AOL Video adds Paramount Pictures

AOL Video has added Viacom's Paramount Pictures to its growing list of content that is downloadable at AOL Video. Full-length movies and TV shows from Viacom's network and from the studios of Paramount Pictures will start emerging from the AOL Video site soon.

I see this as a very nice addition to a growing online video outlet that AOL, a division of Timer Warner, Inc. (NYSE: TWX) needs to keep visible in the face of competition from Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG), YouTube, Apple Computer's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes and possibly Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Zune store soon -- and that's just the start.

AOL Video, which debuted to the world in August, includes content from Twentieth Century Fox Film, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios -- and now, Paramount Pictures.

AOL Video users can download and watch video content that ranges in price from $10 to $20, and AOL Video customers also have the option of streaming free video directly from the site in addition to downloading "to-own" video content that becomes the property of the customer once paid for and downloaded.