UltraViolet: Cloud-Based Video Service

Apple, Amazon, Google and Spotify shined the light on cloud-based services for music, but a consortium of video producers and tech companies are working on a system for video. Only, in this case, the players are working together and DRM is part of the equation. Microsoft, Intel, Sony and Time Warner are among more than 60 companies involved in the UltraViolet project, which is supposed to offer a safe (read: unable to pirate) system to allow producers to serve video from the cloud.

The idea is to have a common video site and format that all producers and device manufacturers can use to ensure consumer access to movies and TV shows across as many devices and platforms as possible. From the consumers’ point of view, it should also simplify things. You register purchases with a free UltraViolet account and you’ll have access to that content across multiple devices.

The big drawback to these plans is that 3 major companies are not participating. All 3, Apple, Amazon and Disney, have their plans in the works.