Iain McConnon is listed as the secretary of Movie Entertainment, which has set up a website called moviestar. ie. Last week the company advertised for a marketing manager to help launch the business.

Falcon Telecom, owned by McConnon and his brother Gavin, Falcon Telecom, was fined £10,000 (14,000) by the UK's premium phone line regulatory body, Icstis, last year after complaints about a scheme it ran. The company persuaded people to ring a premium-rate line where calls could cost up to 72 after sending them an unsolicited mock cheque.

They had to call the line to claim a prize. The main body of the promotion suggested that the minimum cash prize that would be awarded to callers would be either £500 or £1000, while in fact it was £1. The company was banned from operating premium lines in the UK for six months.

In 2004, Irish regulator Regtel shut down other promotional lines operated by the brothers, when it emerged that their company, Parcel Plus, had been sending postcards to people telling them they had a package awaiting collection. They had to call a premium rate service costing up to 8 in order to claim the unsolicited package.

Another company owned by Iain and Gavin McConnon, Promocom, was also investigated by Regtel in 2005.

Earlier this year Promocom inked a deal with a US firm called Electronic Game Card, to offer consumers here mobile-enabled digital slotmachine style games.

The brothers have amassed a fortune from the premium rate lines, with Gavin driving an expensive Ferrari sports car. One of the companies . . . MCC Print & Promotions . . . lists assets of 7.5m.

It is likely that Iain McConnon's latest venture, Moviestar, will face stiff competition in trying to gain a foothold in an already busy online DVD rental market.

Screenclick, which was acquired by UKowned Lovefilm earlier this year for 3m, will soon begin offering online downloads of more than 800 titles, as well as continuing its popular rental business. The download service is due to launch within one month.

US online DVD rental giant Netflix is also believed to be mulling an entry into the Irish market. It recently established a company here but has declined to comment on whether it plans to start Irish operations.

A Netflix. ie domain name is registered as being owned by DVDrentals . . . the former name of Screenclick.

Screenclick founder Frank O'Grady, told the Sunday Tribune recently that the site is projecting sales of 1.5m this year. It has 10,000 active users.