BMG readies online music-video service

BMG Entertainment on Thursday announced its technology partners for a forthcoming syndication service that will deliver music videos over the Internet.

BMG, the music and entertainment division of German media giant Bertelsmann, plans to begin providing the service to its syndication partners later this year. Some 1,000 videos will be available at the launch.

BMG will use the FreeFlow Streaming service from content-delivery company Akamai Technologies, based in Cambridge, Mass., to provide music-video files to its network of media and entertainment Web sites. San Mateo, Calif.-based Virage will provide its SmartEncode services, Syndication Manager software and application hosting.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Akamai uses a network of computers linked to telecommunications networks to send content and other data from Web sites to consumers' PCs. Originally, its service delivered static content such as text or graphics, but the company has been adding streaming media services.

Last month, Akamai inked a deal with Novell to offer its FreeFlow and FreeFlow Streaming services to their mutual customers.