MeTV.com, Speakeasy Network Get Together

MeTV.com an Internet broadband video-on-demand movie service, and Speakeasy Network Inc., a provider of DSL services, Thursday struck an agreement to provide online entertainment to Speakeasy customers via Speakeasy’s private DSL network.

Mark Matson, vice president of strategic relationships for MeTV.com, said the relationship is the first step in developing MeTV.com on-demand service. The MeTV.com web site will blend streaming technologies with traditional television. MeTV.com said it will offer consumers with broadband Internet access a diverse selection of movies and programming on-demand.

The agreement calls for MeTV and Speakeasy to build a branded MeTV service within the Speakeasy DSL network. This allows Speakeasy to offer rich media content to their subscriber base, without having to use a content delivery network or traditional Internet architecture to distribute the streaming media.

“By localizing the media next to our DSL routers, we avoid the high costs and latency associated with using a backbone or a delivery network,” said Edward Bender, Speakeasy’s chief content officer. “Speakeasy has been doing this with game servers for over a year — our partnership with MeTV has allowed us to jump into the world of streaming video at full speed!”

All MeTV media will be featured within Speakeasy’s member only “Kontent” site. MeTV.com, will launch its consumer service this summer. Its interface and wireless PC to TV delivery will follow in fourth quarter 2000.