Akimbo in Content Deals with A&E, National Geographic

January 24, 2005

Akimbo Systems has secured more content for its broadband Internet-based VOD service via carriage deals with A&E Television Networks (AETN) and National Geographic Television & Film.

The deal with AETN will see Akimbo offering content from 3 of the latter's channels: A&E, The History Channel, and The Biography Channel. Programming from the 3 channels will be refreshed monthly and will include established series as American Justice, Cold Case Files, Biography, Mail Call, History's Mysteries and Modern Marvels, as well as various new series (e.g. Growing Up Gotti, Airline, and Dog the Bounty Hunter), and a selection of programming from the Spanish-language version of The History Channel, The History Channel En Español. The deal with NGT&F will see Akimbo offering a selection of titles from the National Geographic programming library, which has around 25,000 hours of adventure, science, natural history, current affairs and cultural programming. It will also allow Akimbo to offer a number of National Geographic feature films, including Inside the Pentagon, Ambassador: Inside the Embassy, Egypt: Quest for Eternity, and 21 Days to Baghdad.

Akimbo's service is accessed via a special set-top box, called the Akimbo Player (offered by Amazon.com for $229.99), and is priced at $9.99 a month. The box, which utilizes Microsoft's Windows Media 9 compression and digital rights management technologies, is equipped with an 80GB hard drive, capable of storing up to 200 hours of downloaded content, and with an EPG that features extensive information on and video previews of available programming offerings: Akimbo subscribers use the EPG to select programs from the service's library, which are then automatically downloaded to the box for future viewing.

Akimbo has already secured content for its new service from a number of providers in addition to AETN and NGF&T: these providers include Turner Broadcasting System (this partnership allows Akimbo to offer programming from TBS channels and programming brands such as CNN, Cartoon Network, TCM, Boomerang and Adult Swim); Granada International (Granada content offered on the service includes such well-known titles as "The Jewel In the Crown" and "Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe"); Varsity Television (offers several thousand hours of content targeted at teenagers, including both professional productions and amateur productions from teenagers at a network of affiliate high schools around the US); Quiksilver Entertainment (which, through its property, UNION* The Boardriding Channel, has the rights to an extensive library of surfing, skating and snowboarding videos); and independent film distributors Undergroundfilm, GreenCine, Amaze Films, and IFILM.

Akimbo content is divided into around 50 EPG categories, including mainstream, classic and independent films, foreign language (note: a large amount of Chinese films and programming are available on the service through Chinese-language programmer, AsiaMovieChannel), news, health and fitness, sports, children's programs, and education. In addition to an Akimbo Player and an Akimbo subscription, Akimbo customers need a DSL or cable connection and a wired or wireless home network to use the service.

In other Akimbo news, at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the company's service won 3 awards: a 2005 Digital World Innovations Award from the editors of PC World, a "Best of What's New" award from Popular Science magazine, and a 2005 Best of Innovations Award from CES itself in the Online/Internet category.