and I’m talking beyond the Dragonfly shows). Blows my mind. Can’t wait to purchase it.
It won’t really matter regarding compatibility…Once we get the files on our computers, it won’t be long before some mac genius figures out how to convert them to H264….Then we’ll have the movies anyway.
Andrew Hamilton
Videographers in Las Vegas
Hamilton International Productions
http://www.hiproductions.com