Microsoft Launches MSN Video Downloads

HostReview.com
Wednesday, March 30, 2005; 02:25 PM

Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of MSN® Video Downloads, which will provide daily television programming, including video content from MSNBC.com, Food Network, FOX Sports and IFILM Corp., for download to Windows Mobile (TM) -based devices such as Portable Media Centers and select Smartphones and Pocket PCs.

Since the launch of the Microsoft® Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Center last fall, more than 20 new content partners, including CinemaNow Inc., MLB.com, MSNBC.com, MSN Music, MTV Networks Music, Napster Inc., SnapStream Media Inc. and TiVo Inc., have agreed to make video available online specifically formatted for Windows Mobile-based multimedia devices.

"The launch of Portable Media Centers in 2004 began a new era of portable entertainment, and today's announcement solidifies the continued momentum we've seen for portable video," said John Pollard, director of Windows Mobile Applications and Services Marketing at Microsoft.

"Readily available digital video content remains a key driver for the portable multimedia player market," said Josh Martin, associate research analyst at IDC. "The proliferation and growth of video service providers will serve to fill the existing video content void and increase adoption of portable multimedia players such as Windows Mobile-based devices."

MSN Video Downloads is available in the United States today at http://www.msnvideodownloads.com. A one-year premium membership to the MSN Video Downloads service with access to all available videos is $19.95 (U.S.). In addition, people can access a limited amount of free content without a paid membership.

New with the final launch of the service is the ability to select the specific content downloaded to the subscriber's Windows® XP-based PC each day. Subscribers can also activate a new automatic deleting feature that specifies how long video from the MSN Video Downloads directory will remain on their PC, thus avoiding a large backlog of clips.