REELTIME Media has announced that its new set-top-box-based online movie service would be made available within two months in spite of a recent trading halt placed on it shares. ReelTime's chief John Karantzis said that the company would start selling retail versions of its set-top-box for around $1300 within six to eight weeks.
The company has been working with Taiwanese computer motherboard maker Gigabyte to design the devices around Intel's Viiv home entertainment platform and Microsoft's Windows Media Center operating software. The deal is Gigabyte's first major move outside the computer component industry. The company built its business supplying motherboards for PCs.
"It's been to a specification that we produced for (Gigabyte) based upon performance and price rather than brand or glitz," Mr Karantzis said.
The devices, which offer similar functionality to theose sold by IPTV company TiVo in the US, will include a High-Definition TV Tuner, PVR, DVD recorder and a 500GB of storage.
Late last month ReelTime suspended its shares pending the outcome of funding negotiations with a number of larger media companies. The negotiations failed produce an investor and ReelTime announced plans to raise $1 million in capital through a share issue. The company's shares were due to resume trading Monday but so far the company has not ended the suspension.
Mr Karantzis said that the company expected to make an announcement to the market "within days".
ReelTime's PC-based movie download platform began commercial operation in February ending a two-month testing phase. It also commenced a distribution deal with Yahoo7 to promote the service across the online media joint venture's internet portal.
source:
www.australianit.news.com.au
more information:
www.reeltime.tv
