Free Cinemash Videos for Zune

Come spring 2009, Microsoft will allow Zune users to access reinterpretations, from a comedic perspective, of classical scenes from popular movies for free. Dubbed Cinemash, the new content will be produced by the Redmond company in collaboration with MEAN (Music, Entertainment, Art, News) magazine, and will premiere this spring. Cinemash content will be the first episodic digital show for Zune, and Microsoft plans to offer videos as free downloads, while supporting the content with advertising.

“Video is an important part of the Zune experience, and by working with cutting-edge partners like MEAN we are expanding our offering to give our customers original programming they can’t get anywhere else,” explained Paul Davidson, lead video and original content producer for Zune. “We will also look to expand distribution across other Microsoft platforms to make the series available to an even larger audience.”

The content, developed and distributed by Zune, will be made available via the Zune Marketplace, with the Redmond company planning an entire series of ad-supported episodic video shots. The content will range from comedic videos to live-action, animations and even music programming, the software giant revealed. Zune users will be able to access a variety of pilots over the coming year, all ad-supported. At this point in time, Microsoft is even considering expanding the content to MSN and Xbox LIVE. MEAN has already worked with such talents as James McAvoy, Elizabeth Banks, Kate Beckinsale, Sir Ben Kingsley and Seth Rogen, and the magazine attracted over 1 million viewers worldwide.

“Zune and MEAN are joining forces to move the bar forward and create the most progressive, inspired series that will knock cinephiles off their feet,” said Kashy Khaledi, publisher/creative director of MEAN Magazine. “’Cinemash’ will give talent a new platform for creative collaboration, bringing together state-of-the-art production quality with digital distribution to millions of viewers.”