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Digital Home - Sunday, April 9, 2006

MovieBeam Panned By Critics

It looks like we will have to wait for MovieBeam the sequel before we sign-up. MovieBeam is a start-up backed by Walt Disney, Cisco, Intel, Mayfield, and Norwest Venture Partners. The company was formed in January 2006, after being incubated by The Walt Disney Company for nearly four years, and launched its service in February 2006.

MovieBeam delivers video rentals via TV airwaves in compressed, encoded form, using capacity rented from public television stations in 29 US cities (at launch). They're picked up and stored in yet another $250 set-top box and rented at prices ranging from $1.99 to $4.99. The offer also suffers from very limited inventory compared to Netflix.

The MovieBeam Player

The MovieBeam experience reminds us how smart is Netflix. That company focused on the consumer and got it right. MovieBeam seems to have gotten giddy over a technology opportunity and then assumed it could figure out how to stoke consumers. MovieBeam may get there but they whiffed the first time up to bat.

Read - MovieBeam Proves a Novelty With Lukewarm Reception (WaPost)