BigPond launches movie downloads
Phil Sweeney | Yesterday, 12:45 pm | Telstra | got a news tip?
BigPond has launched its movie download service, offering time limited movies, TV episodes and music videos for between $1.95 and $5.95.
"For years people have dreamt of being able to download movies and TV shows over the internet. From today, BigPond Movie members can legally download a huge choice of movies, TV shows, sport, short films and music videos, direct to their PCs or notebooks and watch them on demand in full-screen, digital quality via BigPond Movie Downloads," said BigPond MD Justin Milne.
The current library of 1000 titles is sourced from Sony Pictures Australia, which distributes material from various studios including Columbia Tristar and MGM. Examples of movies include Bewitched and Black Hawk Down, while TV episodes are available from shows such as The Shield and Stargate SG-1.
The service appears to be available to any broadband user, but BigPond users get a 20% discount and the data will not count towards their quota. Windows XP is the only operating system supported.
Movies available on the service are sized at over 1GB, with a rough calculation suggesting each minute of content is around 10 megabytes. This means that users on 1.5Mbit ADSL plans will probably not be able to watch in real-time, but those on cable or ADSL2+ will have no issues.
Unlike buying a DVD, the content from BigPond expires due to Digital Rights Management (DRM). "Similar to a video store, customers can 'rent' content to view as many times as they want in 24 hours or on a weekly basis. Once the rental period is over, the content is automatically deleted from their PC," said Milne.
Regardless of how well the BigPond service is received, it is a major step towards increasing broadband adoption in Australia. With competitors likely to launch their own services in the coming months, it will be an interesting year for broadband content in Australia.
Source: Whirlpool
Media Release
Bigpond Movie Downloads
Phil Sweeney | Yesterday, 12:45 pm | Telstra | got a news tip?
BigPond has launched its movie download service, offering time limited movies, TV episodes and music videos for between $1.95 and $5.95.
"For years people have dreamt of being able to download movies and TV shows over the internet. From today, BigPond Movie members can legally download a huge choice of movies, TV shows, sport, short films and music videos, direct to their PCs or notebooks and watch them on demand in full-screen, digital quality via BigPond Movie Downloads," said BigPond MD Justin Milne.
The current library of 1000 titles is sourced from Sony Pictures Australia, which distributes material from various studios including Columbia Tristar and MGM. Examples of movies include Bewitched and Black Hawk Down, while TV episodes are available from shows such as The Shield and Stargate SG-1.
The service appears to be available to any broadband user, but BigPond users get a 20% discount and the data will not count towards their quota. Windows XP is the only operating system supported.
Movies available on the service are sized at over 1GB, with a rough calculation suggesting each minute of content is around 10 megabytes. This means that users on 1.5Mbit ADSL plans will probably not be able to watch in real-time, but those on cable or ADSL2+ will have no issues.
Unlike buying a DVD, the content from BigPond expires due to Digital Rights Management (DRM). "Similar to a video store, customers can 'rent' content to view as many times as they want in 24 hours or on a weekly basis. Once the rental period is over, the content is automatically deleted from their PC," said Milne.
Regardless of how well the BigPond service is received, it is a major step towards increasing broadband adoption in Australia. With competitors likely to launch their own services in the coming months, it will be an interesting year for broadband content in Australia.
Source: Whirlpool
Media Release
Bigpond Movie Downloads
