Disney Delays Expansion of MovieBeam Video-on-Demand Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 3, 2004 - 5:36am.

San Francisco -- Disney has said that it will delay the expansion of its MovieBeam video-on-demand service from this fall until next year, as it finalizes plans on delivery devices, CNET News.com reported. Disney said the service has received favorable reviews among consumers in the three cities where testing has gone on since October 2003, and said in May it would enter three new markets in the fall. "We're postponing the launch of the MovieBeam service (into new markets) for the moment until we finalize the specific device strategy for a more national launch in 2005," Salil Mehta, executive vice president of Disney's corporate business development, told News.com. "We're having conversations to embed or include the MovieBeam technology in (third-party) devices," perhaps including PCs. MovieBeam delivers films to a proprietary set-top box in consumers' homes over an unused portion of the broadcast spectrum using a technology called "datacasting". Before the service is expanded further, Disney also plans to simplify the user interface software and add free content including short films.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?L1BE25539
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57289-2004Sep2.html
http://www.moviebeam.com