LG will this year introduce a range of televisions that will come with access to Telstra’s BigPond Movies on-demand service, the two companies announced in a statement this morning.
The content will be delivered through LG’s Netcast technology, which will also include access to online video sharing site YouTube, and will be available on over 20 LG devices on sale this year.
BigPond Movies has been in operation for a number of years and allows users to rent films on a similar basis to going to your local video store — you can play a movie you rent anytime within seven days, and then after the first screening, as many times as you want within a 24 or 48-hour window, depending on the title.
Most users have so far used the service to stream content to their PCs — sometimes hooked up to a TV, but such streaming services are increasingly being baked right into the hardware by TV manufacturers.
For example, Sony in late February revealed it would partner with Australian organisations Yahooo7! and SBS to stream local content direct to its new range of TVs enabled for internet video. At the time, the company demonstrated a real-time stream of Seven’s show My Kitchen Rules over the internet to a BRAVIA television, without the need for a separate set-top box.
“This is just the first step in bringing video to households over the internet directly to TVs. No subscription, no PC required. We look forward to expanding our relationship in the coming months to make the most of BigPond TV’s emerging business through innovative LG devices, which we see as unmatched in the Australian market,” said LG Electronics Australia chief William Ho in the company’s statement.
BigPond customers who use the service won’t have their downloads counted towards quotas, and the company is planning to make “enhancements” to its movies delivery system over the coming weeks so that “BigPond internet customers will also receive even quicker access to their favourite movie titles.”