While other services might get more press attention these days, Guba.com is the video service to watch. Think user-contributed video plus, in the past two weeks, deals with two movie studios to offer VOD (video-on-demand) and the chance to download and purchase complete films and programs.

For those of you who don’t know, Guba is one-part FREE service that allows user- generated video content and have it automatically made available (for free) in three formats: PSP, iPod, and Flash.

That’s not all. Guba also takes video clips from USENET groups (be careful in terms of content and copyright) and makes them available (in three formats) without having to assemble multiple binaries. You’ll even find an advanced search interface.

In the past two weeks, Guba has become what appears to be the darling of two major Hollywood content producers. Last week (as we posted here), announcing deal to offer fee-based (view-on-demand or download and purchase) content from Warner Brothers. From Free Willy to Good Night and Good Luck.

Now, Guba has announced a deal with Sony Pictures to offer more than 100 films in the premium content section.

The launch makes GUBA the first video-sharing community to distribute Sony Pictures movies online. Among the diverse slate of more than 100 titles that will be available for digital downloading at GUBA.com are Spider-Man 2, Underworld: Evolution, Memoirs of a Geisha, Hitch, and the classic Bridge on the River Kwai. SPHE will steadily increase the number of films available for Internet sales over the coming months, with an expected 500 films, including day and date releases, being offered to consumers within a year.

ResourceShelf first blogged about Guba in March when they launched their free upload and conversion service.

Guba first went live in 1998 as a service that provided web-based access to USENET binaries (yes, lots of adult material). Still images at first and then movies. More here from this FAQ from 2004. If you’re interested, GUBA stands for: Gigantic Usenet Binaries Archive.

Guba also deserves major props as a company who has done a great job turning itself into a mainstream service. That’s becoming even more evident in the past couple of weeks.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 12:54 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.