Starz premiers Vonga, it's movie download service

Starz premiers Vonga, it's movie download service

The cable network scene is set to see a overhaul with Cable Network, Starz Entertainment Group LLC, a part of John Malone controlled media group Liberty media, disclosing plans to launch a website to download movies. This service, to be called Vonga, will be backed up by partnerships with Microsoft and Sony.

Incidentally, this service comes at the heels of Apple Computer Inc's debut of iTunes video service which has set the media sector on fire in terms of offering greater video programming on an anytime, anywhere basis, outside the living room.

However, Vonga is not the first of it's kind. The CinemaNow Inc. and Movielink backed by major Hollywood studios, are over five years old.

Yet, it is perhaps the first to offer a rotating table of films, that are running on it's cable network channel or PCs and other portable devices for a monthly subscription fee.

Together, all these service will constitute only a minuscule portion of all movie viewed and it is yet to be verified whether movie viewers will take to viewing feature-length programs on tiny screens like the Video iPods. Bruce Leichtman, president of Leichtman Research Group states that 'This is more of an amoeba that needs to grow.'

Vongo would be dependent on Microsoft's Windows Media technology for copyright management and the way with which customers would be allowed to watch movies on portable devices, will define how Microsoft's portable media software technology evolves.

Starz, meanwhile has a deal with RealNetworks Inc, for its online movie service. Executives of Starz maintain that there were discussions about migrating the service to Vongo.

The services of Vongo will be mentioned by Bill Gates in his speech at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, executives at Starz maintain. Vongo will also have a significant role in Sony's Connect music and its video service.
With access to almost 40% all first-run Hollywood movies which are made available to cable subscribers via Time Warner Inc.'s HBO and Viacom's Showtime.

Starz also has deals on exclusive new movie releases by Walt Disney Co. and Sony, usually a year after it's theatrical release.

For just $9.99 a month, subscribers can have virtually unlimited access to watch over 1,000 movies any time on a laptop or other portable media player, the company maintains. At the same fee, a subscriber will also get access to one live stream from the Starz cable channel.

If the subscriber pays an additional $3.99 per movie, she or he will get to watch movies that are just six months old.