It’s no secret that the big Hollywood studios haven’t exactly been eager to back online video distribution. In fact their unwillingness to assume any risk in such ventures has arguably slowed the entire market more than any other force. That’s why it’s so surprising to see a company owned by several studios announcing a new service that will combine television and internet-based video on demand.
Studio 3 Networks is jointly owned by MGM, Lionsgate Entertainment, and Paramount’s parent company Viacom. So far their epix premium TV channel apparently has no deals in place with cable or satellite TV services yet. What they do have is exclusive access to theatrical movies from Paramount, Paramount Vantage, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, MGM, United Artists, and Lionsgate released from the beginning of 2009 on. In addition they’ll have use of many catalog titles from each of those studios.
Perhaps inspired by the huge success of Netflix in delivering internet video as only part of their offering. They plan to launch the TV service near the end of this year, but will apparently be online video on demand as early as May.
“With epix, we are creating an entirely new category of entertainment service for consumers that is unlike anything that currently exists,” said Mark Greenberg, President of Studio 3 Networks. “epix is the first brand to hold exclusive exhibition rights to movie content that can be delivered anywhere, anytime. The name epix embodies the depth and breadth of entertainment content this brand will deliver and also captures the uniquely personal way that consumers will be interacting with great Hollywood movie content and original programming.”
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Microsoft began offering downloads of a Windows 7 Beta early on Friday as had been promised by CEO Steve Ballmer in his pre-show keynote. However, it didn’t take long for demand to overwhelm Microsoft’s servers, forcing the company to halt the Beta downloads until more servers are added to deal with overwhelming traffic. “We are adding servers as fast as we can add them,” a Microsoft spokesman said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Redmond-based software giant says Windows 7 will incorporate touch-screen technology and make the operating system much easier to personalize. The download is only available to the first 2.5 million people who download it - at least from Microsoft that is - a limit which probably caused the immediate rush.
The beta is available in English, German, Japanese, Hindi and Arabic (Hindi version is only available 32-bit). It requires at least a 1 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB hard disk space, a DirectX 9-capable video card with 128MB memory and an Internet connection.
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Sandisk has added a new model to their Sansa Clip line of MP3 players. This new addition features 8GB of storage and will have a MSRP of $99.99. It joins existing models with 2GB and 4GB capacity which retail for $39.99 and $59.99 respectively.
The Sansa Clip is a line of small flash-based music portable music players. It’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It weights less than an ounce and is designed to be clipped to clothing, a backpack, or a purse.
Audio formats supported include MP3, WMA, and WAV. They also feature a built in voice recorder and FM tuner.
