Sky TV, the UK's main satellite television provider (more widespread than cable is in the UK), have announced plans to offer their subscribers video content for download in iPod-friendly format. There will be two services: One open to Sky subscibers with a monthly package costing £34 or more with clips of sports, news and entertainment programmes at no cost, and the other which will allow premium Sky subscribers with a monthly package costing £40.50 or more to download full feature films and sports highlights.

The movie offer is the interesting one here. More than 200 films will be made available at launch growing to 1,000 at a "later date". Spider-Man 2 and Dr Strangelove are expected to be highlights of the initial line-up. Sky are estimating that full-length feature films will take around one hour to download over a 2Mb broadband connection (which is rapidly becoming the standard for UK broadband users).

Once downloaded, films and clips can be stored for 30 days before they are automatically deleted. What is not clear is how exactly that DRM system will be implemented.

The delivery of sports clips is expected to be linked in to Sky's existing online betting service.

[Via VNU Net]