Fox Content Gets Down(loadable)

Mon., Aug. 14, 2006 10:15 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

The Last Stand might take place on your laptop.

News Corp. announced Monday that, commencing in October, it will make TV and film content--including X-Men: The Last Stand--from 20th Century Fox, Fox Broadcasting, FX and other Fox Entertainment Group entities available for at-home downloading.

Movies are expected to go for $19.99 per download and television shows will be on tap for about $1.99 an episode, similar to what it costs to grab the latest installment of 24 from Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Episodes of shows such as 24, Prison Break, Bones and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia will be for sale online within 24 hours of their broadcast premieres. Films will be released online at the same time they hit stores on DVD.

Unlike iTunes, however, Fox's digital content will be viewable only on portable devices compatible with Microsoft Windows Media Player software that employ Microsoft Corp's copy protection system. So film buffs won't be able to burn videos onto DVDs, either.

Gaming Website Direct2Drive will house the first leg of News Corp.'s latest venture into digital entertainment, with social networking site MySpace.com next in line to provide content. Rotten Tomatoes may also become a film downloading site in the future, as well.

"The more we can diversify, the more it bodes well for our business," Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn told Reuters.

Fox touts the venture as the first time a studio has sold movie downloads via its own online stores. (News Corp. owns Fox Interactive Media, which owns IGN Entertainment, which owns Direct2Drive.) The move also comes about a week after Google teamed up with MySpace to become the site's search advertising partner in a deal that's going to pay FIM at least $900 million.

Fox was also the first to offer supplementary mobisode content on cell phones to whet viewer appetites for network TV shows like 24 and Prison Break with parallel storylines.

Standing in News Corp.'s way on its path to supreme online glory is Movielink, the movie downloading site coowned and operated by MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros; and CinemaNow, which also offers films from 20th Century Fox, among other studios. AOL Video and Amazon are also planning to launch their own download stores later this month.

Whew, just in time for back to school!