Buy.com chief launches Internet TV startup
Instant Media, the brainchild of controversial Buy.com founder Scott Blum, launched its HDTV-over-the Internet service yesterday. Tech Living pronounces it "exciting and not-so-exciting all at once." The service, which requires users to download software so they can watch videos on their PCs, differs from the likes of YouTube and Google Video by storing video for faster, higher-quality playback. Users subscribe to channels and the video content is downloaded over the course of the day in the background. That leads to IM's biggest drawback: You can't just pick a video and start watching. In its lack of instant gratification, the effect is more TiVo than YouTube. Nice idea, but "a tough sell," says PaidContent. Instant Media will face big-league competition. Indeed, TiVo itself today announced an alliance with Web-video technology startup Brightcove to deliver programming to Internet-connected TiVo boxes.
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