In more media news, Microsoft announced that Xbox users will be able to rent movies and buy television shows online through its Xbox Live Marketplace service. Starting November 22 Xbox users will be able to rent movies, from Xbox Live Marketplace, which will be made available in standard and high-definition format. This launch comes in direct response to the Amazon Unbox and Apple iTunes movie download services launched recently. Movies and shows that will be initially available include “Superman Returns” and “Jackass: The Movie” from Paramount Pictures, “South Park” from Viacom and “CSI: NY” from CBS.
Microsoft hasn’t given out details about the pricing of the movies and TV shows but should definitely be competitive to what Apple and Amazon are offering. Customers will have to watch movies with 2 weeks of download, but will only have 24 hours on hand one they start watching it. However such restrictions are not there in the case of Television shows, which will be sold for purchase through Xbox Live. Microsoft expects to offer 1,000-plus hours of video content through Xbox Live by the end of 2006.
Apple Movie download service which was launched couple of month back, charges $14.99 for new movie releases while library titles are available for $9.99. Apple will also be launching iTV in the first quarter of 2007 that will enable users to to receive iTunes and iPhoto content from PCs and Macs by WiFi to their TV. Amazon Unbox also offers TV shows for about $1.99 and movies can be for $15 each. However Amazon’s movie download service works only with windows machines and doesn’t allow you to burn DVDs, which is a deal killer.
All the planning and effort done by Microsoft is finally falling in place with the launch of Zune on 14th and the movie download service on 22nd. I think the combination of Xbox+Zune+TV does seem to offer an formidable opponent to Apple. According to reports Zune users will be able to stream their digital content from Zune onto Xbox, which gives Microsoft good 2+ months of lead over Apple iTV.
Related:
Zune site launched
Songs on Zune to cost 99 cents
Links:
Xbox Live Marketplace
November 7, 2006 at 12:15 pm |
[…] Original post by StartupSquad […]
November 9, 2006 at 3:32 am |
[…] Related:Microsoft offers movies, TV shows to Xbox users Tags: StartupSquad, Microsoft, Zune, XBox, Universal, DRM Share and Enjoy: […]
November 14, 2006 at 10:28 am |
[…] Related:Microsoft to give Universal a cut on Zune salesMicrosoft offers movies, TV shows to Xbox usersSongs on Zune to cost 99 cents […]
December 4, 2006 at 4:15 pm |
[…] I am not sure how ClickStar will compete with offerings from XBox Video Marketplace, Apple iTV, and Amazon UnBox. They should have something more to offer than just a movie purchase+download service. […]
January 16, 2007 at 3:48 am |
[…] Well it is not just Apple. Besides the old foe Blockbuster, Netflix has recently seen dedicated and planned moves from Microsoft, Amazon, Movielink, and Cinemanow that stream movies direct to consumers. Seeing the writing on the wall, Netflix today announced that from Tuesday it will start streaming movies and television shows directly to users’ PCs. Netflix will initially be putting up 1000 titles from NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers and others. After the rollout of the service in the next 6 months, Netflix will working on delivering movies to portable devices and TVs. […]
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