NEW YORK: America Online is all set to introduce a free internet television service in 2006 aided by its own stock of old as well as new movies from the storehouse of its parent Time Warner Inc.
Internet powerhouses Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. have been venturing to connect computer users to TV shows online, but they are lacking what AOL has -- the entertainment software itself.
AOL is planning to launch it as an advertising-supported service, In2TV, featuring some 4,800 episodes of 100 series of Warner Bros.-produced shows during the first year, according to sources. The shows include masterpieces like "Welcome Back Kotter," "Growing Pains" and "Kung Fu". It has devised six channels -- comedy, drama, animation, action, classic and superhero/villain series.
Warner Bros may over time provide 300 more series.
Meanwhile, AOL is also negotiating with several major producers to have their shows made available online.
AOL has been planning In2TV for the last two years and analysts see the venture as a successful collaboration among parent Warner Bros and subsidiary AOL. AOL has the advantage of some 112 million unique monthly visitors to its sites and knowing this potential, it has been restructuring its operations to attract more visitors through free programming, hoping it can sell online advertising. The company hopes to make good the losses it may suffer due to the declining dial-up service revenue.
Meanwhile, media and entertainment companies are understanding the potential of online TV shows. Viacom's CBS and General Electric's NBC are collaborating with cable company Comcast Corp. and satellite TV provider DirecTV Group Inc. respectively to launch on-demand TV services for 99 cents. Apple Computer and Walt Disney's ABC Networks have also signed a deal to offer episodes of top shows "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" for sale at $1.99 per show that can be downloaded into recently launched new iPod digital music players.
In2TV intends to offer shows that are not currently on syndication on other channels. The programmes will be interspersed with two-minute ad slots for each half-hour episode.
AOL is also planning to introduce TMZ, an entertainment news service, in a joint venture with a Warner Brothers division, Telepictures Productions. TMZ, named for the 30-mile zone around Hollywood that is mentioned in some film-union contracts, offers a mix of breaking entertainment news and gossip with a database of information and video about celebrities.
AOL is offering technology, which can produce a big-screen effect with DVD quality picture. The option, AOL Hi-Q, will require the downloading once of special software. Viewers will also have to agree to be participating in a special file-sharing network to reduce the cost of distributing high quality video files by passing portions of the video files from one user's computer to another. AOL will control the network, which will ensure that there will be no spyware or viruses.
Posted
on : Mon, 14 Nov 2005 20:20 GMT | General News
By : Paula Jenkins
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