Another day, another set-top box, on-demand provider wants to take control of your living room.

Today it’s ZillionTV, a startup that’s been in beta mode for about a month. Its hook to your entertainment room is the ability to give you on-demand movies and TV shows streamed from 1.5Mbps or higher (especially if you want HD) web connection without a subscription.

You’ll get a cool motion-sensing remote control, slick user interface, and video content that you’ll be able to access in three manners after a one-time setup fee: rent titles for a nominal amount, purchase titles, or watching content free of charge.

Yeah, that free of charge business has our ears. That brings up the next topic for ZillionTV: advertising. Well, the hook there, for both the viewer and the provider, is that it’s going to be targeted advertising—viewers can pick topics that they’ll actually sit through (so they can watch programming for free), and it won’t be like traditional advertising you’re subject to on cable TV. Think more like videos you see on Hulu.

ZillionTV has content partnerships currently that include “select library content from 20th Century Fox Television to new releases and a selection of library titles from The Walt Disney Studios, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.” Despite its name, you don’t really get a zillion selections to choose from—more like 15,000, but hey, it’s a start.

The company says it won’t be sluggish, either, but instant streaming. Think Amazon’s Video On Demand service in terms of how your purchases and rentals will live, too, as in on the company’s own servers (we’ll soon be accessing all our entertainment in the data cloud, no?) and not taking up space on your hard drives.

Another partner is Visa, which will enhance your commercial-watching experience by giving you instant access to buy stuff right from your TV. There will even be a “loyalty program” that rewards viewers “for simply watching programming they love and interacting with advertising from categories they’ve personally selected.”

So, any room in your entertainment system for ZillionTV, or will you be sticking to Roku, Apple TV and the like?

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!