Mobile/PDA About Us Advertise here


		User name	Password

		Not registered yet? Register here. Lost your password? Click here.

Browse by topic

News

Rambler to launch 'Russian Hulu' movie download site

22 July 2008 14:40 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 1 comment

Rambler, Russia's third largest search and portal operator has announced it is launching a major TV and movie download site, described as a "Russian Hulu" by the company.

The site is currently in beta and will be launched to the full public in October. Making the site more interesting is that it will not be web streaming but instead users can download the movies and TV shows and share them freely. Yes, you read that write, the files can be shared freely, because they are hard-wired with DRM and advertisements.

Programming will be available from Russia's Star Media, TV Scope, TNT, NTV and CTV networks.

"By the middle of 2009, it will contain approximately 2,000 hours, all premium TV series as well as full-length Russian feature films and TV movies," Rambler's sales and strategic partner director Anna Znamenskaya said "The television channels rarely hold non-linear rights so we are dealing directly and only with the content owners who hold the relevant rights for our use."

Thanks to falling prices for broadband connections, Russia is widely expected to become Europe's second largest online population by next year. "We are going to further develop the video part of the portal and Kinozal (name of the service) is one of the steps in this direction," Znamenskaya added. "Any service that is attractive for the user makes Rambler more competitive. Our video service is the first of its kind in the Russian market and we expect great traction."

The video DRM is powered by Hiro Media which "bundles a multi-platform video codec and advert in with a movie file, while a second layer adds a geolock and temporal control to ensure the file can be viewed only in certain territories and will expire after a set time". People can share the content but Rambler will know who and when the video was watched if the watcher is online.

Permalink to this article | Topic: Online video

It's official: iPhone coming to Russia (2 September 2008)

Tokyo man receives suspended sentence for anime file sharing (26 July 2008)

Samsung adds MediaLive to HDTVs (23 July 2008)

BSkyB adds Universal catalog to online music service (22 July 2008)

Blu-ray revenue on the rise but what does it really mean? (21 July 2008)

Universal claims fair use is fair game for DMCA takedown (21 July 2008)

New malware aims at music from P2P networks (20 July 2008)

P2P-Next Consortium begins P2P streaming tests (20 July 2008)

Mom fights music giant over DMCA takedown notice (19 July 2008)

Wii leads US hardware sales for June (18 July 2008)

TiVo adds YouTube integration into its Series 3 boxes (17 July 2008)

« Previous news article
Despite 25 million App Store downloads Mac and iPod still Apple's cornerstones

Next news article »
BSkyB adds Universal catalog to online music service

Post your comment

Discuss this article!
DXR88 (Member) 22 July 2008 17:52
Why? Russia. your are hero's against the RIAA. honestly why a legit service all of a sudden, Commissar. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 22 July 2008 17:53