After signing international distribution deals with seven major motion picture studios, Santa Clara-based Vudu Labs is entering the arena of IP-delivered movie services to the TV set at home. The company promises to deliver 5,000 different titles from The Walt Disney Studios, Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures,Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros. Entertainment, as well as numerous in dependent producers.
Viewers need to buy the proprietary Vudu box to connect their PC to the television set. Using P2P distribution over the web viewers can instantly watch movies on their regular TV set.”We’ve created the product everyone wants, the product many have tried tobuild, and, until now, the product no one has succeeded in delivering,” said Tony Miranz, founder of Vud, in a prepared statement. “We’ve brought together the best team in Silicon Valley to give movie lovers the ability to watch thousands of movies instantly, without leaving their homes.”
Vudu will compete with various other services requiring a set-top box suchas the iTunes store and Apple TV, the TiVo Unbox from Amazon, with software-based solutions such as Joost and Babelgum, but also with traditional
pay-per-view and on-demand services from cable operators and IPTV providers.
Using the strapline “The right movie – right now” Vudu seems to be concentrating on offering just movies – for now. The actual Vudu box is not yet available in shops. and the firm has as yet revealed no details of the specs or price.
