Microsoft Plans To Stream Video And Music

Microsoft has unveiled a plan to feature video and music online in a move the software company said will help spread the gospel of high-speed Internet access. Microsoft will use the plan, dubbed ""Broadband Jumpstart,"" to promote its Windows Media technology, which lets users receive streaming video and audio on the Web, and would feature content from companies such as Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, and Sony Music. ""What we're going to bring to the market is content, ever- growing content,"" Anthony Bay, Microsoft's General Manager for streaming media, told a conference in Los Angeles. ""We believe this is a major step forward in bringing broadband to users and consumers,"" Bay said. Broadband Internet access lets users receive data at speeds from 5 to 50 times the pace of the fastest dial-up modems, which run at a maximum of 56 kilobits per second. At broadband speeds, video and audio can be sent at near-broadcast quality. The content would be featured through a new guide offered on Microsoft's WindowsMedia.com Web site, Bay said, adding that the new page should launch by the end of the year. Microsoft also enlisted the backing of several companies that offer high-speed Internet access, as well as content delivery firms such as Sandpiper Networks, he said. Microsoft hopes the initiative will showcase new business models for companies looking to capitalize on broadband by helping to reduce costs and make the technology more accessible to end users, Bay said. Bay pointed to figures showing there are 98 million consumer PCs in the United States, and 44 percent of those have media players such as Windows Media installed. The number of homes wired for broadband is expected to top 1 million this year, more than double that next year, and hit 20 million by 2003, he said. ""You're reaching the point very quickly where media is something that people want on their PCs,"" he said. ""It's beginning to be a very, very attractive audience."" In another Internet-related announcement, Microsoft said it lined up new features linking its interactive television unit, WebTV, with several shows and specials from broadcast networks, including NBC, HBO, and PBS. The additions would let subscribers to WebTV Plus play with interactive elements on programs including The Today Show, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and E! Entertainment Television, Microsoft said. Source: Reuters, Special to CNET News.com, Story Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.