will let broadband customers in the US download feature films in as little as 20 minutes. At the moment, the library only consists of a few hundred titles, including the recent hits 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and 'Finding Nemo', as well as classics such as 'Taxi Driver' and 'The Poseidon Adventure'.
Movie studios, like record companies, have been making moves to avoid profits being eroded by illegal downloads of films, as well as pirate videos and DVDs. The new service offers films from studios such as Miramax, Universal, MGM, Sony, Fox and Disney, and will cost users $12.95 (拢7.15) a month. For this, they will have unlimited access to a rotating library of films.
John J Sie, chairman and CEO of Starz, said: "We have long been opposed to piracy, having seen the havoc it has caused in the music industry. Offering a legal, high-quality, convenient service at a great value is the best way to prevent illegal file sharing and put the movie industry on the right path."
The service will not offer as high a picture quality as pay-per-view cable services, but it does offer DVD functionality, such as fast-forward and pause, and some films will come with extras such as interviews and outtakes. Parents will be able to set controls to regulate the kinds of films that their children download.
RealNetworks is already involved in downloading music, through its Rhapsody service.
Rob Glaser, founder and CEO of RealNetworks, said: "Our Rhapsody service has already given hundreds of thousands of broadband consumers the ability to listen to what they want, whenever they want it, for one simple monthly price."
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