MSN UK is to carry full-length films from Paramount on the new MSN Video Player.

Launched in the UK a month ago, MSN Video carries about 1,000 hours of TV programmes and clips, lots of clips, and trailers, lots of trailers, and music videos.

Hardly a match then for BBC iPlayer - and probably it never will be. But Project Canvas could be a different matter. Also Virgin Media and Sky's noses could be put out of joint, if MSN establishes its Video Player as a premium service for films.

Now to Ashley Highfield, once famous as a big cheese at BBC and now a big cheese at Microsoft, where he runs the company's UK consumer and online businesses.

He says: "It is great to work with a forward-thinking film studio like Paramount Pictures. This is a pioneering move for MSN Video Player in the UK and the service will continue to evolve with the changing needs and demands of consumers into Europe for MSN Video. This deal forms a fundamental part of this growth."

MSN will to roll out the Paramount deal across the main European countries and aims to introduce MSN Video in the rest of Europe in due course.

Paramount has been getting very jiggy with the distribution, lately. This week it allowed Seagate to pre-load 20 movies for sale on FreeAgent GO external hard drives.