Launch, RealNetworks in Web Video Venture
Launch Media and RealNetworks will team up to distribute music videos on the Internet. Santa Monica-based Launch is expected to announce today that it will begin streaming videos using the RealSystem G2 on Tuesday. In addition, it will debut a music video channel for the RealPlayer G2.
Launch’s alliance with Seattle-based RealNetworks will allow Apple Macintosh users to access music videos and interviews on Launch’s Web site. Previously, Launch made its video content available on the Web only via Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, though some audio files could be accessed using RealAudio.
“We’re technology-agnostic,” Launch Chairman and Chief Executive David Goldberg said, adding that partnerships with companies that make other players may follow. Launch said it streamed 1.8 million videos over the Web in June.
Meanwhile, RealNetworks will also announce today that its RealPlayer software for viewing and listening to audio and video content over the Web will be pre-installed in every personal computer shipped in Gateway’s popular consumer line of products.
The agreement, which follows a similar deal with IBM reached last week, gives the company better access to new computer users. Such “newbies” might not be familiar with the process for downloading software, the way in which most RealNetworks software is distributed, and might be tempted to settle for the competing Microsoft software bundled on most Windows PCs.
“New users will now have access to the best multimedia content as soon as they turn on their computers,” says Steve Banfield, general manager for consumer products at RealNetworks.
In what could prove a case study in how to compete with Microsoft, RealNetworks has also signed distribution deals with America Online, Prodigy, EarthLink and other leading Internet service providers. Even Microsoft’s WebTV Network agreed earlier this month to incorporate RealNetwork’s software in its future products, in effect recognizing the company’s powerful presence in streaming media.
