Sightsound.com has begun to rent and sell downloads of about 65 full-length videos and films online.
Wired Digital says the mostly-youth oriented material (including a very steamy Perfect 10 video) is aimed at collegians with personal computer access and high-speed Net connections but don't have television sets or videocassette recorders.
Sightsound.com has rights to over 1,100 films and videos, but the company wants to expand that fast and attract other broadband users. They'd also like to convince some of Hollywood's major studio players to rent and sell through their service, Wired Digital says.
But the online news site for Wired magazine also says a leading entertainment attorney in Los Angeles doesn't think the idea can work because the studios would probably prefer to sell or rent themselves online "without relying on a gatekeeper". After-market revenues mostly would be at stake if they went that way, he says.
And he also tells Wired that those studios planning for downloading music and movies online haven't decided whether to pay Sightsound.com licensing fees or take the company to court.
And, anyway, the magazine asks, would anyone want to watch features on their computers? Sightsound is banking on it, apparently, since college students, a spokesman points out, don't take their television sets to school anymore.
Sightsound plans to rent downloadable films for $1.99-$3.49 per day, for one to five days, depending on the item in question. At the end of the rental period, they'll get an onscreen message asking if they'd like to buy the video for $19.99.
