AOL Video--an online theater Grows out of a walled garden.(America Online Inc.)

Online Reporter, The, June, 2007

- AOL Movie & TV Guide

AOL has quietly amassed a large number of movies and TV shows that it's offering over the Net. The AOL Video service competes with Apple iTunes, Movielink, CinemaNow, Starz' Vongo and myriad other sites, from the BBC and ITV to Joost and BitTorrent, that offer A-list entertainment videos.

AOL's online video-on-demand service seems innocuous at first glance, but an in-depth look calls to mind the shady practices that plagued the company for more than a decade. While the company's once "walled garden" system of browsing was merely inconvenient, AOL Video can actually strain the wallet of the unknowing user.

As for big-name content, AOL Video has barely 900 titles. Apple's iTunes has a video library of comparable size,...

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