Movielink Licenses Sonic DVD Technology Permitting Consumers to Record Movies
July 17, 2006
Novato, CA - With video on the Web skyrocketing (yesterday YouTube reported viewers are now watching more than 100 million videos a day on its site), feature films are racing to catch up. Today Sonic Solutions and Movielink (www.movielink.com) are announcing a licensing agreement for technology that, when authorized for use by content providers, will enable consumers to burn downloaded movies onto recordable discs in a protected format for playback on standard DVD players.
As part of the agreement, Movielink has licensed Sonic's DVD-on-Demand to recordable DVD media. Additionally, Sonic will include the Movielink Service within its Roxio CinePlayer and other Sonic software applications distributed through OEM and retail channels.
"We are anticipating an industry resolution to establish rules for converting secure Internet-delivered Movielink downloads into a secure format compatible with DVD players in the market today," said Movielink CEO Jim Ramo.
This gives consumers a more flexible product while providing copyright holders with adequate protection of their content. Our relationship with Sonic is a critical advancement and will enhance the value of our service, along with the capabilities already available, by allowing customers to burn and playback movies on standard DVD players," Ramo said.
"Fuelled by an installed base of more than a hundred million DVD players in the U.S. today, DVDs are by far the most popular and familiar method of watching movies at home," said Jim Taylor, senior vice president and general manager of Sonic Solutions' Advanced Technology Group.
"By working with Movielink, the leader in broadband movie downloading, and allowing users to download, purchase and burn movies to DVDs, we are combining the flexibility and convenience of Internet video distribution with the permanency and portability of the DVD video format."
The license agreement will allow Movielink and Sonic to leverage their combined expertise and technology and establish a platform for content owners to easily offer a securely burned DVD direct to the consumer via the Sonic software applications and the Movielink Manager.
The parties will implement a parallel marketing collaboration to rapidly establish a large user base of tens of millions of users by widely distributing through Sonic's PC OEM, retail and e-tail distribution channels.
Sonic is a leading provider of DVD formatting and burning software. Over 250 million copies of software applications that contain the Sonic AuthorScript® DVD engine have been distributed for use on PCs.
Sonic has developed and licensed to Movielink a new module for AuthorScript - called AuthorScript® DVD on Demand - that includes a DRM gateway for secure export of content from approved download systems, precision video codecs that simultaneously convert Internet-delivered video into MPEG-2 video for DVD during the download process, automated DVD formatting tools for converting video into interactive DVDs, and an Extensible Media Protection Architecture (XMPA) that allows a wide variety of studio-approved copy protection mechanisms to be applied to DVDs as they are being burned.
About Movielink LLC
Movielink is an online movie download service offering U.S. broadband customers an extensive selection of recently released films and classic movies covering every genre, from action, comedy, drama, family and romance to sci-fi, horror and thrillers. The service is owned and operated by Movielink, LLC, a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Movielink content offerings are drawn from the current releases and vast libraries of those studios as well as from those of Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Fox and leading independent studios.
About Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions (Marin County, CA) is the leader in digital media software, providing a broad range of interoperable, platform-independent software tools and applications for creative professionals, business and home users, and technology partners. Sonic's products range from advanced DVD authoring systems and interactive content delivery technologies used to produce the majority of Hollywood DVD film releases, to the award-winning Roxio®-branded CD and DVD creation, playback and backup solutions that have become the premier choice for consumers, prosumers and business users worldwide.
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