Dr. Media

Fox to Sell Movies, TV Shows
For Windows Download

News Corp.'s Fox is making its movie and television content available for download on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows devices.

The company said Monday it will tap into a platform it currently uses to sell videogames and let visitors buy movies and TV shows that they can download for computer playback and transfer to devices running Windows Media Player technology. Movies will sell for about $20 and TV shows for $1.99 an episode.

Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store already sells some Fox television shows for $1.99 apiece, but those can only be played on the company's iPod devices or on a computer.

Movies available for Windows in October will include "X-Men: The Last Stand," "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties," "The Omen" and "Thank You for Smoking." Availability through Fox's Direct2Drive service will be concurrent with the DVD release.

Also, Direct2Drive will make available Fox's "24" and "Prison Break" and FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" within 24 hours of each episode's broadcast.

The movies and TV shows from Twentieth Century Fox will carry copy protection, limiting playback to two Windows computers, each supporting one portable device. Sales will be limited to the U.S.

Direct2Drive is a service offered by IGN Entertainment Inc., which News Corp. bought last year for $650 million. Over the next year, video sales will come to other Fox sites as well, including the popular online hangout MySpace.com.

Mickie Rosen, general manager for entertainment at Fox Interactive Media, said each site will likely use the Direct2Drive technology but offer a different user experience and different movies and shows, the offerings tailored to the site's audience.

Earlier this year, Fox made available free and for-sale downloads of "24" on MySpace. It also sold about 200,000 audio and video clips of performances at AmericanIdol.com.

Copyright © 2006 Associated Press

posted by Dr.Media  # 7:29 PM