Movielink Adds Twentieth Century Fox

By Anonymous

The past few weeks have seen a slew of online content deals. This week Twentieth Century Fox joins Movielink, an Internet-based movie distribution portal where users can rent or purchase film titles. The site is backed by five other Hollywood studios: MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios.

Approximately 1,200 movies will be available from Fox on Movielink, but it will not include the entire catalog. How a movie is offered depends on the Internet distribution rights the company has on certain films; Star Wars: Episode III, for example, will not be in the catalog, because Fox does not have the rights to distribute the film online.

Currently the Movielink site is still in a Beta stage. It does not support Mac or Linux users and will only work with Internet Explorer 5.0 and above. Rentals can be watched only once in a 24- hour period and are stored for 30 days. The purchase feature of the site is marked as “BETA” and titles start at $8.99.

“All the testing has been done, so now it’s about growing a business. There’s no question things are opening up,” Movielink Chief Executive Officer Jim Ramo told Reuters, adding that Movielink was nearing a benchmark of selling a 100,000 downloads a month.

Copyright North American Publishing Company Jan 2006