Sean Alexander

According to last night’s NYTimes/CNet report:

Starz Entertainment Group is introducing a $9.95-a-month subscription service [Vongo] that will allow people to download movies from the Internet and watch them on their computers, portable video players and television sets.

The article goes on to note:

Since 2004, Starz has offered a movie download subscription service, called Starz Ticket, using technology from RealNetworks. But the RealNetworks software does not allow movies to be downloaded to handheld devices. With Vongo, Starz will shift to technology from Microsoft that will allow movies to be downloaded and watched on portable video players using Microsoft’s software.

Feedback has been mixed on Digg.com. Personally, if I’m a paying subscriber to Starz on my TV, I think a $2.99-3.99/mo add-on price to view TV programs on my devices would be more appealing. Then there’s the offering of movies- everyone knows the premium channels each strike their own high $$ deals to secure premium content.

Personally, I think this is a big step in the right direction, but ultimately it’s going to take an NCO (Comcast?) or similar to roll these up into an, “OnDemand 2 Go” subscription service to broaden appeal.