NBC’s recent decision to end selling television shows through the iTunes store, is a reminder that, unlike digital music, Apple isn’t the undisputed king of online video. In fact, far from it. Aside from the numerous ad-supported video sites, of which YouTube is the industry leader, there exists a plethora of paid-for video download stores — both rental and purchase-to-own — each of which is hoping to take a large slice of this emerging and potentially lucrative market.
In this post, we take a look at eleven paid-for video download stores, noting that while there appears to be much competition, many of the resulting services lack innovation, in terms of their technology choices and how they approach copy-protection.
Originally a joint venture created by five of the major studios: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios, the service was recently acquired by Blockbuster. The content on offer includes television shows and movies from those studios, along with Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax, Lionsgate and others.
Although you can browse and pay for content from the Movielink website (which requires Internet Explorer), to download and manage videos, users need to install the Movielink Manager software. From then on it’s a standard Windows Media DRM affair, whereby rentals can be stored for up to 30 days and expire 24 hours after the first viewing, and in some cases, downloads can be played back on up to three PCs (depending on the original content-owners’ wishes), while others are limited to one PC.
In addition to playback on a computer, there are a number of ways of getting Movielink content onto a television, using Media Extenders based on Intel’s Viiv platform, such as those offered by Netgear and D-Link, as well the Xbox 360 in conjunction with Windows Media Center or Windows Vista Premium. According to the the website, Movielink is also supported by Portable Media Center (PMC) devices that are capable of syncing with Windows Media Player, which doesn’t include the iPod or PSP. Interestingly, users of AT&T’s Homezone set-top-box can also purchase and playback Movielink content.
Platform:
Windows-only
Territory:
U.S.-only
Pricing:
$1.99 – 19.99 (to-own)
$.99 – 4.99 (rental)
IGN-owned Direct2Drive offers television and movie downloads — purchase-to-own only — alongside PC games and other types of content, such as digital comic books and video gaming guides.
The movie catalog is mostly Hollywood offerings (both new releases and older films), with television downloads including shows such as 24, Prison Break, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which can be purchased in single episodes or as a season pass.
Once again, extra software is required to manage downloads, which, as with Movielink, utilize Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM. Content can be played back on up to two PCs, along with two “transfers” to supported PlayForSure portable devices. One nice touch is that users are permitted to re-download any content which they’ve purchased in the event of a hard drive failure.
Platform:
Windows-only
Territory:
U.S.-only
Pricing:
Television shows $1.99 per episode or approx. $39.99 for a season.
Movies $9.99 – $19.99
BitTorrent.com is the legitimate download store brought to us by the same people behind the peer-to-peer technology which powers lots of filesharing sites (many of which link to pirated content). The site sells movie and television downloads, alongside other content such as games and music. BitTorrent’s film catalog is a mix of independent, niche and Hollywood content, while the television shows on offer come from major studios, including Comedy Central, FOX, NBC and Warner Bros.
Although content can be browsed and paid-for through the website itself, users will need the BitTorrent client to manage downloads. Once again, the videos themselves use Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM, limiting playback to Windows PCs as well as supported media extenders such as the XBox 360.
Content is offered on both a purchase-to-own and rental basis (rentals must be downloaded within 30 days from the transaction, and expire 24 hours after the first play). An additional feature of the service is that video rentals can actually be downloaded without making a commitment, since you have the option to pay only once you begin watching.
Platform:
Windows-only
Territory:
Varies per video, although the majority of content appears to be U.S.-only
Pricing:
Television shows $1.99 per episode.
Movies $3.99 – $14.99 (to-own) $3.99 (rental)
CinemaNow offers movies, television shows and music concerts from more than 250 studios including 20th Century Fox, ABC News, Disney, HDNet, Lionsgate, MGM, Miramax, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Sundance Channel and Warner Bros.
In addition to purchase-to-own content — which can be transfered and played back on up to three devices — CinemaNow offers subscription-based and rental on-demand streaming. The service also gives users the option to convert and burn certain content to a regular DVD, which can then be played back on virtually any stand-alone DVD player.
Purchase to-own content is downloaded and managed using CinemaNow’s Media Manager software, which also enables streaming to an XBox 360. Additionally, the service is supported by various Archos personal media players, as well as HP’s upcoming line of MediaSmart LCD TVs.
Platform:
Windows-only
Territory:
U.S.-only
Pricing:
Movies/TV $3.99 – $14.99 (to-own)
Amazon Unbox sells movie and television downloads — both purchase-to-own and rental. Content comes from major Hollywood and TV studios, in addition to independent content, some of which is drawn from the company’s own self-publishing service, Createspace.
Content can be viewed using the Amazon Unbox Video Player, Windows Media Player, a PlaysForSure portable device, or a TiVo DVR. Content can be streamed to a television using a Windows Media Center Extender such as an Xbox 360 console from a PC running Windows XP Media Center Edition or Windows Vista (Home Premium or Ultimate).
As already mentioned, Unbox is supported by Tivo’s more recent line of DVRs, where movies can be ordered from Amazon’s website where they’ll be remote-loaded to a users registered Tivo, or alternatively, Unbox content can be browsed and purchased directly from the device itself. Remote-loading can also be used to make purchases from one PC and have the content be sent to another. Users are also given the option to keep a backup of their media library on Amazon’s own servers.
UnBox is another service which utilizes Windows Media DRM — rentals must be viewed within the first 30 days after purchase, and they may only be viewed within 24 hours of the first time the user presses play.
Platform:
Windows-only
Territory:
U.S.-only
Pricing:
Movies $9.99 – $14.99 (to-own) $0.99 – $3.99 (rental)
Television shows $1.99 per episode
The Video Marketplace is part of XBox Live, Microsoft’s Internet service for its next-generation games console. Movies and television shows are offered from Paramount Pictures, CBS, TBS, MTV Networks, UFC, NBC, Warner Bros., and more recently Lionsgate Films and Walt Disney Pictures. At the present time, the service is only available to users in the United States, however, Microsoft has announced that the service will be available in Canada and Europe by the end of 2007.
Video Market’s key differentiator from competing services is its tight integration with the XBox 360 — where content and be browsed, purchased and directly downloaded to the device — and its emphasis on HD content (see this website for the current HD offerings).
Update: Movies on the Video Marketplace are rental only, where downloads expire after a set period of time (for example, after 14 days). However, after you start watching the video, you can play it as often as you want for 24 hours, after which the rental expires. Television shows appear to be purchase-to-own but may vary on a show-by-show basis.
Platform:
XBox 360-only
Territory:
U.S.-only (Europe and Canada by years-end)
Pricing:
HDTV shows are 240 MS Points, SDTV shows are 160 MS Points. New HD movies are 480 MS Points, and classic HD movies are 360 MS Points. New SD movies are 320 MS Points, classic SD movies are 240 points. You can purchase 1000 MS Points via Xbox Live for $12.50 USD.
Jaman specializes in offering independent and world-cinema — both purchase-to-own and rental. Users can browse content on Jaman’s website, where a number of films can also be streamed for free. However, to download content requires installing the Jaman application, which is peer-to-peer based and includes its own player and proprietary DRM. The service also has a number of built-in social features including user reviews and recommendations.
Prices are low, and the copy-protection is in some ways slightly less restrictive than competing services. For example, rentals expire after seven days, in which you can watch the movie as many times as you like. On the other hand, content is tied to the Jaman player (no portable devices or media extenders are currently supported), although the company claims to be close to releasing a hack for the AppleTV to get its content onto Apple’s set-top-box.
Platform:
Mac/Windows
Territory:
Varies per-video.
Pricing:
$4.99 (to-own) $1.99 (rental)
Guba offers movie downloads, both Hollywood and independent, on a purchase-to-own and rental basis. Content is, once again, a standard Windows Media DRM affair, where rentals can be stored for up-to thirty days and expire 24 hours after you hit play, and videos can be streamed to supported media extenders and transfered to certain PlayForSure portable devices.
There’s nothing to really make Guba standout from other similar services, except that pricing seems quite competitive.
Platform:
Windows-only
Territory:
U.S.-only
Pricing:
$4.99 – $19.99 (to-own) $2.99 (rental)
Apple’s iTunes Store, accessible through the company’s iTunes software, offers television shows and movie downloads from major TV and movie studios including: ABC, CBS, FOX (TV) and Disney, Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM (movies), on a purchase-to-own basis only.
The service works on Mac and PCs, and content can also be streamed to or synced with an AppleTV, as well as transfered to video iPods and the iPhone.
Platform:
Mac/Windows
Territory:
U.S.-only (movies) and U.S./UK (TV shows)
Pricing:
Television shows $1.99 / £1.89
Movies $12.99
HungryFlix is a radically different paid-for download offering compared to the services already mentioned. All videos are offered as non-DRM’d MPEG4, so as to be compatible with both Mac, PC and Linux, as well as many portable devices, media extenders and set-top-boxes, and the service specifically targets portable media players such as Apple’s iPod or Sony’s PSP.
Sadly, as a direct result of its non-DRM policy, HungryFlix’s catalog is limited to independent and niche content only. Instead, the company hopes it can compete mainly on convenience and price. Short Films cost between $0.99-$1.99, and features/documentaries are priced $0.99-$4.99.
Platform:
Mac/Windows/Linux
Territory:
Worldwide
Pricing:
$.99 – $4.99 (to-own)
Disclaimer: Streambust is the online distributor for my own documentary, In Search of the Valley.
Streamburst (a new UK startup) offers a different twist on the issue of DRM. Like with HungryFlix, the downloads are DRM-free MPEG4. However, each video file has the credit card holder’s name printed into it, along with a unique watermark, in the hope that this will discourage piracy.
Currently the service is in trial mode, with a very limited catalog which includes Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s Long Way Round, as well as Boorman’s Race to Dakart.
Platform:
Mac/Windows/Linux
Territory:
Worldwide
Pricing:
$1.99 – $7.99 (to-own)
Verdict
It’s still very early days in the paid-for video download space, where so far, greater competition hasn’t produced nearly enough innovation in terms of pricing and convenience — particularly in relation to copy-protection. The majority of services are built on top of Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM, which immediately rules out Mac and Linux users, but what’s really disappointing is that despite using the same core technology, each Windows Media-based service requires a separate download manager and offers a completely different and often confusing user experience.
There is, however, some evidence of innovation, which points to what we might expect more of in the future: Amazon’s Remote Load and backup service should be a feature supported by every download store, for example, and Steamburst’s watermarking approach to DRM may offer a happy halfway house that both content creators and consumers can feel comfortable with.
