• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, August 15, 2006

Betting bigger on Internet video, Fox will begin selling movie and TV show downloads via online properties including IGN Entertainment Inc. and MySpace.com this year.

Fox will charge about $20 for new feature films and $2 for TV show episodes that will be sold starting in October through a platform now used for video game downloads on IGN Entertainment sites.

Among the first movies available will be "X-Men: The Last Stand," the remake of "The Omen," and "Thank You for Smoking." Availability through the Direct2Drive service will be simultaneous with DVD releases.

TV shows to be offered include "24," "Prison Break," and FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Fox began selling episodes of "24" and other shows through Apple's iTunes service last year, but those programs can only be downloaded to iPods or to computers via the iTunes software.

Consumers will be able to download the movies and TV shows offered by Fox for computer playback, and transfer to devices running Microsoft's Windows Media Player software.

During the next year, video sales will also be available on MySpace.com and other Fox sites.

According to a recent survey by Frank N. Magid Associates, almost 60 percent of respondents said they would be willing to pay for online entertainment content to have the freedom to watch it whenever they wanted. In the same survey, 30 percent said they would pay up to $20 to access online video.