Starz, RealNetworks Offer Movie Download Service

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."

Comments

Is this a new thing?

[danny256]

I've been getting movie dowloads from this site for months. Oh, and its free.

Re:100???

[WormholeFiend]

100 movies a month??? Who has the time to watch 100 movies?

those people that sometimes make the news when the fire department has to knock down a wall in order to load them with a crane onto a flatbed truck, and then drive them to the hospital.

Re:Agony of choices

[NanoGator]

"Real is an absolute joke."

Agreed. Real even took over my dvd playing ability. WTF? I never said they could do that! Not even sure how to get it back.

"These big-time websites still insist on using it, and the only reason must be because of the damn built-in DRM."

DRM DRM DRM!! BAD BAD BAD!! Actually it probably has to do with being able to play the videos. That's a huge problem on the net, and Real isn't bad about being consistent. Tell somebody to install a viewer, and blammo you're ready to go. Windows Media Player would probably have been a better choice... but who knows what politics were going on there.