Video-on-demand plans still intact, says Telecom

By PETER GRIFFIN

Telecom says the closure of US video-on-demand pioneer Intertainer will not affect its plans to test technology for downloading movies over the internet.

California-based Intertainer is shutting its doors as it wrangles with a handful of major film studios.

The company has sued Movielink and the film divisions of Sony, Vivendi Universal and AOL Time Warner, accusing them of acting anti-competitively, price fixing and reneging on licensing deals.

The Intertainer service, which allowed users to download movies and music videos over high-speed internet connections, is being displayed in the Telecom "shed" at the Viaduct Basin.

Telecom's general manager of marketing, Kevin Kenrick said plans for a consumer trial of video-on-demand were still intact as Telecom was dealing with Intertainer Asia, a company with the same name and logo as the US operation but with different ownership and content partnerships.

Telecom provided video-on-demand for its Jetstream customers now, but was working with Alcatel to build a network that would ensure high-quality video download.

Intertainer Asia's director of communications, Adrian Heng, said the company, which has 103,000 casual subscribers in Hong Kong, had not run into the same licensing problems as its US namesake.