NYT: “Will people pay $230 and hook a new gizmo up to their television sets so they do not have to drive to the video rental store? ... Tres Izzard, a former Disney executive who is now the chief executive of MovieBeam, said the service was meant to appeal to the 30 million people who rent at least four movies a month. Four-fifths of those rentals, he said, are releases of the sort that will be in the MovieBeam service.”

-- Izzard says it can break even at 500,000 customers. As expensive as the box seems, it’s actually being sold at a slight loss.

CNET: Mark Goodman, Yankee Group: “I think it is challenging, because it is in an increasingly crowded space for distribution of movies. ... “I’m not a big fan of having to have a separate set-top box just to watch movies.”

-- The settops will be co-branded with investor Cisco’s Linksys; the two companies are working on a new product.

-- Delivery piggbacks on spare PBS badnwidth.

-- Talks with Sony are ongoing.

-- Buyers sign up online through a retailer and a box preloaded with 100 movies is FedExed. The movies will be replaced 10 at a time.

CNET Review: “In terms of hardware and content, MovieBeam looks to be on the right track. ... While 100 movies may seem like a lot, when you consider how many studios are backing the product, there probably won’t be much of a range of choice from each company. And while 10 new movies are promised per week, they’re added at the expense of ones removed from the service without your input. ... For HDTV owners who are dreading the dead-end choice between HD DVD and Blu-ray, buying a MovieBeam box could be a great way to get access to several high-def movies a week. ... But our gut reaction is that the limited selection of movies may keep interest limited to those who frequent the New Releases shelf at Blockbuster. MovieBeam sounds like a great concept, but we’d like to see lower pricing--for the hardware and the movies--not to mention a wider selection.”

AP:
Izzard says the ultimate goal is to deliver movies for burning to DVD. “"Those rights don’t exist today, but they will be coming and we want to be a part of that.”

Related: Disney Changes On-Demand Movie Windows Via New MovieBeam Service; The New MovieBeam Launches In 29 Cities Today