"Video downloading - particularly television - is in its infancy, and standards and business models are still emerging. We're excited to bring this innovative service to consumers," said iTVCon Internet Video Conference & Expo speaker Kate Purnal today as Sandisk, where Purnal is senior vice president and general manager of digital content, announced the public beta version of a dynamic Web-based service that enables consumers to download television shows, movies and other premium video content to portable devices: Fanfare.  &

"Fanfare is a very simple and affordable way to conveniently catch up on TV shows and watch other premium videos," Purmal continued. "Pairing Fanfare's content with a Sansa TakeTV player creates an unmatched, seamless solution where users can browse a rich array of TV programming and movies in a friendly Web interface, and then quickly and easily move this content to a TV, where it's meant to be enjoyed."

The BETA of the Fanfare content delivery service platform, she noted, coincides with the U.S. online retail availability of the new Sansa TakeTV) PC-to-TV video player (formerly "USBTV").

"The combination of Fanfare with Sansa TakeTV creates an exceptional, end-to-end entertainment system enabling viewers to time-shift and place-shift their favorite shows by downloading them from their PC to watch them on nearly any TV, at any time," said Purnal.

The first U.S-based content partners on the Fanfare beta platform include: CBS, Jaman.com Inc., Showtime Networks, Smithsonian Networks, The Weather Channel and TV Guide Broadband. Among the programs available immediately are CSI, Survivor China, Dexter and Sleeper Cell.

Fanfare video content is a combination of free (ad supported) and paid episodes. The company is in the process of adding new episodes from current partners to the catalog, and acquiring additional programs, other premium content and channels. More than 85 titles are available today, with dozens more expected to be added each week to grant consumers access to thousands of hours of television programming.

SanDisk chose to launch an early version of Fanfare to begin to expose people to the innovative concept of easily transferring content from the PC to the TV. Fanfare will gain additional features when the full version is launched early next year. In addition - while the paid content model is common for other video download services -- SanDisk is working closely with its content partners to establish an advertising-supported model for current season television programming.

The overall vision of Fanfare is to enable users to draw from a rich catalog of free and paid video content from a single location for playback on a wide variety of portable devices in the future. These devices will consist of SanDisk's line of Sansa audio/video players, as well as mobile phones, hand-held computers and TVs. Future plans also include video being transferred via SanDisk mobile cards.

The Sansa TakeTV device must be purchased to extract content from Fanfare and transfer it to a television for playback.

The Fanfare public BETA is currently intended for the U.S. audience. To learn more about Fanfare or to access content for use with a Sansa TakeTV video player, reders can visit www.fanfare.com.

Fanfare video content is a combination of free (ad supported) and paid episodes. The company is in the process of adding new episodes from current partners to the catalog, and acquiring additional programs, other premium content and channels. More than 85 titles are available today, with dozens more expected to be added each week to grant consumers access to thousands of hours of television programming.

SanDisk chose to launch an early version of Fanfare to begin to expose people to the innovative concept of easily transferring content from the PC to the TV. Fanfare will gain additional features when the full version is launched early next year. In addition - while the paid content model is common for other video download services -- SanDisk is working closely with its content partners to establish an advertising-supported model for current season television programming.

The overall vision of Fanfare is to enable users to draw from a rich catalog of free and paid video content from a single location for playback on a wide variety of portable devices in the future. These devices will consist of SanDisk's line of Sansa audio/video players, as well as mobile phones, hand-held computers and TVs. Future plans also include video being transferred via SanDisk mobile cards.

The Sansa TakeTV device must be purchased to extract content from Fanfare and transfer it to a television for playback.

The Fanfare public BETA is currently intended for the U.S. audience. To learn more about Fanfare or to access content for use with a Sansa TakeTV video player, reders can visit www.fanfare.com.

Fanfare video content is a combination of free (ad supported) and paid episodes. The company is in the process of adding new episodes from current partners to the catalog, and acquiring additional programs, other premium content and channels. More than 85 titles are available today, with dozens more expected to be added each week to grant consumers access to thousands of hours of television programming.

SanDisk chose to launch an early version of Fanfare to begin to expose people to the innovative concept of easily transferring content from the PC to the TV. Fanfare will gain additional features when the full version is launched early next year. In addition - while the paid content model is common for other video download services -- SanDisk is working closely with its content partners to establish an advertising-supported model for current season television programming.

The overall vision of Fanfare is to enable users to draw from a rich catalog of free and paid video content from a single location for playback on a wide variety of portable devices in the future. These devices will consist of SanDisk's line of Sansa audio/video players, as well as mobile phones, hand-held computers and TVs. Future plans also include video being transferred via SanDisk mobile cards.

The Sansa TakeTV device must be purchased to extract content from Fanfare and transfer it to a television for playback.

The Fanfare public BETA is currently intended for the U.S. audience. To learn more about Fanfare or to access content for use with a Sansa TakeTV video player, reders can visit www.fanfare.com.

Fanfare video content is a combination of free (ad supported) and paid episodes. The company is in the process of adding new episodes from current partners to the catalog, and acquiring additional programs, other premium content and channels. More than 85 titles are available today, with dozens more expected to be added each week to grant consumers access to thousands of hours of television programming.

SanDisk chose to launch an early version of Fanfare to begin to expose people to the innovative concept of easily transferring content from the PC to the TV. Fanfare will gain additional features when the full version is launched early next year. In addition - while the paid content model is common for other video download services -- SanDisk is working closely with its content partners to establish an advertising-supported model for current season television programming.

The overall vision of Fanfare is to enable users to draw from a rich catalog of free and paid video content from a single location for playback on a wide variety of portable devices in the future. These devices will consist of SanDisk's line of Sansa audio/video players, as well as mobile phones, hand-held computers and TVs. Future plans also include video being transferred via SanDisk mobile cards.

The Sansa TakeTV device must be purchased to extract content from Fanfare and transfer it to a television for playback.

The Fanfare public BETA is currently intended for the U.S. audience. To learn more about Fanfare or to access content for use with a Sansa TakeTV video player, reders can visit www.fanfare.com.