Akimbo Adds National Geographic To Line-up

National Geographic Television & Film (NGT&F) has joined a fast-growing list of companies that provide video programming for the Akimbo Service.

From the press release:

Akimbo offers consumers a video-on-demand (VOD) service that is delivered to televisions via the Internet and allows consumers to create their own personal television experience. The Akimbo Service has won many industry honors, including the “Best of” 2005 CES Innovations Award in the online/Internet category.

The Akimbo Service will be offering a selection of titles from National Geographic’s Emmy award-winning library consisting of 25,000 hours of adventure, science, natural history, current affairs and cultural programming. In addition, feature films will include “Inside the Pentagon,” “Ambassador: Inside the Embassy,” “Egypt: Quest for Eternity” and “21 Days to Baghdad.”

“The National Geographic brand is recognized and respected worldwide. Movies and documentaries from their vast library represent the type of A-level programming that makes the Akimbo Service unique,” said Josh Goldman, chief executive officer of Akimbo. “Now, Akimbo users can access these informative and educational programs on demand.”

“National Geographic is excited to be partnering with Akimbo to offer consumers unprecedented access to our programming on its break-through VOD service,” said Matthew White, vice president, Film Library, for NGT&F. “Akimbo allows National Geographic to take a lead in digital media platforms that are transforming the television experience.”

Akimbo Service and Akimbo Player

The Akimbo Service works with the Akimbo Player, a stylish set-top box that can store up to 200 hours of video, and provides consumers with viewing controls such as pause, rewind and archive. The Akimbo Player is easy to use, with an intuitive onscreen program guide and a customized remote control. The Akimbo Player utilizes widely adopted technology for playback including Windows Media 9 technologies for audio and video compression, and digital rights management.

By collaborating with Akimbo, video providers gain a new opportunity to cost-effectively reach targeted audiences with content ranging from special interest to broad appeal, without building new infrastructure. Akimbo partners with leading providers of specialty video to deliver more than 50 categories of unique entertainment, including film, comedy, music, health and fitness, sports, education, youth, foreign language, and cooking.