A new chapter in content distribution is emerging. According to Lost Remote, CinemaNow has announced a partnership with NBC Universal to stream selected movies and TV shows on a per-episode rental basis, making it the sixth of the seven major Hollywood studios to sign-on – only Paramont/Viacom remains. While each partnership is different in regards to what content is made available, the new offering is a welcome format for CinemaNow users to view televison shows before they get released to DVD (that's if the studios even decide to).
“As the DVD market has proven, television content can find new life and new revenue streams through ancillary forms of distribution,” said Bruce Eisen, executive vice president of CinemaNow. “What CinemaNow provides, even beyond the traditional DVD release, is an opportunity for smaller, niche shows to reach their target audiences while also giving users the flexibility of per-episode rentals without having to pay for an entire box set.”
There's been much hype about people downloading TV shows using BitTorrent (which can be limiting if you don't have the technical savvy to utilize it), but if there was ever a legal alternative... CinemaNow's offering would be it. The only two things holding it back from being a success that I can see is: One, lack of CinemaNow users. Two, not enough premium TV content available. Of course, the second may soon change if the studios fully back the format by making all their hottest TV series available, but I'm not so sure about the user base.
Home networks and broadband content services still intimidate people, or even worse... consumers don't understand why they even need a network, as noted by a recent research study by Harris Interactive. But hope still remains. I think if CinemaNow wants to breakdown the barrier the company needs to partner with cable/satellite providers and integrate their service into the set-top box. Think of it as “enhanced” video-on-demand where cable/satellite subscribers can order past episodes (not to mention CinemaNow's entire movie rental library) through the interface they're already familiar with, and catch up on the latest TV shows their friends are talking about.
[via eHomeUpgrade]
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