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Josh Miller/CNET
During last week’s Galaxy Tab event in Manhattan, Samsung teased the imminent availability of its Media Hub service, and now it looks like Sprint is the first carrier to roll out the video store to a Galaxy S smartphone, its Samsung Epic 4G.
In a blog post, Sprint said it began pushing out a software update in recent days, which enables Epic 4G owners to download TV shows and movies to their phones to either rent or purchase.
Movie rentals cost $2.99 to $3.99 and are available 24 hours from the time of purchase. If you want to buy a title, prices range from $9.99 to $17.99. TV shows cost as little as $1.99 to rent, but pricing–for both rental and purchase–varies depending on whether the programming is new or old. You can download content over 3G/4G or Wi-Fi and share purchased titles on up to five Media Hub-enabled devices.
Samsung has partnered with a number of entertainment studios, including Paramount, NBC Universal, Warner Bros., and MTV Networks, to provide the content and ensure that it’s optimized for viewing on a phone. At launch, the catalog will contain more than 1,000 movies and TV shows, and Samsung will continue to add to the library over time.
Android has needed a video service for a long time, so it’s nice to see Samsung taking the charge on this front. For any Epic 4G owners out there who have downloaded Media Hub, we’d love to hear your experience with it. Let us know.
