TV, Broadband Converge

The lines between the Internet and television are blurring, as illustrated by two occurrences this week. The DAVETV Internet-to-TV broadcast system launched and AOL expanded its deal with VOD movie download service Movielink.

DAVETV — Distributed Audio Video Entertainment — is a television broadcast network offering both traditional programming and original self-published content distributed over DAVETV’s secure peer-to-peer network. DAVE Media Center (DMC) software is used to download and catalog rights-secured video and audio content for playback on a user’s PC or TV via DAVETV’s set-top digital media receiver, the Xport.

The DMC application allows publishers to set business and DRM rules to publish, protect and monetize their content. “Publishers can set their own price or serve their own market-targeted ads, it’s up to them,” said Oliver Eberle, DAVETV’s EVP and CIO.

The Xport is a Windows CE-based device with an 80-gigabyte hard drive which connects the television with an existing broadband connection. It uses a secure peer-to-peer network to deliver on-demand content. The Xport can store up to 200 hours of TV-quality video. The service will offer more than 30,000 hours of content upon release in January, Eberle said. There will not be a monthly service fees, instead all content will be available a la carte, he said.

Meanwhile, AOL this week extended its existing alliance with Movielink to offer AOL for Broadband members free downloads of 5 classic titles each month and discounts on recent releases. Since the AOL-Movielink partnership began earlier this year, Movielink’s downloads increased by 15 percent, according to AOL.

AOL’s broadband members can download movies and store them on their hard drive for up to 30 days. Movies can be watched starting a few minutes after beginning the download, while the remainder is loaded to the PC while the movie is playing. A movie can be viewed an unlimited number of times in a 24-hour period — on a PC, laptop or a television connected to the PC.