Hey ... I wrote a letter to the editor there ...
Told them a few weeks ago to check out this company and asked why they didn't mention them on their articles about on-line movie sites
Glad to see it !!!
ReelTime aims to be big-time entertainment firm
Barry Henthorn, CEO of ReelTime Rentals
What: Seattle-based ReelTime Rentals
What it does: The just-launched service, at reeltime.com, offers rentals of movies and television shows, broadcast straight to a computer.
Who: Barry Henthorn, 39, chief executive
Employees: 7
How it works: There is no video downloading here. ReelTime streams movies and TV shows to users with computers that have high-speed Internet connections. ReelTime delivers the clips over a grid-based network, using multiple sources for the videos. That means users can get higher-quality video without experiencing transmission problems associated with a single-source video transfer, the company says.
Brand-new: The company officially opened for business Sept. 12. Since then it has signed up about 500 subscribers, Henthorn said. The subscription model offers access to all titles for $5 a month or $20 for six months.
Lining up content: You probably haven't heard of many of the titles on ReelTime's site. New movie arrivals last week included "Our Burden is Light" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." That's going to change, Henthorn said. He has been working out deals with different film distributors and promises "major studio material" soon. "You're going to see an awful lot of more stuff up and you'll also see an increase in the general desirability of what is up there," he said. Henthorn said he wants ReelTime to become a major entertainment company with hundreds of thousands of titles available.
Under ICT's wing: The technology was originally developed in the late 1990s at Innovative Communications Technologies, a telecommunications network company in Seattle, Henthorn said. ICT sold the technology a few years ago to ReelTime Rentals, which is listed on the over-the-counter bulletin board. ReelTime is still run out of ICT offices and Henthorn is the chief executive of both companies.
Apple and Amazon: Online videos have been in the spotlight this month as Amazon.com and Apple Computer announced download services. The business model doesn't directly compare to ReelTime's, but Henthorn said he's happy with the attention. "When you get major players of that caliber getting involved. ... it begins to add legitimacy, not just from a consumer side but a provider side," he said. "This isn't something that's going away. It is real."
— Kim Peterson
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company
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