Movies Delivered Via Television Signal

valdean writes "Disney, Intel and Cisco have teamed up to launch Moviebeam, a $200 set-top box connected to your TV set that offers 100 movies at a time, with 7-8 new films replacing the 7-8 oldest each week. Movies cost $4 for new releases and $2 for old ones, with each payment granting 24 hours of access to that movie. There is no subscription fee and no monthly minimum. The nifty part? MovieBeam's movies are encoded in the broadcast signal of PBS stations across the United States, so you don't need a computer or an Internet connection. The bad part? The Moviebeam player also requires a connection to a phone jack -- every fortnight the box dials a toll-free number in the middle of the night to tally how much you've spent on movies so far, for the benefit of your monthly statement."

Comments

Movies via TV?

[Per Wigren]

That's a new one!

Re:Movies via TV?

[kfg]

Dude, it isn't just movies on TV, it's wireless.

KFG

Movies? Via Television?

[imsabbel]

The audacity of this innovation is just stunning.

Imagine...

[Anonymous Coward]

Movies over a TV signal? Now i've seen everything

from tfa

[Dance_Dance_Karnov]

INTERNET MOVIE-DOWNLOAD SITES Oh, forget it. It takes forever to download a movie, the quality isn't great, and you need a computer that's connected to your TV.

I must be on the wrong internet

Re:The bad part ?

[tepples]

develop a box that decodes them and doesn't require you to pay extra - you can

...go to prison, under the same laws that prohibit "theft" of satellite TV signals, and be sexually assaulted.

Re:Fortnight??

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds cool but I'm wanting to know what is a fortnight?

Remember when you were a kid and you built a fort out of cardboard boxes and then slept in it?

It's one of those.

I should know. I'll never forgive myself for what the dew did to my baseball cards.

PBS signal, eh?

[Bob_Robertson]

So my tax money is being spent to subsidize more Disney profits?

It's bad enough tax money subsidizes the immensely profitable Sesame Street and Barney corporations. Oh, but NooooOOOoooo, Disney has to get their cut too.

Re:Working Clicky

[gEvil (beta)]

Well, I don't want Steve Jobs in my living room or a device that phones home to him...Awww, crap! Anyone want a MacMini for cheap?

Re:Trusting the client?

[Frogbert]

Lisa: Now next week is our "state of the city" address. Has everyone finished their proposals.
Comic Book Guy: Well first of all I've a plan to eliminate obesity in women.
Lyndsey Nagle: Oh please, for a nickel-a-person tax increase we could build a theatre for shadow puppets.
Dr. Hibbert: Balinese or Thai?
Lyndsey Nagle: Why not both, then everybody's happy.
Comic Book Guy: Oh yeah, everyone's real happy then.
Lyndsey Nagle: Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
Professor Frink: (With sarcasm detector) Are you kidding? This baby is off he charts mm-hai.
Comic Book Guy: A sarcasm detector, that's a real useful invention.
(Sarcasm detector explodes)

Re:Not going to fly.

[dr_dank]

Closed captioning is a brain-dead protocol. I do not even think that there is as much as a parity bit in there.

I agree. They should bring back Garrett Morris shouting from the corner of the screen.

Re:It isn't new to the UK

[m_member]

No, NOO i tell you! I saw a nice, middle class family on Watchdog complain about this. Are you trying to tell me that somewhere in their midst lies... someone of dubious morals? I can't and won't believe that, for heavens sake there was a copy of the Daily Mail on their coffee table!

Re:Not going to fly.

[ryanvm]

We recieve TV over the air, and even when reception is good, there's often errors in the stream. "To be or not to be, that is the &%%*&%*^(*"

That wasn't an error, that's really what Hamlet said. He was troubled you know...