RSSWarner Offers TV, Films Through Guba
By Ed Oswald | Published June 27, 2006, 11:39 AM
Warner Bros. said Tuesday that it had struck a deal with Guba, a YouTube competior, to distribute feature films and TV shows over the Internet. Films could be rented for $1.79 per day, or purchased for $9.99 for older titles, and $19.99 for newer releases.
Guba is betting that its new deal with a major studio would help raise its profile in an increasingly crowded social video space. It also shows a willingness on the part of movie studios to work with technologies they once eschewed.
"This new service brings premium studio content to an Internet audience in an easy-to-use and intuitive way, without the necessity of downloading additional software," Guba CEO Tom McInerney said. "For years we've been making access to online video easy - now we're bringing that experience to Warner Bros.' catalog of films and TV shows."
New releases would be made available on Guba on the same day as they are released in stores. Currently, the service's television show selection is limited to reruns of classic Warner Bros. owned shows, including Babylon 5, Dukes of Hazzard, The Flintstones and The Jetsons.
Content is encoded in Windows Media format, which would be playable on PCs and portable devices supporting Windows Media DRM. iPod users are not supported by the Guba service.
"With Guba, more Internet users will be able to legally and securely buy and rent our films and TV series," Warner digital distribution senior vice president Jim Wuthrich said. "Warner is committed to providing our programming to fans when, where and how they want it, and this deal is another example of our commitment to do that."
Warner must think people actually purchase that video content for sale on Google Video, like those full NBA/NHL games.
Who the hell will buy this stuff???
Just go rent the darn DVD at your local video store or sign up for NetFlix.
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I think this is some kind of 'meeting us halfway' gesture.
Well, it will be when the films are $7-10 each (ALL of them)
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Ah... yeah... Good luck with that.
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The only thing that my be half-way successful is the $1.79 a day rental. For $20 Ill go buy the dang DVD.
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*Films could be rented for $1.79 pr day, or purchased for $9.99 for older titles, and $19.99 for newer releases.*
I assume these purchasing title will be in downloadable/streamable format. Why would I want to do that? The file will most likely look like crap on TV. Not to mention it's cheaper just to get the DVD.
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Why would I pay $20 for a new release that I have to download and doesn't have a DVD case and a little booklet inside?
That's retarded. They need to come down in price a bit before they do this.
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