Online Video Service Planned

A forthcoming free service, MSN Video, will consolidate streaming video content from MSN and partner Web sites and offer some new content as well. Unlike competing services, such as AOL for Broadband, RealOne (from RealNetworks), and Yahoo Platinum, which require users to pay monthly fees, MSN Video will be supported entirely by advertising. Microsoft plans to run one 15-second video advertisement for every five or six minutes of programming, and a panel next to the video stream will feature static or animated material similar to banner advertisements. All video files will be encoded in the Windows Media 9 Series format. A beta will be available shortly to selected MSN Premium subscribers, and the final version of the service should launch in late 2003 or early 2004.

The type of content to be included on the service is not yet well-defined, but at first glance, MSN Video is a branding change and a new advertising sales mechanism rather than a truly new service. The beta version of the service will offer excerpts only of televised news programming from NBC (including CNBC and MSNBC), which were previously available on the MSNBC site, and Microsoft has not revealed much about the final version, except that it will include video currently available on other MSN and partner sites, such as ESPN, MSN Entertainment, and WindowsMedia.com.