Vongo gave it a solid go there for a while, but a supported device list that totaled seven (and was missing a certain white whale) combined with lukewarm support and lackluster marketing always spelled doom for the scrappy video-on-demand service, and it looks like Starz has gone ahead and pulled the plug. If you're one of the, uh, dozens who were paying the $10/mo fee, you can still use the service until September 30th, but after that there'll be nothing left -- literally, since all your Vongo content will be deleted. Yeah, that's fun way to make customers check out the new, seemingly-identical Starz Play service. Anyone still intrigued by this kind of subscription video model? We're pretty over it.

With DirecTV churning out a respectable amount of original content for its exclusive The 101 channel, Starz Entertainment is looking to do the same for a wider audience. Dennis Hopper has been signed on to act in the company's first-ever original drama, which will be based on the Academy Award-winning picture Crash and will (very unimaginatively) be titled "Crash." The show, which will be co-produced with Lionsgate, has already begun production in New Mexico, and if all goes to plan, the premiere episode will air in October.

[Image courtesy of StarPulse]

Starz Entertainment has been making some pretty big moves of late, the most recent of which involves Motorola. The latter firm has announced that it will be "implementing a four-channel, high-definition MPEG-4/AVC encoding system" for Starz, which it will use to migrate away from its current MPEG-2 installations. It's reported that the change will enable Starz to "expand its HD offerings for subscribers," and as predicted, the system is being first implemented for the outfit's existing HD channels: Starz HD, Starz Kids and Family HD, Starz Edge HD and Starz Comedy HD. Oh, and if you were wondering, the recently unveiled Encore HD will be launched "concurrent with this migration."

Starz Entertainment's own broadband video service is doing a special little jig for Verizon's customers, as the two companies have just inked a "comprehensive, multi-year agreement that will bring exclusive hit movies from Starz to Verizon's more than 8.5 million broadband subscribers and the full array of Starz products to Verizon's FiOS TV and FiOS internet / DSL customers." Of course, folks interested will still have to fork over $5.99 per month to access the subscription based service, but at least you can do so with the knowledge that "exclusive content" will soon be at your fingertips. Moving on, the two also expanded their current FiOS TV affiliation agreement, with the new deal securing delivery of all 16 Starz, Encore and MoviePlex premium channels, all of its HD channels and every VOD / HD VOD outlet. Now that's something we can really smile about.

Shortly after dropping a cool $25 million on a new logo (among other things), Starz Entertainment is gearing up to launch its fifth distinct high-definition channel in Encore HD. Currently, the standard-definition Encore channel has 31 million subscribers, which means that quite a few eyes in the world will likely be seeing the same stuff in much greater quality. The channel is slated to launch in July for all of its cable, satellite and telco affiliates to pick up, and as expected, 5.1-channel audio will be delivered right alongside the high-def imagery. We're still left to wonder who exactly will make the high-definition version of Encore available to its customers, but at worse, you've only got a few months to wait before finding out.

They never said change was easy -- nor inexpensive, apparently. Announced today, Starz has decided to undertake its "largest long-term brand investment since 2002," freeing itself of $25 million in order to spark up a new brand and marketing initiative. Users will start seeing an all new logo, fresh on-air look and an "integrated advertising campaign on-air and online." As expected, the new identity -- part of the "Are You Ready?" initiative -- will be ran across the company's six SD and four HD channels, and Starz is slated to run TV spots with the new logo starting on April 7th (while the online portion launches on April 14th). Hope it's worth it.

Starz Edge, Comedy, and Kids & Family all went HD last summer, but of course, it's up to your carrier to actually get on the ball and snatch up what's out there. Thankfully for those in the capital city of New York, the trio is finally available to you on Time Warner Cable. More specifically, subscribers can catch Starz Comedy HD on channel 1892, Starz Kids & Family HD on 1893 and Starz Edge HD on 1894. A small upgrade, sure, but a welcome one nonetheless. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

[Thanks, Mark P.]

Feeling as if Starz's offerings are a bit stale of late? Apparently, so did its management team, as it went out and landed deals with five major studios with the sole purpose of bulking up its movie lineup. Reportedly, the network inked "exclusive first run output deals with Sony Pictures Television and Disney-ABC Domestic Television" that are set to last "well into the next decade," and just in case that wasn't enough to keep your clicker on the counter, it also picked up a number of library acquisitions from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, MGM Worldwide Television Group and Universal Pictures. More specifically, Starz should receive some 1,200 top movie titles and TV series from the latter three's film vaults, and the content can be distributed across Starz HD, Starz On Demand and even Vongo. For more details and a glimpse at what's on the horizon, hit up the read link below.

[Via MultiChannel News]

Not even a month after Cox Communications blessed those in Northern Virginia with 11 new high-definition channels, the cable company is now giving NoVa residents even more HD options. Similar to the rollout seen last summer in Southern California, Cox is giving customers in Fairfax County access to over 20 Starz! and Showtime on-demand flicks in HD. Interestingly, it's still a bit unclear whether any additional HD VOD content was added aside from films on those two channels, so for any Cox subscribers located in this here region, why not fire up your service and give us the skinny?

Anytime it's possible to reduce the about of bandwidth required without reducing the picture quality, we're for it. MPEG4 is finally rolling along and getting picked up where it works, and one of the places it works is with cable channels like HBO and Starz. This is even more true when they're delivered with MPEG4 by the provider, 'cause as great as MPEG4 is, if the signal started out as MPEG2, then it can only get worse in the conversion process. So with some help from Motorola MPEG4 encoders, Starz is joining HBO in distributing their feeds as MPEG4 and saving providers bandwidth in the process.

Cable executives have talked about the importance of high definition video-on-demand, and today Comcast is putting some muscle behind those words. Besides making 100 hours of HD programming available on VOD beginning today, they also announced they will have at least 20 hours of high-def content from Starz available each month. Today, viewers will be able to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on HD VOD before it airs on Starz HD. Doubling up on the Comcast HD news, in an interview yesterday with TV Predictions, president Steve Burke announced they plan to release a Panasonic DVR in 2007 with double the current recording capacity, and increase the number of HD channels to 35 by the end of next year. He also noted that the TiVo package is on track to release before the end of this year, for people who can't quite stomach the price of a TiVo Series3 DVR. If the quality is up to par, forget fighting off IPTV and satellite, this may be enough to put even a new Blu-ray or HD DVD player purchase on hold, it's not like Narnia is out yet on Blu-ray anyway.

Read: Comcast Launches Unprecedented HD Programming Initiative to Offer 100 Hours of High-Definition Video-On-Demand Programming
Read: Comcast's Steve Burke On HDTV