Press

MovieFlix Captions Films for the Deaf - DigitalCoast Reporter

By: Ben Fritz

Online movie provider MovieFlix is partnering with the Captioned Media Program (www.cfv.org) to make films available to an audience that has never been able to enjoy movies on the Web before: the deaf and hard of hearing.

Captioned Media Program is a Department of Education-funded program which loans open-captioned films free of charge to the 28 million deaf and hard-of-hearing persons in America. The group is providing over 15 of its movies and television series, including McClintock, The Jack Benny Show and The Jerry Lewis Show to Hollywood-based MovieFlix. These shows will appear in a new "captioned" category on the MovieFlix site.

A MovieFlix representative said that if the initial offering is a success, the partnership will be expanded and more features and programs will be added.

June 4, 2001 - DigitalCoast Reporter

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MovieFlix Movies Are Now Accessible To Over 28 Million Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Individuals - Business Wire

Hollywood, CA (June 4, 2001) - MovieFlix (http://www.MovieFlix.com), a leading broadband movie provider on the Web, and the Captioned Media Program (http://www.cfv.org) which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and provides free-loan open-captioned videos to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals today announced a new content agreement that will make it possible for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to enjoy streaming movies on the MovieFlix.com web site.

"I applaud the Captioned Media Program and MovieFlix.com for being the first to bring open-captioned movies to the web," says, Anthony Natale who was featured in Mr. Holland's Opus and Jerry Maguire and is the spokesperson for the Captioned Media Program.

MovieFlix.com in association with the Captioned Media Program will make available over 15 open-captioned titles including feature films like McLintock starring John Wayne and classic television shows like The Jack Benny Show, The Jackie Gleason Show and The Jerry Lewis Show among others.

These movies will be added to the MovieFlix.com library of over 2000 titles in over 30 genre. The open captioned movies will be added to the newly created "Captioned" genre. Open captions (subtitles) appear on these movies without the need for a decoder or special equipment. Open-captions are like subtitles on the screen and give the viewers access to all the information contained in the audio track.

"We are pleased to be the first web site to offer our growing member base with yet another way to enjoy MovieFlix movies," says, Opher Mizrahi, CEO and Co-Founder. "With over 28 Million deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in the U.S alone there is a great need to make streaming movies more accessible to the deaf community."

June 4, 2001 - Business Wire

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Web Files with Mike Goldfein - KMOV-TV, St. Louis CBS

Click here to watch nationally syndicated tech reporter Mike Goldfein's feature on MovieFlix.com. Mike's piece was featured in the following cities, KHOU-TV CH 11 (CBS) Television Houston, WHAS-TV CH 11 (ABC) Television Louisville, KVUE-TV CH 24 (ABC) Television Austin, KING-TV CH 5 (NBC) Television Seattle/Tacoma and KMOV-TV CH 4 (CBS) Television St. Louis.

May 12, 2001 - KMOV-TV, St. Louis

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Digital Coast Companies Join New Yahoo Broadcast - DigitalCoast Reporter

Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) debuted a new destination site for rich media on the Net, and a number of Digital Coast content companies are a part of it, including Neurotrash, MovieFlix, and Urban Entertainment. Films, animation, and other content from these companies will be featured on broadcast.yahoo.com. The new site is being formed in large part to allow Yahoo to sell TV-like, streaming ads. Financial terms of the deals, including whether content providers will share in the ad revenue, were undisclosed.

April 23, 2001 - DigitalCoast Reporter

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Museum of Radio & Television to Digitize Archive - Streaming Media News

By: Jason Thompson

While the market for original Internet content still faces big hurdles, cult television shows and niche film tiles command a loyal online following.

The Museum of Television & Radio plans to digitize its library of 100,000 film and television programs for possible online distribution. The privately funded New York- and Los Angeles-based museum is negotiating with large technology companies to fund the multi-million dollar transfer of its huge analog tape catalog into digital format. The museum has commissioned television distributor Winstar to conduct a technical feasibility study for the digital transfer project.

"Our analog tapes are deteriorating," said Museum executive director Jeffrey Litvack. "We’re launching an effort to preserve our collection in digital files and to make them available to the public," Litvack said.

Vintage television titles have a small but highly loyal user-base. "Some of our users are extremely committed," said Robert Moskovits, co-founder of classic TV and movie site MovieFlix.com, which licenses its library from video distributors.

"We get members e-mailing us saying they’ve just got done watching "The Clutching Hand" episodes one through six, and asking when we’re going to stream episodes seven through twelve," said Moskovits. MovieFlix has 250,000 registered members and 1,000 new members per day. The company, which has a staff of four, plans to introduce a subscription model this summer. Other vintage sites include Ciemanow.com and AENTV.com.

The online market for archived content, which includes films and classic TV shows as well as photos and books, will be worth over $2.2 billion this year, according to Jupiter Media Metrix. The market could triple in the next five years, Jupiter predicts.

March 2, 2001 - Streaming Media News

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Studios Stepping Up Their Online Delivery Efforts - L.A. Business Journal

By: Darrell Satzman

Hollywood - determined not to be stung by a Napster-like service - is becoming energized about finding ways to profitably distribute movies and other content over the Internet.

In the wake of last week’s appeals court ruling declaring that Napster Inc.’s free file-swapping network is tantamount to theft, various efforts to create protected Web-based movie distribution and beef up enforcement have been invigorated.

Among those efforts are:

Miramax Films has entered a 12-film distribution deal with Internet company SiteSound for movie releases. Miramax became the first major studio to release a feature-length movie over the Internet, charging $3.50 for a 24-hour rental of the company’s 1999 offering "Guinevere."

Later this year, Sony Pictures Entertainment and other studios are expected to offer films over the Internet on a pay-per-view basis. A number of other companies, video rental king Blockbuster Inc. among them, are investing in technologies to offer similar services.

Studios are eyeing a model represented by Intertainer, a Los Angeles-based outfit that licenses content from studios and TV networks and contracts with broadband providers to offer that content via high-definition television or through the Internet.

Companies such as the newly formed Digital Media and Entertainment Group at CenterSpan Communications Corp., are angling to set up secure and legal systems to pave the way for swapping digital film files in much the same manner that Napster facilitates sharing music.

Hollywood-based MovieFlix.com and others are concentrating on streaming content over the Internet instead of offering content in downloadable form.

"I think we will be faced with exactly the same issues as the music industry. The only thing preventing that so far is the lack of bandwidth," said Ken Jacobsen, senior vice president of worldwide anti-piracy for the Motion Picture Association of America.

The film industry is actually benefiting from the limited availability of high-speed broadband Internet service. While individual songs are easily downloadable through a typical 56K modem, film files require more bandwidth to ensure quality. This is buying Hollywood more time to address the problem.

Taking a lesson from the woes of the music industry, film companies believe their best bet for avoiding rampant piracy on the Internet is to provide consumers with the product they want in an affordable, attractively packaged and user-friendly way.

Broadband focus

In the MovieFlix approach, about 2,000 titles ranging from films in the public domain and vintage television shows to "B" movies and works by USC and UCLA students are offered, all for free. CEO Opher Mizrahi said the company plans to add more titles this year and will introduce a pay-per-view component for the most popular fare within the next couple of months."Our model basically mimics the cable industry in the early days," Mizrahi said, referring to MovieFlix’s relatively low-grade programming. As for concerns about piracy, he said that streaming technology makes the most sense for the film industry because it’s harder to capture, and therefore, to copy.

Although he sees unlimited potential in distributing films and other data-heavy content via the Internet, Mizrahi said that, so far at least, the studios’ eagerness to protect their copyrights leaves much to be desired from a consumer perspective.

"Hopefully, they won’t be as closed-minded as the music industry was at looking at new technologies and working with new companies," he said. "There’s a lot of fear and basic ignorance. They haven’t taken the time to explore the Internet and see what it can do to help raise revenues."

But the MPAA’s Jacobsen said that the film industry is walking a fine line as it attempts to stamp out piracy and create industry-wide technological standards while not infringing on the rights of legitimate innovators.

February 19-25, 2001 - L.A. Business Journal

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Internet VOD Prepares to Take Off, Early Adopters Share Their Experiences - DigitalCoast Reporter

By: Ben Fritz

With Sony Pictures at most a couple of months away from launching its Moviefly service, and numerous other studios in talks to come on board, Hollywood is preparing to find out just how much Internet video-on-demand will change film distribution.

But while it's the large-scale distribution of feature films in the pay-per-view window that will truly test the Internet as a delivery vehicle on par with home video and cable, feature films on the Internet are not a new thing. And some of the companies that have been showing them are already taking the risks and learning the lessons that the studios are soon to confront.

Some of the internet VOD players include, Sony's Moviefly, MovieFlix.com, SightSound and CinemaNow."The bulk of our users are the early technology adopters: young and male," states Opher Mizrahi, the CEO of Los Angeles-headquartered MovieFlix, which offers a variety of public domain films for free. "However, we have a growing number of older people, especially those looking into our classic titles."

Mizrahi points out that streaming a movie lets the user watch it immediately, rather than having to wait half an hour or longer to download it. He also points to the greater likelihood that a file sitting on someone's hard drive, no matter how well it is protected, could be pirated.

Mizrahi argues that people will want to watch movies on their computer screens, especially as monitors get bigger and codecs clearer.

Wherever people watch, though, PCs are destined to play an increasingly large role in the distribution of movies to the public. And although the studios are just taking their first cautious steps, those who are already working to make Internet VOD a reality seem confident that the issues they are confronting and the audience they are just starting to tap into are the beginning of something very big for Hollywood.

February 20, 2001 - DigitalCoast Reporter

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California Streaming Movie Site Seeks Presence in Israel - Internet.com

By: Alan Abbey

JERUSALEM - MovieFlix, a Hollywood-based broadband movie provider on the Web with 250,000 members, said it is seeking partnerships with Israeli companies in an attempt to expand to Israel.

"MovieFlix is seeking to extend its broadband streaming media reach into Israel," said spokeswoman Jenny Acton.

The company, whose chief executive and co-founder Opher Mizrahi is from Israel, said it reached its 250,000th member faster than any other competing site or service.

The company offers more than 2,000 broadband movie titles free to users who register and provide basic demographic information. The library consists of Hollywood classics, independent films, short films and television shows in 28 popular categories.

"We are extremely pleased with rapid member growth as well as our expansion of the MovieFlix movie library and the growing number of syndication partners," Mizrahi said in a statement. "Hitting the 1/4 millionth-registered member mark is significant because it confirms our status as a major broadband movie provider. But this is just the start. We will continue to aggressively acquire new members, more movie titles and additional syndication partners."

New titles include: "Little Shop of Horrors," "Bruce Lee in New Guinea," and "The Man With The Golden Arm."

MovieFlix.com was founded in 1998. Strategic alliances include AOL, NBCi, Real Networks, Yahoo, RoadRunner, Rogers Communications, BigStar.com, iSyndicate, Screaming Media, iFilm, Yack.com and Covad.

February 8, 2001 - Internet.com

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MovieFlix.com Offers Free Broadband Movie Library - Zone Daily

By: Lisa A. Ditkowsky

LOS ANGELES - MovieFlix.com provides its users movies online via broadband using a proprietary streaming video technology. Users can register for free and access a library of more than 2000 movies, short films and television shows. The company has spent two years obtaining the rights to films through distributors, and also syndicates the digital rights to the media content to its partners.

Users must download Real Player to view MovieFlix.com's movies, culled from almost all genres of classic films, cartoons, TV shows and more. While most movies are classics, more modern choices are available in the independent films section and documentary section, for example. The company provides a submission form for individuals to submit their own films. The site also provides a community forum so that viewers can interact.

Opher Mizrahi and Robert Moskovits founded the company in 1998. Since then, it has forged partnerships with companies such as AOL, Real Networks, IFilm and Trimark Pictures and has reached a membership base totaling 250,000.

February 7, 2001 - Zone Daily

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MovieFlix.com Celebrates 1/4 Millionth Member and Major Expansion of Broadband Movie Library - MovieFlix.com Press Release

Strong Membership Growth Attributed to the Popularity of the over 2000 Broadband Movie Titles

Hollywood, CA (February 5, 2001) - www.MovieFlix.com, a leading broadband movie provider on the Web, today announced that it has registered its 1/4 millionth member solidifying its place among the top tier of broadband content providers, attaining that milestone faster than any other competing site or service. Contributing to this strong membership growth is the popularity of the over 2000 broadband movie titles available free to any user who registers providing basic demographic information. The current library of over 2000 titles consists of Hollywood classics, independent films, short films and television shows in 28 popular categories.

"We are extremely pleased with rapid member growth as well as our expansion of the MovieFlix movie library and the growing number of syndication partners. Hitting the 1/4 millionth-registered member mark is significant because it confirms our status as a major broadband movie provider. But this is just the start. We will continue to aggressively acquire new members, more movie titles and additional syndication partners," says CEO and co-founder Opher Mizrahi.

In addition to the increasing membership growth, MovieFlix has introduced an additional 800 new titles to it's library of over 2000 Hollywood classics, independent films, short films and television shows in 28 popular categories. Some of the new titles featured include; Little Shop of Horrors, Bruce Lee in New Guinea, The Man With The Golden Arm, Battleship Potemkin, Metropolis, Nosferatu and others like Charlie Chaplin and Roy Rogers. The company also announced today that the recently re-designed web site will have new member features such as, a 'Member Favorites' section making it easier for new members to know what other members recommend. Another member feature, the 'Indie Showcase' will highlight those films that have been recently submitted by aspiring filmmakers. As part of the overall MovieFlix experience, members can also check their daily horoscopes and watch movies from across the web with the newly added 'What's Cool' section which showcases some of the best content and sites on the web today.

"MovieFlix has achieved extraordinary, viral growth, and we attribute this phenomenal growth to our 'best in class' content and MovieFlix's unprecedented level of convenience and ease-of-use," says CEO and co-founder Opher Mizrahi.

About MovieFlix.com

MovieFlix.com is the leading broadband movie provider on the Web. Founded in 1998, MovieFlix.com, a privately held company based in Hollywood, CA, has developed and maintains a library of full-length movies, short films, independent films, and television shows available over the Internet via streaming video technology from the MovieFlix Web site at www.MovieFlix.com. The entire library is currently available free to any user who registers providing basic demographic information. The current library of over 2000 titles consists of Hollywood classics, independent films, short films and television shows in 28 popular categories. MovieFlix has worked with top online and offline companies in numerous strategic ventures, including custom content creation, syndication and event-based netcasting. MovieFlix has forged strategic alliances with companies including: AOL, NBCi, Real Networks, Yahoo, RoadRunner, Rogers Communications, BigStar.com, iSyndicate, Screaming Media, iFilm, Yack.com and Covad among others.

February 5, 2001 - MovieFlix.com Press Release

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