CinemaNow Comes To Media Center

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 5/23/2008

Marina Del Rey, Calif. — CinemaNow said its library of feature-length movies and TV shows is now available through Microsoft’s Windows Media Center software for Vista.

The Internet-based video-on-demand and download service said its library of more than 3,400 movies and TV shows is available for PCs running the Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate operating systems.

CinemaNow is making the movies available through a new Online Media channel in Windows Media Center that provides access to CinemaNow’s online video-download selection of movies, TV shows and music videos.

The library includes both pay-per-view and download-to-own options for new release and catalog titles, many of which are available day-and-date with the retail DVD release.

The company said Windows Media Center offers an easy way to browse CinemaNow’s library, and when coupled with Microsoft’s Extender for Windows Media Center, the content can be played back through networked television sets in the home.

Windows Media Center is included in Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate, which make up the majority of the 140 million Windows Vista-based computers licensed worldwide, CinemaNow said.

CinemaNow offers download-to-own content of movies, TV shows and music videos with unlimited viewing periods for up to three devices at prices ranging from $9.99 to $19.99 for movies, and $1.99 for many TV shows and music videos.

Pay-per-view content is offered for 24-hour viewing periods at prices usually running between $2.99 and $3.99 for movies.

In addition, some content can be purchased to burn to DVD, giving customers the ability to legally download a DVD, play it back on their PC and burn a copy to a blank DVD disc. The disc can then be played in virtually any DVD player with full remote-control navigation and access to all of the special features. Burn-to-DVD movies are priced from $8.99 to $14.99.