Paramount and AOL Ink a Deal to Bring Movies to the Web

Digital Journal — Paramount Pictures joins a host of other movie studios looking to bring their content to the Web. Today the mega-studio announced it will make TV shows and movies available on AOL’s new video portal. Films will cost between $10 and $20 US, and will include classics like Chinatown and newer releases like Mission: Impossible III. Consumers can transfer the movies to as many as three other computer or portable devices using Microsoft’s Windows Media Player. In August, AOL launched a video player that either offers media free or for a small fee. The company is hoping to be a one-stop show for online video, an aggressive move in light of the popularity of MySpace videos and YouTube (recently bought by Google for $1.65 billion US). AOL needs to be on the offensive, especially as its rivals create free email services that are shaking up the tech sector. An emerging field like online video could be a treasure chest for AOL. Then again, the AOL-Paramount deal is not the only partnership around. YouTube has inked deals with Universal, Sony BMG and Warner Bros. in an attempt to flood the online-video king with the kind of material that will bring back repeat customers. And Apple’s iTunes is in cahoots with Disney to bring feature films to online marketplace. So where does AOL stand? Its position in the online-video industry has yet to be determined, but it faces an uphill battle against stalwarts like Yahoo and MySpace, whose interfaces are incredibly user-friendly. If AOL wants to stand apart from the pack, it has to give customers some incentive, or at the very least a slew of content that can’t be accessed anywhere else.