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BT to offer free movie downloads
(06-12-07) - Movies punctuated with targeted advertisements will be available to download for free from BT’s BT Vision Download Store, in a trial starting this month.
The BT Vision Download Store (www.BT.com) is available to all 14 million UK broadband customers, regardless of which provider they use and can be found at www.DownloadStore.BT.com
BT Vision has joined forces with media and technology developers, and from the end of this month, users will be able to download Mischief Night, Played and The Punk Rock Movie free of charge, in return for watching targeted ads.
Users who want to download one of the trial films will be asked to install software from Hiro Media, which developed the ad-placing technology, and then fill out anonymous demographic details so that ads from the RAC, Norwich Union and the Territorial Army, among others, to be shown according to the answers given.
Users will then have one month to watch the films and will even be able to email the movies to friends, who, after following the same process will also be able to watch for free.
Antony Carbonari, BT Vision interactive and commercial media director, said: “We believe that sympathetically-placed, targeted advertising, combined with a viral film-sharing capability, will be attractive to many customers in conjunction with free or reduced content prices. We look forward to the results.”
Ariel Napchi, co-founder and co-CEO of Hiro Media, said: “BT is taking an industry-leading stride as the first European broadcaster to allow users to download free movies, supported by demographically-targeted and personalised ads, that can then be shared around the internet.”
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “If this trial is successful, BT will make more of its extensive Download Store collection available for free - an exciting move for movie downloads.
“What makes this so great is that customers do not need to be BT Vision customers, or even take BT Broadband - anyone will be able to download these movies.
“However, customers regularly downloading big files like movies - either for free or on a pay-to-own download basis - will need to keep an eye on their download limits or risk being charged for over-usage. Use our free Broadband Download Monitor to keep track of how much you’ve downloaded so far, and even set alarms to alert you as you near your limit,” he advised.
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