Seeding the Market

Taking a page from the cable companies push for greater adoption of VOD, AOL has extended its "alliance" with Movielink with a new promotion for AOL Broadband subscribers (see release). With ten free classic titles in the first month and five free classic titles thereafter, paired with a $0.99 download price for certain recent studio films, Movielink seems to be pushing for the adoption of new consumer behavior and AOL is trying to justify the additional cost of its service over the basic broadband connection charge (see Variety).

It might be the time for such an effort to make a beachhead as Microsoft, HP, and other technology companies are launching integrated home media networking products. If the learning curve for employing this technology is simple enough for mass consumers, AOL is the right place to market.

Perhaps this is the beginning of true media integration.