The Internet alternative
If none of today's movie-delivery options suit you, now there's the internet alternative
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | February 14, 2005
Now that millions of Americans download music from the Internet, Joshua Goldman thinks consumers are ready for the next step: downloading high-quality videos of everything from nature documentaries to classic Hollywood movies.
"I think we're seeing the largest change in the way people watch video content ... since the launch of the VCR," said Goldman, chief executive of Akimbo Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif., firm that began selling its Internet home video system last year. "This is access to anything you want, when you want it, from the history of recorded media."
There's already plenty of video on the Internet -- short video clips at news websites, movie trailers, and crude, illegal copies of popular films available through file-swapping services like Kazaa or Grokster. But there are also companies like Movielink and CinemaNow that offer legal downloads of recent films like "Troy" and "The Bourne Supremacy." Still, even though it's possible to connect a PC to a television set, these downloads are usually viewed on a computer monitor.
Companies like Akimbo and competitor Dave Networks Inc. are aiming for a place in the living room, right next to the television set-top controller box, or even inside it. And they're offering video that looks as good as any pay-per-view movie on cable TV. These companies are betting that consumers will pay around $15 a month for a service that will constantly download video entertainment through a broadband Internet connection, storing it up until the customer is ready to watch.