[M4IF Discuss] News: Video on RealNetworks' RealOne Will Sometimes Come at a Price

[Craig Birkmaier]

Hmmmm. Maybe Gordon Castle of CNN was not completely up front with 
his comments yesterday. Looks like CNN is moving to an exclusively 
subscription model for streaming clips from its web site...
Regards
Craig
NEW MEDIA
Video on RealNetworks' RealOne Will Sometimes Come at a Price
By NICK WINGFIELD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
LOS ANGELES -- RealNetworks Inc. began shipping a version of its 
popular multimedia software that it said makes viewing video over the 
Internet closer to the experience of watching television.
But in a development that may jolt consumers accustomed to getting 
free video online, a growing number of media companies distributing 
their content through the RealNetworks software plan to charge 
viewers a fee for watching news, sports and other clips.
At a news conference here to mark the release of RealNetworks's 
RealOne software and a related media subscription service, AOL Time 
Warner Inc.'s CNN said within a month it will no longer make video 
clips available for free to users through its Web site. Instead, CNN 
said all of the video that it puts on the Internet will be available 
through RealOne SuperPass, the new name for a $9.95-a-month 
subscription service from RealNetworks. Viewers, alternatively, will 
be able to pay $4.95 a month or $39.95 a year to access the CNN video 
directly through the network's Web site.
Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and executive producer at 
CNN.com, acknowledge that some users may balk at the fees, but 
advertising revenue alone isn't sufficient to cover the company's 
continuing investment in video on the Web. "In order for us to 
continue to offer the quality and quantity of video that we expect 
our users will want, we need to be able to support that as part of 
our business model," Mr. Gelman said.
Other media and sports organizations are also moving to charge 
Internet users for video. Major League Baseball last year made 
archived video of its games available for a fee through the RealOne 
service and its own Web site. Tuesday Major League Baseball said it 
will offer video programming through RealOne that condenses 
hours-long ballgames into 20 minutes. The service will be available 
for the 2002 season.
Tracy Dolgin, president of News Corp.'s Fox Sports Net, which has 
also begun charging for more of its sports-video programming through 
RealOne, said he views Internet video as an adjunct business. That is 
partly because the quality of video on the Internet isn't nearly as 
good as on television.
Still, RealNetworks Tuesday said it has devised a new technology, 
available in its RealOne software, that plays video almost 
instantaneously after a user clicks on it on a Web site. Now there is 
typically a 10-second or longer delay after a user requests a video 
clip on a Web site, as the software "buffers" or downloads an initial 
chunk of video from the Internet.
Write to Nick Wingfield at nick.wingfield   wsj.com
Updated March 6, 2024