Clickmovie.com announced new technology to deliver HDTV quality movies through the Internet for downloading in a mere ten minutes. Quite a lofty claim. In order to accomplish the feat, compression algorithms far more robust than MPEG-2 are necessary. The initial press release suggests that all you need is a 28800 modem to bring movie nirvana into your home, but in fact it would take many hours of downloading using a mere mortal's modem. Technology on the near horizon from Kodak promises to make Clickmovie's ten minutes a reality. The most remarkable claim of all is that this vision of the future is supposed to be available and ready for prime time by sometime in May. That's right, May 1999. For the moment those lucky enough to have access to cable modems or T1 connections could download a Clickmovie's product in two plus hours, though they won't see really speedy movie delivery until the second generation of the technology goes on line later in the year

Clickmovie points out that one of the reason's it will be able to attract the cooperation of movie studios for licensing of product is that they developed proprietary hardware encryption that will prevent piracy of Hollywood's precious gold. The company is in talks with a number of majors in an attempt to cement relationships for their May debut. One must wonder whether companies with a vested interest in the still infant DVD product will be reluctant to support a system that may make hard packaged software disappear faster than anyone could have predicted. The company is already huddled with hardware manufacturers planning the marketing of set-top television delivery boxes. The initial Clickmovie product will only be available via the PC.

Per Caroe, a spokesman for Tranz-Send, the parent company of Clickmovie.com, states that the technology is revolutionary in nature and that virtually all of the piracy concerns of Hollywood have been successfully addressed by the technical specifications of the product. "The studios have been blown away by the technology, "Caroe enthused. "Our goal is to price the major releases a at a lower price point than the Blockbusters of the world. Public domain films like the Chaplins or Keatons could be priced as low as fifty cents or even delivered free or charge with a sixty second commercial preceding it." Caroe indicated that product had been extensively beta tested and was ready to go.