Plasma Art

When not tuned to prime time programs, plasma screens will eventually display great works of art. Gallery Player expects to market the service, available via cable and DBS, by the end of the year. Scott Lipsky, founder and CEO, discusses the new venture, which is launching at CES in Las Vegas this week.

Why do you think this market will take off?

We are creating a new way to experience imagery. There's been a boom in digital photography, but there are also fantastic archives of fine art images and photography. What has kept those images from coming to market has been a secure, end-to-end solution with digital-rights management. We built our own copy-protection solution and a distribution network to deliver to the PC marketplace. We're also working with cable.

Why will this be attractive to cable operators?

There's such a hunger for HD content. We're content distributors that produce an experience, just like a movie distributor. We're encoding in 1080i, and our service will be available to cable operators as VOD or broadcast. Our software can run on a DVR just like a PC. We just want to get to the screen, and we're negotiating with cable operators about packaging. We are even talking to terrestrial broadcasters about featuring HD art.

This seems like a great way to tie-in with museums.

Within two to three months, we will have museum offerings and subscriptions. Museums are all about branding, and they have content they can't even exhibit. Then there are small galleries looking to get exposure for an artist. We will also announce a relationship with a big auction house. We can even add audio, like museum audio tours.

Will this be popular with women?

Yes. The new HD content is gender universal. HD isn't just a guy's toy any more.