Broadband Content Bits: Free Starz Downloads; BSkyB Online; CondeNast/Brightcove; Sesame Street
This story was written by Tameka Kee.
Library users can download Starz movies for free : OverDrive has brokered a content syndication deal with Starz Media. The Ohio-based service provides public libraries with digital content including video, audiobooks and eBooks, and the deal with Starz adds hundreds of videosincluding feature films and TV seriesto its 8,000-plus catalog. The content can play on computers or select Windows Media-compatible devices. OverDrive already draws content from media partners like PBS, Image Entertainment, HDNet and Magnolia Pictures, which users can download for free at local libraries that belong to OverDrive's network.
BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) offers online TV subscriptions : U.K. pay-TV service provider BSkyB is rolling out an online-only subscription option. Consumers can choose select bundles of specific channels available through its SkyPlayer (which previously only offered "catch-up" VOD) without having to subscribe to its TV offering. Groups of sports channels will come first, with other options to follow. More details at paidContent:UK.
Conde Nast chooses Brightcove: Conde Nast will deploy Brightcove's player on Wired.com, Portfolio.com, Parade.com, Glamour.com and Self.com first, expanding to 16 other sites in the coming months. Financial terms of the revenue-sharing partnership were not disclosed. Release.
Sesame Street's virtual sunny day : Kids (and nostalgic grownups) can get their Sesame Street fix in a trio of new ways: for free via YouTube and Hulu and for a fee through iTunes; the Monday announcement by producer Sesame Workshop coincided with the show's 39th anniversary. The iTunes episodes will go for $1.99, with Sesame Workshop keeping 70 percent of the revenue. Meanwhile, *Google* will debut a Sesame Street channel on YouTube comprised of over 100 clips; and Hulu will also feature over 100 clips, as well as 30 segments featuring celebrities like Laurence Fishburne. But no streams or downloads of complete versions from the first 10 seasons of the show, Reuters says, as Sesame Workshop doesn't want to hurt DVD sales.
By Tameka Kee