Movies on demand? We're getting even closer with Movielink
Hollywood studios are finally attempting to counter the big business of online movie-swapping thanks to services like Napster with the launch on Monday of Movielink according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required). I, for one, would prefer to make sure I only get a song or movie that was official sot that I can be sure of the quality, for instance.
The venture will launch with about 175 feature-film titles, heavy on recent hits such as "Ocean's Eleven" and "A Beautiful Mind," which users will be able to rent for a 24-hour period. The company, Movielink LLC, is owned by five major movie studios: Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment; AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros.; Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Pictures; Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures; and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
...Movielink is set up to allow each member studio to set its own pricing. The service will charge a range of prices, depending on the movie. Customers will pay between $1.99 and $4.99 to download a movie. Consumers can pay by credit card. After a customer pays, he or she will have 30 days to watch the movie. Once the buyer activates it, he or she can keep it for 24 hours. The service will be available only in the U.S., partly as a way to avoid creating a tangle with overseas movie distributors.