AOL Signs Deals to Sell Movies, TV Shows on Its New Video Site

“Hitch,” “24” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” are among the movies and television shows that AOL will sell through its new video portal under deals the Internet company has forged with major Hollywood studios.

The partnerships, announced Thursday, represent AOL’s latest efforts to become a destination for online video as the company tries to offset revenue it expects to lose from a recent decision to drop subscription fees for many high-speed customers.

The offerings also mark the latest experiments in online distribution as studios and TV networks try methods including showing programs for free on their websites and selling already-aired episodes for $1.99 each through Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes Music Store, Google Inc.’s video store and others.

The AOL deals, terms of which were not disclosed, are with News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox, Sony Corp.’s Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, NBC Universal’s Universal Pictures and Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. AOL is a unit of Time Warner. NBC Universal is a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal.

Users will be able to download selected titles from those studios for $9.99 to $19.99 each, comparable to fees at online services CinemaNow, MovieLink and Guba. Titles initially available include “Hitch” and “Spider-Man 2.” AOL said hundreds of movies would be added within a few weeks and would probably include “Batman Forever,” “The Matrix,” “American Pie” and “Dr. Dolittle.”

Although users will own the titles, meaning viewing won’t be automatically disabled after a day or two, the movies can be played on only a limited number of Windows-based personal computers or portable devices that support Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Media Player technology.