When I first read that CinemaNow has added new programming via deals with Showtime and A&E, I didn’t think too much about it. After all, iTunes already already offers the same programming and, generally speaking, buying television shows at $2 a pop doesn’t appeal to me. However, CinemaNow must have some sort of exclusive deal with Showtime — They’ve got the first episode of Sleeper Cell, Season 2 (and for free!)… which is MIA on iTunes. While I have a DVR (or several), I don’t subscribe to Showtime… So buying episodes is not an entirely unreasonable proposition in this case. (I Netflix-ed the first Sleeper Cell mini-series.)
In the past, the SVideo output from my laptop (to TV) has worked well for iTunes video playback. But, as an Xbox 360 and Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) owner I should be able to stream CinemaNow (and Movielink) content to my TV — somewhat more convenient than setting up the laptop and, more importantly, providing a remote to pause and rewind. As you can see, I’ve “purchased” that first episode (58 minutes, 670MB) and will give it a shot tonight!