MediaBytes 06.29.07

 

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NEWS CORP. and NBCU announced that Jason Kilar would be CEO of their joint venture into online video. During a conference call, News Corp. COO Peter Chernin backed off claims of a September release for the still-unnamed service, saying it “might not happen” in September.

JAMAN, a P2P movie download company that focuses on indie and international content, has found a way to install its service on AppleTV. Jaman offers both rentals and downloadable purchases, and copyright-protected status will remain in place when content is viewed on AppleTV. Video quality of the downloads is said to be “stunning” compared to videos purchased from Apple. The software will be released within the next few weeks.

TiVo announced yesterday that its software for Motorola cable boxes was accepted by Comcast, after two years of development. Starting this August, the software will be available to Comcast subscribers in the New England area as a seamless upgrade for their Comcast DVR’s.

NETFLIX has responded to BLOCKBUSTER’s recent price-cutting. Netflix will match the price cuts, bringing their two-DVD rental package down to $13.99 per month.

APPLE’s iPhone will be released today at 6 p.m. During an interview yesterday, Steve Jobs admitted that web surfing on AT&T’s EDGE network would not be as fast as he would like it. However, he chose EDGE because it was more widely available and would allow the iPhone to have greater battery life. Despite this drawback, anticipation for today’s release remains high.