Barry Willis

On Monday, January 22, <A HREF="http://www.miramax.com/">Miramax Films</A> will begin an experiment in downloading full-length features over the Internet. Claiming that it wants to "fight fire with fire" against the proliferation of free movies, Miramax will make its 1999 release <I>Guinevere</I> available as a download for a $3.49 fee with a 24-hour viewing limit.

Bucking a proposal by the film and television industries to incorporate a non-recordable digital transmission standard, <A HREF="http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/">Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America</A> (MDEA) announced in mid-March that, later this year, it will introduce high-definition television sets equipped with IEEE 1394 ("FireWire") connectors. The official timetable for the delivery of the new products, and a schedule of projected retail prices, will be announced in May.

It's expensive to acquire new satellite TV subscribers. Both DirecTV and EchoStar added hundreds of thousands of new subscribers in the most recent quarter, but both posted financial losses in the process.

In a few years, many computer users will have DVD-ROM drives, DVD burners, and Internet connections with sufficient bandwidth to make the sharing and copying of full-length movies a real possibility. The emerging prospect for what some are calling "Napster for movies" has film studios exploring movie downloading and streaming technology, or "video-on-demand."