In Monday's Wall Street Journal, Sarah McBride reports that Tuesday's release of Brokeback Mountain on DVD will not only herald its viewing by a gaggle of fans who got to hear all about it during award season, but a slew of folks who are into the whole "I got a copy online - legally" thing, too. While this will apparently be a pricey proposition for those who choose to go with the broadband-downloaded version -- the expectation is that "newer" films on Movielink will be between $20-$30, according to the article -- the big story here is really that the studios are getting with the program, and realizing that downloaded versions, whether legal or not, are the way things are going, and a preferred method for a lot of people.

Will this bring a little bit more positive light towards Movielink and the studios? Maybe a little, but probably not that much if the pricing is going to be out of whack. A lot of people who like having a digital version would still know how to get around most of the security features of whatever they have purchased above the board, and the extra step might be worth a 50% bounty on having that digital version. Let's just realize that for the big biz folks, it's all about baby steps.

Cable network Starz! has just announced that they'll partner with Microsoft and Sony to form Vongo, a legal, pay-for-play movie download service. For a $9.99 service fee per month, Vongo users will obtain unlimited access to a rotating 1,000 film library, likely culled from Starz! current catalog. They'll be able to watch those downloads at any time on a PC or portable media device (presumably that means iPods, PSPs, etc), and will be able to download "new releases" (theatrical features will be available for download after a six month window) for $3.99 apiece. Though the service will obviously draw instant comparisons to the iTunes Music Store, which just started selling television shows for $1.99 an episode with a one day window, to VOD services like GreenCine and Movielink, and to traditional models of television-based pay-per-view, Vongo would seem to go beyond old methods of delivery in terms of its breadth of content alone. But that six month window seems terribly wide, doesn't it? Especially considering that, with the backing of Microsoft and Sony, Vongo will undoubtedly be marketed to PSP and Xbox-rocking gamers. Bill Gates is expected to expand on the deal and the concept in his CES keynote this week.