CinemaNow - the movie download service has raised fresh money:

Movie download service CinemaNow late on Wednesday said it raised $20 million in financing from new investors, including satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications, to help fuel growth.



CinemaNow's current major investors include movie studio lions Gate Entertainment and Northern California-based venture capital firm Menlo Ventures.

Cinemanow , born in the middle of the boom, started in 1999 has since raised quite an impressive stream of money:

• a Series A from Blockbuster in 1999/2000 and others (I could not find a credible source with details)


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• Series B in December 2000 ("The investments, amounting to seven figures...") from Blockbuster and Microsoft


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• Series C
  Whatever the exact numbers were - Cinemanow was burnt out in 2003:
  
  
  
  From a Lions Gate Entertainment Filing:
  
  
  
  

  Investment in CinemaNow
  During the quarter ended March 31, 2002, CinemaNow advised the Company of its inability to generate suffi-
  cient cash flows from operation to sustain its operations over the next twelve months, without raising additional
  capital. Given the uncertain economic climate and CinemaNow's recurring losses there was no assurance that fur-
  ther financing would be forthcoming and as a result, the Company wrote down its investment in CinemaNow to
  $nil. The write-off of the investment in CinemaNow of $13.4 million was disclosed in the statement of operations
  as the write-down in investments subject to significant influence. During the quarter ending March 31, 2003, the
  Company purchased $0.4 million of Series C Convertible Preferred Shares of CinemaNow as part of a CinemaNow
  round of financing. The round of financing and conversion of a debenture decreased the Company's economic and
  voting interest from 63% to 57.4%. The subsequent investment in CinemaNow is accounted for using the equity
  method, as the Company does not have the ability to control the strategic, operating, investing and financing deci-
  sions of CinemaNow as a consequence of the Company's inability to elect the majority of the Board of Directors
  of CinemaNow.



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• US$11 million in Series D in Summer 2004 from Menlo Ventures. Cisco Systems and existing investor Lions Gate Entertainment


• Now Series E with $US20.3 million

Cinemanow was simply been too far ahead of its and still seems a little early - Video Downloads are a reality but still are too much hassle for 99.9 of the population. Itunes and Youtube, which both strated much later, are seemingly better position to effectively distribute longer video. Even if they have opted for different models so far (Youtube all-free paradise, iTunes concentrated on music).