CinemaNow and Macrovision bringing more video downloads to TV screens
In a move not unlike efforts by Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc., online video retailer CinemaNow Inc. and digital content technology company Macrovision are cooperating to make it possible for customers to download video content from the Internet for viewing on TV screens.
“CinemaNow is dedicated to providing access to great entertainment wherever our customer is, in the living room or on the go,” says Curt Marvis, CEO of CinemaNow. “Making sure our service is readily available on as many devices as possible is part of that mission, and that’s why we’re collaborating with Macrovision.”
CinemaNow, which offers a library of more than 10,000 videos from major movie studios and TV networks, has integrated its digital entertainment distribution technology with Macrovision’s software to enable devices like TV set-top boxes and high-definition TVs to receive streamed video files from networked computers. CinemaNow customers will be able to register digital TVs and TV set-top boxes that include Macrovision software on CinemaNow.com, enabling them to download video files for playback on their TV screens, the companies say.
“Through teaming up with CinemaNow, we’re providing consumer electronics manufacturers with new services that simplify the process of acquiring content for the home and enriching consumers’ experience with digital entertainment,” says Eric Free, executive vice president of Macrovision’s Embedded Solutions Business Unit. The service is expected to be available to consumers in the second half of this year, a spokesman for CinemaNow says.
This is not CinemaNow’s first effort in supporting the transfer of downloaded video to customers’ TV screens. Last summer, it upgraded its Media Manager video download service to automatically detect a customer’s home-networked Xbox 360 online game console, which can be used to transfer downloaded video content to a TV.
Amazon and Netflix have also taken steps to bring Internet downloaded video to TV screens. Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, introduced last summer a service that lets customers of its Unbox video download service transfer downloaded content through the TiVo digital content management system for viewing on a TV screen.
And Netflix, No. 18 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, said last week that it plans to introduce in the second half of this year a device being developed with LG Electronics that will enable Netflix subscribers to transfer downloaded movies to their high-definition TVs.
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