Three major movie studios, Lionsgate, MGM, and Paramount/Viacom, have teamed up to create an interesting project that looks to compete with pay-channels like HBO and Showtime as well as capture some of the online glory obtained by News Corp (Hulu).

Although currently in private beta, Epix will offer movies released by the three studios in two formats: offline via a cable TV network channel, and online, on-demand 720p streaming via its bundled (Hulu-like) sister Epixhd.com website. This will be the second TV channel launched by Paramount: the studio teamed up with Viacom to create UPN back in 1995, and eventually merged with The WB in 2006 to form the current CW channel.

Rather than offer television dramas and sitcoms, Epix promises to offer recent, popular movies from all three studios before they hit DVD, during the time period when they show up on pay-per-view lists and pay channels. What makes this new network "interesting" is that consumers won't have to pay a dime up-front in rental fees, or fork out a monthly subscription as they do with HBO and Showtime; the channel won't even be listed as a separate entity on the cable bill. Even more, content will air uninterrupted, offering full movies without commercials.

So what's the catch? How can viewers watch Iron Man, Cloverfield and other new releases without paying some kind of fee? Currently Epix is working to keep the content free, to strike deals with cable and satellite providers to offer the channel as part of the standard TV lineup. Epix didn't go into specific details on how the content will be provided without some kind of revenue, however Ars Technica reports that Epix is perusing a strategy similar to ESPN 30, ESPN's streaming service.

Apparently, ESPN 30 is sold directly to ISPs, and is not available to general end users, thus providing an advantage over other ISPs that do not lease the channel. Consumers who would gladly pay to gain access to the website cannot, and must put in a request to their local cable providers instead. EpixHD.com follows the same format: Road Runner subscribers can only access the site if the Epix TV network is part of the Time Warner TV lineup. However, consumers subscribing only to Road Runner (and not the cable TV portion) cannot access the streaming website. With that said, the business model makes perfect sense: want the channel? Pay for a cable subscription.

In February, Variety reported somewhat of a contradiction to today's reports, saying that Epix has "green-lighted" its first original series pilot called Tough Trade, a drama from Lionsgate TV that will be executive produced by Jenji Kohan (Weeds). The show is described as a look at "three generations of a dysfunctional famous family in country music." Variety also reported that Epix will be a broadband on-demand service in May (which has already passed), followed by a "linear" pay channel in October. MediaPost also reported that Epix would be a premium cable channel back in December 2008, and that it would compete with HBO, Showtime, and other pay-TV channels.

Whether Epix will ultimately be free or not, Emil Rensing, chief digital officer at Epix, told Ars that watching films online will be a "two-click experience." The video will be provided through Flash and will also be multi-bitrate enabled. This means that the Flash player will check the available bandwidth every ten seconds to see if a larger or smaller stream is required. There are currently six different codings provided by Epix, ranging from 720p to 500Kbps (cell phone format), however Ars said that they watched a test preview of Iron Man and said that the video was "the best we have ever seen in a mainstream streaming service."

Mashable also gave EpixHD.com two thumbs up, and even reports that the site offers a unique social feature called "Private Screening." This addition allows four people to watch a movie simultaneously and discuss it using an embedded real-time chat client. Mashable also said that the website is sleek overall, and provided plenty of end-user functionality. The movie and it's accompanying information is rather straightforward: users select a movie from a "panorama of choices," and is immediately taken to the movie's webpage containing plot details, media downloads (wallpaper, etc), movie information, and the film itself.

The invite-only beta of EpicHD.com actually began today, however the new network plans to offer a sign-up form for "rolling admission" over the next few months once it makes improvements to the user interface and irons out a few bugs. As for pricing, the current information points to free access despite earlier reports; whether Epix will succeed in providing the TV channel without monthly subscription fees will be left up to the relationships it forms with cable and satellite TV providers.