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Internet TV news on last100

iTunes same-day movie releases reportedly a loss leader, yet prices remain too high

In striking a deal with Hollywood to offer new movie releases for purchase on iTunes the same day as their DVD equivalents, Apple is making a loss, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to a “person familiar with the matter”, Apple is paying the movie studios a wholesale price of $16 per movie while maintaining its current retail price of $14.99.

Take that, Apple: Zune update adds TV shows from NBC Universal, among others

The Zune Marketplace (U.S.-only) has begun selling downloads of major television shows, including content from NBC Universal — a move that sticks it to Apple, following last year’s public spat between the iPod maker and major television studio, which resulted in NBC pulling its content from iTunes.

Social online video viewing is compelling, if only Lycos Cinema had better content

This week Lycos relaunched its Cinema product with added features: You can now purchase video-on-demand streams for you and your buddies to watch simultaneously on different computers, and interact socially through an improved user interface.

YouTube continues to invade the living room, now supported by HP MediaSmart TVs and set-top box

HP has become the latest company to bring YouTube into the living room.

Owners of HP’s line of Internet-connected MediaSmart High Definition TVs, and the yet-to-be-released MediaSmart Connect set-top box, will soon be able to enjoy content from the Google-owned video sharing site “full screen” on their HDTVs, as well as log-in to their YouTube account via remote to share videos and playlists with other users.

Sony’s PS3 DVR PlayTV launch date and price confirmed

Piece by piece, Sony’s PS3 has the potential to be one of the best, if not the best, media centers on the market. It’s just that most consumers don’t know it. Perhaps that will change this September, in Europe at least, when the PS3’s DVR add-on finally goes on sale.

A hint at what’s to come? NBC streams “The Office”, “30 Rock” to iPhone

As of this week, you can stream a limited number NBC shows to an iPhone or iPod touch, completely bypassing iTunes. As everybody knows, NBC and its network properties pulled their shows off iTunes late last year over a pricing and copy protection spat.

The history and future of DivX

Davis Freeberg over at Zatz Not Funny provides some great analysis on the history and future strategy of DivX. Freeberg notes the importance of creating an eco-system around the DivX codec, both in terms of becoming the preferred format for “grey” content on P2P networks, but also the way in which the company reached out to consumer electronics manufacturers — DVD players, media streamers, PMPs, and more recently Sony’s PS3 — through its DivX certification program. The result is that DivX has become the consumer facing brand for MPEG4, despite rival offerings from Apple and Microsoft, for example. However, the advent of H.264, and other more efficient codecs, means that DivX faces a new round of competition.

Mobile news on last100

Despite complexities, Sprint, Clearwire band together to build WiMax network

Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 wireless carrier in the United States, and Clearwire, a Kirkland, Wash.-based startup company founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, are pooling their wireless broadband spectrum and engineering resources to create a $14.55 billion communications company that will retain the Clearwire name. Along for the ride are outside investors, including Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. They will kick in a total of $3.2 billion to give them a 22 percent stake in the new company.

HTC launches first true iPhone competitor just as Apple is about to take its phone to next level

Taiwanese smart phone manufacturer HTC announced the Touch Diamond this week and, as expected, it’s small, sleek, sexy, very iPhone-esque, and promising.

The AP forms Mobile News Network, bringing 100+ newspapers and local news to iPhone

The Associated Press, the top news service in the U.S., has teamed with 100 member newspapers to formally launch the Mobile News Network. Finally, it feels like newspaper news is being delivered to your cell phone, wherever you are, and without the messy ink on your fingers. What differentiates it from similar services offered by Google and Yahoo is access to local news.

What if Apple re-enters the console gaming market through the iPhone?

Dan Langendorf writes: “I’m going out on a limb here because I’m more of a casual gamer than hardcore. But lately I’ve been wondering, with the coming iPhone 2.0, third-party applications, and expected mobile games, might Apple return to the game-console market?”

That’s a wrap for the week. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

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I know: That’s crazy talk. Apple’s last foray into console gaming was 1996’s Pippin, named as the 22nd worst tech product of all time in a 2006 story in PC World magazine. Since then, we’ve seen the advent of Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, a slew of Nintendo consoles, and no new attempt by Apple to introduce a game console.

But Terrence Russell of The Industry Standard wonders, like I have, that maybe Apple might be following a different path into gaming — through the mobile market.

“Consumers are already ga-ga over Apple’s mobile devices to begin with,” Russell writes, referring to the success of the iPhone and iPod line of products, “so whether they should be re-imagined as gaming gadgets is more of a marketing issue.

“But with the developer community in a tizzy to create the next great Apple-friendly game, it’s only a matter of time before Cupertino announces that it’s ready to connect the dots.”

Maybe.

Gaming for me is an odd duck. Casual and hard core gaming makes boatloads of money (see the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV), and many believe the battle for the living room as the center of a family’s entertainment experience will be centered around gaming consoles.

Apple’s entry into the living room is through the AppleTV 2.0, which allows viewers to download for purchase (or rent) TV shows and movies from iTunes. They cannot, however, play games like they can on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

But the Xbox and PlayStation have not taken over the living room. Nothing has. Only digital video recorders (DVRs) like TiVo have made any headway, but until recently these have not been imagined as a home’s entertainment hub.

So rather than attack the gaming market directly, what if Apple sneaks around and captures mobile gaming on the iPhone and iPod touch first, then follows with an integrated game console for the living room — either a new product or the next iteration of the AppleTV?

Yes, I know, the iPhone-as-a-gaming device would have stiff competition from Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo DS products, but let’s face it: the PSP is big, sort of clunky, and it isn’t a phone. Neither is the DS. The iPhone has cool-factor momentum on its side, and it doesn’t hurt to have a Wii-like accelerometer built in, opening up all sorts of possibilities for game development.

And let’s not forget: Apple filed a trademark extension last February in regards to gaming. “Toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games.”

It would be like Apple, which transformed culture and the music industry with the iPod and is about to do it again with the iPhone, to integrate mobile gaming with console gaming in ways we are not even thinking about yet.

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• Report: Apple is exploring “all you can eat” and subscription models for iTunes Store
• iPhone’s future coming into focus: SDK = iPhone 1.5, 3G networks = iPhone 2.0

“I still prefer DivX files because I know that I’ll be able to play them on the hardware devices that I own”, writes Freeberg. “By creating an eco-system that supports portability, DivX has been able to lock me into their format in the same way that Apple has been able to use iTunes to keep their customers buying iPods instead of MP3 players.”

However, the advent of H.264, and other more efficient codecs, means that DivX faces a new round of competition.

Microsoft is pushing its proprietary Silverlight: “By retaining full control over the video format, they are able to convince people to buy as many Microsoft supported products as possible”, says Freeberg. Silverlight also has DRM built-in, making it an easier sell to Holllywood.

And while Apple has opened up a little by adding support for the H.264 format, “they’ve still chosen to wrap their h.264 files inside of the Quicktime container. This prevents other companies from supporting Apple H.264 content, without obtaining a license for Quicktime first.”

Similarly, “Adobe has also forged agreements to support H.264 inside of Flash, but if you want to take your Flash H.264 files portable, you’ll need a device that can support the Flash format.”

Once again, consumers are faced with a plethora of competing formats, many of which are actually based on the same H.264 codec. It’s like the MPEG4 battle all over again.

In response, last November DivX announced that they had acquired Mainconcept for $22 - $28 million. “The Mainconcept acquisition gave DivX an immediate footprint in the H.264 space.”

Essentially, DivX wants to build on its current eco-system strategy by becoming the “consumer face” of H.264, and possibly other next generation formats. During a recent earnings call, DivX CEO Kevin Hell revealed that the company is on track to release a new version of DivX in 2008 that supports H.264 and then extend that support to consumer electronic devices that are likely to hit the market in 2009. “We believe that this development will help move the DivX brand beyond one single format and toward promise of support for any video content, on any device.”

“Instead of trying to educate consumers on the differences between MPEG-4 Part 2 vs. MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), CE manufacturers can slap the DivX label onto their devices and consumers will know that it will support their digital video libraries without complications”, writes Freeberg.

Moving forward, DivX hasn’t ruled out adding Flash Video support to its certification program, if there is consumer demand, and Freeberg speculates that other formats could be incorporated, such as the Matroska container which is popular for “grey” HD content.

Bringing other formats into the DivX program, would add to DivX’s cost of revenue, but it would make DivX certification more valuable to their CE partners. I may enjoy dissecting the nuances between the various competing video formats, but most consumers don’t want to think about it. They want to be able to play whatever file they have without converting it into a single format. By focusing on supporting as many formats as possible, DivX may end up competing with their own eco-system, but they’ll also expand their reach in the process. By taking DivX beyond the codec, it allows their community to move forward with the future, while hanging onto the treasures from the past.

Read the full post over at Zatz Not Funny, with more analysis including comments on Sony’s recent support for DivX, and related issues such as DRM.

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• Weekly wrapup, 5 - 9 May 2008

As Silicon Alley Insider and Saul Hansell of The New York Times note today, you can stream NBC shows to an iPhone or iPod touch, completely bypassing iTunes. As everybody knows, NBC and its network properties pulled their shows off iTunes late last year over a pricing and copy protection spat.

NBC is streaming full episodes of “The Office” and “30 Rock” to the iPhone in unprotected Quicktime format. The files are split into four small segments with no advertising (Update: I watched the whole Office episode again, and at the end of each segment there is a super brief ad — in this case, one for the Toyota Carrolla). The quality is fuzzy at best, but the shows are watchable in portrait and landscape modes.

Unfortunately, only one episode of “The Office” is available — the one where Michael puts his face in cement and Pam is wearing glasses. There’s also one episode of “30 Rock.” The NBC site hints that there may be more shows coming.

Poking around at m.nbc.com/iphone I found no other shows available, although there was a note that episodes were “coming soon” for “Battlestar Galactica.” It was unclear if these would be full shows or just clips, which are also on hand for streaming. Clips were included for shows such as “Chuck,” “Heroes,” and “My Name is Earl”.

It takes a bit of digging through the user interface to find the programs. Once you navigate to the site, you land at a mobile NBC page. Look above the picture and choose the “Shows” tab; it will give you a list of programs to pick from.

Choose “The Office” or “30 Rock”, select the “Watch Video” link, and then “Full Episodes”. Whatever show is available can be found here. You’ll have to experiment to find clips for other programs.

Hansell notes that this is an “important development,” and I agree. “As network bandwidth and compression quality get better, a lot of the music and video that people are now downloading could be streamed instead.” He reminds us that streaming video on a PC was poor several years ago but acceptable now.

There are many compelling reasons why a network like NBC would want to stream shows to the iPhone and other mobile devices.

• the stream is real-time and cannot be easily saved
• streaming is better suited to advertising than downloading
• streaming gets around piracy and digital rights management issues
• streaming bypasses storefronts such as iTunes, where people purchase TV shows for $1.99 per episode — and we all know how NBC feels about iTunes

While working on NBC’s deal to sell its TV shows through Microsoft’s Zune, Hansell ended his discussion with J.B. Perrette, the president digital distribution for NBC Universal, with a question about the paid download strategy. Interestingly, Perrette said the number of people watching free, ad-supported programs on Hulu.com is “far greater” than those buying $1.99 copies from iTunes or Amazon Unbox.

Perrette suggested that streaming to mobile devices may be a better answer, particularly when the technology improves, which it undoubtedly will in time.

“As the mobile Web becomes a popular access point, and video content is available on those platforms, that will become a very relevant and compelling way to get video content,” he told the NYT.

Perhaps NBC’s streaming-to-mobile-devices is a sign of what’s to come.

Photo credit: George Frey/Bloomberg News [via NYT]; Gizmodo

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No kidding. Get out your scorecards kids, you’re gonna need ‘em.

Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 wireless carrier in the United States, and Clearwire, a Kirkland, Wash.-based startup company founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, are pooling their wireless broadband spectrum and engineering resources to create a $14.55 billion communications company that will retain the Clearwire name.

Clearwire’s purpose is to continue developing a nationwide mobile network based on WiMax, one of two next-generation wireless broadband technologies that promise Speed Racer-like performance. Clearwire’s other goal is to build this “4G” network as fast as it can ahead of the U.S.’s two largest wireless operators, AT&T and Verizon, which have chosen (at least for now) to build LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks.

Along for the ride are outside investors, including Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. They will kick in a total of $3.2 billion to give them a 22 percent stake in the new company.

Sprint holds the majority of stock at 51 percent, with Clearwire holding 27 percent.

All in all, the joint venture and formation of Clearwire is pretty darn impressive and a sign that the battle for control in the U.S. mobile industry is far from over. In fact, it’s still heating up and getting more interesting by the day.

“The agreement enables us to get to market faster and reach a broader audience than we could have if we went it alone,” Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel’s chief executive officer, told analysts on a conference call.

Before today’s announcement, Sprint Nextel was the third-biggest wireless carrier in the country with the largest holding of WiMax spectrum. Sprint, however, has been saddled with $20.5 billion in debt (its 2005 purchase of Nextel for $35 billion is worth about $5 billion now).

Clearwire, the nation’s No. 2 holder of WiMax spectrum, is also hindered by debt, although on a smaller scale. Despite its pedigree in McCaw, Clearwire is still a small-time player.

Together, in theory, the new Clearwire of Sprint Nextel and Clearwire has a nationwide footprint that will rival that of AT&T and Verizon.

Neither Sprint nor Clearwire can afford to build out a WiMax network on their own — it’s estimated to cost between $12 billion and $20 billion to construct — so the involvement of Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks becomes critical.

Google is the most tantalizing of the partners. For a mere $500 million, Google, the mobile industry outsider, continues to position itself exceedingly well (mocoNews).

• It has the right to develop Internet and advertising services and applications for Clearwire WiMax devices, extending into the mobile space.

• It will be the default search provider and preferred application provider for Clearwire’s new retail products.

• Clearwire will use Google’s mobile operating system, Android, for future voice and data devices.

• Google’s mobile search will be the default provider for Web and local searching on the Sprint portal for current and future customers.

• Google will get applications such as Google Maps and YouTube on Sprint phones.

Best of all, Google sort of hedges its bet on the mobile industry. By partnering up with Clearwire, Google will have guaranteed outlets for mobile search and advertising, its mobile operating system, and Android-developed applications.

Who knows what its future relationship will be with AT&T and Verizon, especially after making so much noise about open networks during the recent U.S. 700 MHz spectrum auction. Google’s bid didn’t win, but it did trigger the open network clause, which spectrum winner Verizon must now abide by.

Clearwire’s WiMax network will be completely open, while there is speculation by Google that maybe Verizon’s and AT&T’s promises of open networks may not be so open after all. We’ll see.

Intel ($1 billion investment), of course, hopes to sell boatloads of WiMax chipsets for mobile handsets, portable devices, and accessories. Comcast ($1.05 billion), Time Warner Cable ($550 million), and Bright House Networks ($100 million) will now have the capability to sell wireless services, giving them another way to fight customer defections to telephone companies like Verizon who offer video services through products such as FIOS.

“We believe this strategic partnership makes sense for both operators and is a positive for Sprint as it addresses one pressing strategic issue,” Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Tim Horan said in a research note. “The $3.2 billion to be reportedly raised from third party investors should help make the cost of a network build-out more manageable.”

True. But what about the Clearwire deal as a whole? Managing two primary partners and five outside investors, all of which have agendas, expectations, investors, and egos, will be too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen difficult.

And there are absolutely no guarantees that the build-out will go smoothly, that there will be no technical glitches, and that its supposed two-year head-start over AT&T and Verizon can be maintained. If there’s anything about AT&T and Verizon we’ve learned through the spectrum ordeal was don’t piss off these guys. They are still the most powerful players in the U.S. wireless industry.

Which leads to the question: Who will sign up for Clearwire? The Silicon Alley Insider says one obvious choice is business travelers, but as far as new WiMax-capable devices, these won’t be available en masse until next year. And will they be worth purchasing?

The same can be said for Android, which continues to be hyped-up but few have seen real working handsets. These are not due until late this year and in 2009, but we have no idea yet if these first-generation devices will be worth buying.

All in all, as Erick Schonfeld notes at TechCrunch, AT&T and Verizon “have a huge head start and customer lock-in when it comes to cell phone service.”

Can Clearwire deliver a reasonably bug-free nationwide wireless network by 2010, ahead of AT&T and Verizon, and make it compelling enough to make people want to jump ship and sign up? There’s certainly a chance — if the complexities don’t get in the way.

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Ability to stream content from a Windows PC (or Mac) to a television? Check.

DivX support? Check.

Blu-ray player? Check.

USB device support? Check.

Portable integration? Check (via the PSP).

DVR functionality? Announced.

Movie download store? Coming soon.

It’s just that most consumers don’t know it.

Perhaps that will change this September, in Europe at least, when the PS3’s DVR add-on finally goes on sale. Priced at 100 Euros (£80/$160), the PlayTV features twin tuners for DVB-T digital TV, so that users can watch one show while recording another, as well as pause live TV — pretty standard for any modern DVR. Recorded content is stored on the PS3’s internal hard drive, which, at as little as 40GB, could soon fill up. Let’s hope PlayTV will also support external USB drives.

A really nice touch is that recordings can be streamed across the Internet to a synced up PSP, giving PlayTV some SlingBox-like functionality.

All good so far.

There remains, however, one potential deal breaker: It’s not clear if PlayTV can record shows while the PS3 is being used to play games. If that’s the case, then the PS3 could remain confined to being just another games console after all.

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Taiwanese smart phone manufacturer HTC launched the Touch Diamond today and, as expected, it’s small, sleek, sexy, very iPhone-esque, and promising.

Unfortunately for those of us in the U.S. or Latin America, the Diamond will not be available until the second half of 2008. If you’re in European markets, the phone begins shipping in June, followed by Asia and the Middle East.

As you know, much has been said about the iPhone since its launch last June. Ever since then, any phone released by any manufacturer is compared with the iPhone.

But so far, no one has come close to the iPhone’s design, interface, usability, user experience, and overall satisfaction, although Nokia’s offerings are popular. One “phone” promised to take on the iPhone, but the so-called Gphone, running Google’s mobile operating system Android, hasn’t been released by any manufacturer yet, it isn’t expected until the fourth quarter, and is completely untested in the market.

The Touch Diamond certainly has impressive specs — a 2.8-inch, 680×480 VGA display, quad-band, 3G, integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, HSDPA support, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 4GB internal storage, 256MB flash memory, 192MB RAM, and SD external storage. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and a full Web browser in Opera. And, as previously stated, its darn attractive.

But without having one to play with, it’s impossible to say how the Touch Diamond stacks up to the iPhone experience. For sake of argument, let’s hope HTC’s new phone is compelling and scares the pants off Apple in the name of competition.

Chances of that happening, however, are slim as Apple is about to move into the next phase of the iPhone’s life — as evidenced by all the rumors of the coming 3G phone, expected to be announced in early June with availability following shortly thereafter.

If Apple has played its hand right, the iPhone is poised to enter 2.0-land far ahead of everybody else, especially with a 3G offering, enterprise support, and third-party applications coming soon. HTC, Nokia, Gphone makers, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and BlackBerry have yet to even hit with successful 1.0 products.

Apple also has a marketing and publicity advantage in the U.S., where Nokia is well known but doesn’t sell as many phones as it does worldwide. HTC has almost no name recognition, although it is slowly gaining in prominence.

While the HTC Touch Diamond appears to be a compelling product worthy of challenging the iPhone, we’ll have to wait and see it in action here in the States. And by then, iPhone 2.0 will be out. Will anybody even remember HTC?

Additional coverage: engadget, gizmodo, Cnet.

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Owners of HP’s line of Internet-connected MediaSmart High Definition TVs, and the yet-to-be-released MediaSmart Connect set-top box, will soon be able to enjoy content from the Google-owned video sharing site “full screen” on their HDTVs, as well as log-in to their YouTube account via remote to share videos and playlists with other users.

From the press release:

“With the addition of YouTube to the HP MediaSmart platform, consumers will have even more ways to enjoy the latest entertainment on the Internet,” said Carlos Montalvo, vice president of marketing and services, Connected Entertainment Business, HP. “Bringing YouTube to HP MediaSmart products will let users browse and select a series of videos, then relax and enjoy the show on their big screens.”

YouTube joins a number of Web services already supported by HP’s MediaSmart products, including the movie download store CinemaNow, photo publishing site Snapfish, and Internet radio provider Live365. Additionally, the MediaSmart range of devices can also operate as an “Extender for Media Center” to enable media to be streamed from a PC to the television.

HP joins a number of companies offering a way to watch YouTube content on a TV, including Apple (AppleTV), TiVo, and D-Link (Active TV). And at this year’s CES, Panasonic announced a partnership with Google to develop TVs that pull in content from a number of Google services including YouTube. There is of course also the Ninendo Wii game console, with its support for Flash Video.

(via NewTeeVee)

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The Zune Marketplace (U.S.-only) has begun selling downloads of major television shows, including content from NBC Universal — a move that sticks it to Apple, following last year’s public spat between the iPod maker and major television studio, which resulted in NBC pulling its content from iTunes. Starting today, Zune users have access to 800 TV show episodes — download to-own — priced at 60 Microsoft Points each (approximately $1.99). Aside from NBC Universal, content will come from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, among others, and will include popular shows such as “South Park”, “The Office”, “Heroes”, and “The Hills”.

Industry watchers will take note of the fixed price structure of TV shows on Zune, considering that NBC Universal’s insistence on variable pricing, and Apple’s refusal, was reportedly at the heart of the two company’s dispute.

Having said that, a quote from NBC Universal’s head of Digital Distribution suggests that the door to variable pricing has been left widely open. “Partnering with Zune will allow us to develop innovative content offerings for their customers, including flexible pricing and packaging options beginning this fall.”

One other takeaway from the announcement: While Microsoft doesn’t offer a dedicated set-top box a la the AppleTV, videos bought from the Zune Marketplace can be watched on a television by plugging Microsoft’s portable media player into an XBox 360.

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Sadly, not much happened and what did was a horrible user experience.

So it’s great to see that The Associated Press, the top news service in the U.S., has teamed with 100 member newspapers to formally launch the Mobile News Network (apnews.com). Finally, it feels like newspaper news is being delivered to your cell phone, wherever you are, and without the messy ink on your fingers.

The Mobile News Network, announced in April with just 18 participating newspapers, is intended to run on the iPhone but will also work on other mobile phones. What differentiates it from similar services offered by Google and Yahoo is access to local news.

The Mobile News Network will deliver local news based on a user’s zip code from local participating news organizations such as The Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, and St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press. National and international news will come from The Associated Press.

The application itself is pure iPhone — well organized, easy to use, pleasant to look at, and customizable. It’s less crowded than using Google’s or Yahoo’s Web interfaces or mobile applications, and it gives users information they might not normally see in their mobile RSS news readers.

Of course, the Mobile News Network is not perfect. There are 107 newspapers currently participating, and the two largest newspaper companies in the U.S. — Gannett and Tribune — have not joined the Mobile News Network yet, although they are evaluating whether or not to sign on.

For it to be perfect, you as a reader will have to be confident that your local newspaper — no matter if it’s a large metropolitan daily or a small-town publication — is included in the Mobile News Network. So far that’s not happening.

But the idea is not so far fetched if the right business model can be worked out. The Mobile News Network is paid for with advertising dollars.

The AP, like Reuters in Europe, has tremendous reach. In the U.S. it boasts 1,700 member daily, weekly, non-English, and college newspapers, 5,000 member radio and television outlets, 850 news audio affiliates, and reports on the news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The AP will “pick up” a story in a local publication or broadcast and send it around the country and the globe for use by other publications and news organizations.

Some day, the Mobile News Network might just look like your local paper, with news and information gathered from New York to Los Angeles and every little town in between.

Only you won’t have ink on your fingers and old unread newspapers in the driveway.

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Lycos, the Web portal from the Palaeozoic Era of the Internet, has given movie lovers the chance to simultaneously watch films like these since the launch of Lycos Cinema more than a year ago.

Today Lycos relaunched the Cinema product with added features: You can now purchase video-on-demand streams for you and your buddies to watch simultaneously on different computers, and interact socially through an improved user interface.

Lycos accomplishes simultaneous viewing through its patented “SimulStream” technology, which brings friends together to view film or other video content in public or in private screening rooms. People can talk real-time about the movie they are watching together.

A redesigned user interface highlights’ friends’ media preferences with personal calendars (for movie scheduling), watch lists, and recently purchased movies, in addition to an improved chat client to talk while viewing the film.

Lycos Cinema also includes the addition of video-on-demand rentals through its new StoreFront business model. These movies may be rented for $3.99, $5.99 for two to five people to watch simultaneously, or $7.99 for six to 10 participants.

“Our experience shows us that while film and TV fans welcome the increasing availability to view premium content online, they also desire the social interaction that is inherent in today’s web as a part of their viewing experience,” said Chuck Ball, vice president of sales and marketing for Lycos (release). “By enabling users to watch the same program at the same time, Lycos Cinema gives users a unique viewing experience they cannot find anywhere else.”

While we like the social aspect of Lycos Cinema, we don’t think it’s well implemented unless you and your friends are “B” movie fans, film students, or you like schmaltzy movies like “Death at Love House,” or “Cure of Faceless Man.”

To date, Lycos has not signed content agreements with major Hollywood studios, television networks, or production companies like Hulu has accomplished. Available content for Lycos Cinema include National Lampoon Webisodes, ProElite mixed martial arts video, and content from Indie Vision Films.

Getting together to watch the latest episode of “Lost” and chat in real-time about Jack, Kate, and Sawyer is compelling but not available on sites such as Hulu, which has content from major studios and networks. It’s not unlike fans holding “American Idol” or “Twin Peaks” weekly viewing parties in dorm rooms or neighborhood bars.

But for now, huddling around computers to watch and comment Mystery Science Theater 3000-style on films such as “Adios Amigos” and “Dead End” seems like, well, a dead end.

[via NewTeeVee]

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• Weekly wrapup, 5 - 9 May 2008
• Report: 57% of U.S. adult Internet users watch video online
• Netflix confirms XBox 360, PS3 and set-top box ambitions
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• NewTeeVee Live: How traditional media companies approach new media
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However, turning online movie sales into a loss leader, if true, in order to grow the overall market, without it translating into lower prices for consumers seems a little strange to us. While same-day release windows will be welcomed by iTunes users, pricing is still higher, if not level, with physical DVDs — and yet, consumers are wise to the fact that downloads cost significantly less to distribute than physical media.

We’ve long argued that for online movie downloads, both rental and to-own, to supplant DVD or Blu-Ray sales, they’ll need to be able to compete in three areas: Content, pricing and convenience.

Download stores must be given access to the same content as physical media retailers, including the same release windows, and pricing needs to be lower than DVD or Blu-Ray (for HD content) to offset for lower distribution costs in the eyes of cosumers. Lastly, downloads must offer a high level of convenience, in terms of shopping experience, flexible DRM (or no DRM at all), online backups, and a way to get content onto a TV and portable devices.

Apple has the convenience factor pretty well covered thanks to iTunes and the iPod/AppleTV synergy, parity of content is improving all the time, but pricing, in on our opinion, remains a real issue and potential obstacle to growing the movie download to-own market.

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Related Articles at last100:

• Weekly wrapup, 5 - 9 May 2008
• iTunes’ movie-rental dance card begins to fill out; Warner Bros. reportedly in
• Content, pricing and convenience. How do movie rentals on iTunes fare?
• Vudu introduces arrival of HD movies and a new XL set-top box
• Report: Apple to offer Fox new releases for rental via iTunes
• AmazonMP3 now will sell DRM-free music from all major record labels