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Starz, RealNetworks Offer Movie Download Service

Posted by simoniker on from the leechin-leechin-leechin dept.

Mz6 writes "The New York Times and others are reporting that RealNetworks and the Starz Encore Group will introduce an online service today that will let high-speed Internet users download and watch many of the movies shown on the Starz cable channel. This report is just on the heels of TiVo's announcement to stream from the Web. This move is another early attempt by Hollywood to build a business out of downloadable movies and head off the sort of piracy that has hurt the music industry. The new service, called Starz Ticket on Real Movies, will cost $12.95 a month, and subscribers will be able to download and watch 100 or more movies each month, using Real's media player software, but only if you have a 600Kbps connection or higher."

18 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. 100 movies saying... by Robert+Hayden · · Score: 5, Funny

    Buffering ... please wait ...

  2. Agony of choices by bloxnet · · Score: 4, Funny

    So torn....like the step in the right direction to newer distribution methods, but can never get over my absolute hatred of Real.

    1. Re:Agony of choices by aastanna · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm sick of watching 320x240 ~500kbps, noisy movies and clips when I'm paying for them.

      Wow, so YOU'RE the guy who pays for internet porn. I knew there must be someone.

  3. Wooo by sarah_kerrigan · · Score: 2, Funny
    Hello,

    • The new service, called Starz Ticket on Real Movies, will cost $12.95 a month, and subscribers will be able to download and watch 100 or more movies each month, using Real's media player software, but only if you have a 600Kbps connection or higher

    What am I waiting for? It's a bargain!!!

    Kisses (muaaaaaaaaks)
    --
    --
    You'd stumble in my footsteps (Depeche Mode, "Walking in my shoes")
    1. Re:Wooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I predict descrimination law suites, on behalf of the low-bandwidth minority, will soon follow.

    2. Re:Wooo by NatasRevol · · Score: 2, Funny

      Can you live in a descrimination suite? Does it include a couch??

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  4. I see dead people by osho_gg · · Score: 4, Funny

    The little boy is saying..

    "I see.... dead.."

    Oops sorry network congestion, oh no!!!

    Osho

  5. great... by 455 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... in order to download songs that you've purchased, please click on our sponsors first, then listen to the following ads before your song, then please let us install our software on your machine and bog it down. Enjoy our Free advertising at the end of every song! Also... please do not try to remove the song from your hard drive, as it may cause major lock-ups and really doesn't go away anyway. Thank you RealNetworks.

  6. real by isaac338 · · Score: 5, Funny

    wow, what a good id..... buffering....ea! finally i can stop pirat......buffering....ing all my mo....buffering.....vies and get them legal.....buffering.....ly!

    thank you, starz,.......buffering.....for making it easy for me to sl....buffering....eep at night.

  7. That's a lot of movies by L.+VeGas · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Nobody will ever need more than 100 movies a month."

    -Bill Gates

    --
    Best Windows Freeware
  8. 100??? by vdoogs · · Score: 3, Funny

    100 movies a month??? Who has the time to watch 100 movies? Solution: Get a subscription for your neighborhood.

  9. 2'16" of Connecting... by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 1, Funny

    And now, the proliferation of accidental performance art pieces, whereby viewers are greeted with 2.5 hours of "silence". (i.e. "Connecting..." "Buffering...")

    --
    stuff |
  10. Re:It's what you don't see that can get ya by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    which doesn't load in Mozilla

    The page loaded fine for me (using FireFox), but after I click around a bit is't asking me what I want to do with a ".exe" file. Is that some sort of WINE file format?

  11. I love that scene in Terminator... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...where Arnold says: "I'll be ...buffing... please wait!"

  12. Re:This IS NOT streaming... by JonMartin · · Score: 3, Funny
    So many people are commenting about how awful Real's player is and the dreaded "Buffering..." that always pops up.
    But if they read the article they would see that this model does not use streaming, but rather just downloading. If they are downloaded onto your local drive, you aren't going to have buffering issues!

    This is Real we're talking about. They will find a way.

    --
    Serve Gonk.
  13. Re:It's more than $12.95, really... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Ok the b is imortant.

    The p is also imortant.

  14. Re:This IS NOT streaming... by magefile · · Score: 2, Funny

    You're not familiar with Real, are you? If they're saying it's 600 kbps, then each frame will consist of one frame plus (600 Kb - one frame) worth of DRM, ads, spyware, viruses, just-plain-crappy-broken-software and error messages.

  15. Re:If there is a couch, by NatasRevol · · Score: 3, Funny

    Duh, that's grammer, you idiute!

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure