ITN to partner with Google on Video Store

ITN has announced that it is partnering with Google in the planned launch of its innovative Video Store, the first open video marketplace where consumers will be able to buy and rent a wide range of video content from ITN as well as major television networks, cable programmers, independent producers and film makers.
The fast-growing collection of content available from Google Video Store will include unique content from ITN Archive, one of the largest and most comprehensive moving footage collections in the world. Google customers will be able to find and download video clips specially selected from ITN Archive's 680,000 hours of footage. These will feature key events in 2005, such as Hurricane Katrina and the death of Pope John Paul II, as well as historic clips dating right back to one of the earliest known pieces of moving imagery, the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in 1896.
ITN Multimedia, with its expertise in packaging and producing content specifically for mobile and broadband platforms, will also be providing the Google Video Store with a variety of shorts, including a daily "On This Day in History" review of momentous events from the past.
Mark Wood, chief executive, ITN, commented: "We're proud to be a launch partner for the Google Video Store, a role that recognises ITN's leading position as manager of the world's largest range of video collections.
"The Google Video Store will create an entirely new marketplace for ordinary consumers to buy or rent video content. ITN is in a unique position to provide iconic clips of news, history, wildlife or entertainment footage and, of course, a selection of some of its famous quirky stories."
Wood continued: "ITN Multimedia and ITN Archive are already our fastest growing businesses. The partnership with Google will enable us to enter the US consumer market for the first time with a broad range of unique digitised video content. We believe the Google Video Store will accelerate demand for video clips for a wide range of private and professional uses and help grow a key market in which ITN is expanding rapidly and is already a world leader. We will be looking to add more content in due course so that consumers have as wide a choice as possible."
Jennifer Feikin, Director of Google Video, said: "We are delighted to announce a partnership with ITN, one of the world's premier providers of video footage. Google Video will enable users to access a new and diverse world of video content previously unavailable online. With this partnership and others, the service will offer users access to a global archive of video content, from great sporting moments to historical events, world news and entertainment."
(GB)