The news
Tomorrow (August 4) sees the start of beta testing by AOL of a revamped video portal promising 45-plus new video channels, with thousands of hours of video programming from popular entertainment brands, organised and accessible via video search, browse, or an interactive programming guide.
In addition, AOL says, there will be free streaming content, as well as the ability to purchase and download full-length content that can be viewed on multiple devices and PCs - online or offline - and access to millions of music videos, news clips, movie trailers, full length TV shows.
This is the latest step in a strategy that AOL kicked off late last year with open trials of its HI-Q Video service, offering what was described as "DVD-quality" video downloads. This used peer-to-peer file sharing and really was of good quality, as we showed in this HEXUS.lifestyle.headline, Legal video-download wagon starts to roll ever faster with AOL on board.
It's not clear whether, as AOL says in its publicity info, the new beta trial will be accessible to all on the net or just those in the USA. We attempted to sign up to register interest but failed repeatedly to get the system to accept our UK-based details - possibly because we're not in the USA or maybe because the system is just very busy.
Try this yourself by visiting the portal, AOL Video, at http://www.aolvideo.com.
Click for larger imageAOL says that the portal's main page will be one of the web's first online interactive programming guides (IPG), bringing together free and download-to-own video content from across broadcast/cable television and the web - and organised into branded channels.
At launch - and it's not yet clear whether this means tomorrow or once the bugs have been worked out of the beta - the AOL Video IPG will feature paid and ad-supported content from new video-content partners, such as:
* A&E Television
Networks (including A&E Network,
The History Channel and The Biography Channel)
* Comedy Time
* Endemol USA
* Expo TV
* LIME
* MTV Networks (including COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, The N, Nick at Nite, Spike TV, TV Land and VH1)
* National Lampoon
* rocter & Gamble Productions, Inc.
* SORPRESA!
* South Coast Golf
* TBS
* TNT
* TotalVid
* TV Guide
* Warner Bros. Entertainment
* Wild America
* WNBA.
* Comedy Time
* Endemol USA
* Expo TV
* LIME
* MTV Networks (including COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, The N, Nick at Nite, Spike TV, TV Land and VH1)
* National Lampoon
* rocter & Gamble Productions, Inc.
* SORPRESA!
* South Coast Golf
* TBS
* TNT
* TotalVid
* TV Guide
* Warner Bros. Entertainment
* Wild America
* WNBA.
We've included on the next page AOL's original press release, so you can see precisely what's being promised/hinted at.
Thoughts? Share them with us in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.news forum.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: Discussion thread about this deviceHEXUS.lifestyle.headline - Legal video-download wagon starts to roll ever faster with AOL on board
AOL Video - home page
AOL Beta Central - home page