The Change Mariner

Disney, CinemaNow Ink Net-movie Deal

CNET News.com

Disney agreed to license some of its feature films to movie rental site CinemaNow, in a move to fight Net film piracy and further experiment with new technologies.

On Monday, Walt Disney Company unit Buena Vista Pay Television begins its deal with CinemaNow, a service that lets people rent downloadable or streamed movies. Marina Del Rey, Calif.-based CinemaNow will sell viewing for nearly 100 Disney new release and library films, including those of Disney-owned studios Miramax Films and Touchstone Pictures. Those include films such as Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" and Oscar-winner "Chicago."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The agreement is Disney's second foray into Internet movie rentals. In July, the company licensed some films to Movielink, a film distribution site backed by five major studios, in the first test of its kind. Earlier plans for Disney's own video-on-demand service in partnership with 20th Century Fox ended more than a year ago when Disney pulled out of the project.