BlinkBox offers movies for rental (limited viewing period), purchase (unlimited viewing period), or burning with a standard DVD burner. Movies are stored on customer computers, but must be viewed on a single computer associated with the purchaser's BlinkBox account. Scenes from available movies can also be either viewed on the BlinkBox website or, for a small fee, sent to a mobile phone via SMS text message. Clips sent via SMS are preceded by a short ad and followed by a link to purchase the whole movie for download.
Downloading full films or sending text messages requires setting up an account first, and according to the site's terms of service all SMS recipients need to give their permission first, although that's left to the sender to take care of. Messages do indicate they originate from a phone number supplied by the sender.
Right now the service is available in a beta version, and only to U.K. residents, but there are plans to expand across Europe next year.
The content provider's they've gotten on board so far appear to be excited about the service's possibilities. Rob Bell, VP digital platforms at NBC Universal, said, “The concept of using blinks as a creative introduction mechanism to our full-length films and TV shows was really interesting to us.”
Source: Variety
Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 23 Oct 2007 0:52
