HBO to let subscribers download movies, TV shows

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- HBO will launch a service to let its content available on the Internet and allow subscribers download movies and televisions shows over the Web, according to media reports Tuesday.

The new service called HBO on Broadband will roll out in Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin., and will roll it out more widely later this year.

HBO co-president Eric Kessler said the service, along with the network's on-air multiplex channels and its video-on-demand offering, provides yet another platform for viewers to access the network's content.

The service would only be offered through cable providers to HBO subscribers, with either an additional or bundled fee, like HBO's video-on-demand service.

HBO will offer 600 titles each month on its website, with 400 of those available at any time, and will have a live stream on the site of its main HBO channel.

The website will also add an HBO original series like Entourage or The Sopranos in its entirety on a monthly basis.

Apple Inc this month also added online movie rental to its iTunes store to bolster movie sales, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which launched a movie download site in 2007 to great fanfare, quietly shut it last month for lack of sales.

(Agencies)