Technicolor speeds digital content delivery

DVD replicator Technicolor reached an agreement with Florida-based Highwinds Network Group that will help the film-distribution service speed up the delivery of digital content to consumers.

Technicolor, a unit of Thomson SA that replicates DVDs and formats, encrypts and provides digital rights management for content being delivered digitally, will use Highwinds’ Rolling Thunder network to facilitate its digital distribution of films, TV shows, music videos and other titles by accessing more bandwidth for faster delivery, Technicolor said this week.

The agreement highlights content distributors’ need to speed up delivery as more people download or stream videos over the Internet. U.S sales from digital-media delivery are expected to more than double to $3.55 billion within the next five years, while packaged media will stay flat at about $23 billion, Lionsgate VP Michael Youn said at a conference last month.

The deal also illustrates the growing use by distributors to have customers stream content instead of downloading it because they don’t have to permanently store the media files. In May, Netflix released its Netflix Player by Roku video-streaming set-top box. Last week, Amazon.com said that a new video-on-demand streaming service will replace its 2-year-old Unbox download service.

Highwinds’ network “allows us to keep our traffic off the open Internet,” said Scott Dougall, senior VP and general manager of Technicolor Electronic Distribution Services. “Also, there’s a growing demand for live-streaming applications.”

Technicolor is part of Thomson’s services division, which generated 455 million euros ($713.2 million) in the second quarter and replicated 285 million DVDs, up 8.4% from a year earlier, Thomson said today.