Tries to keep up with Netflix.
Blockbuster has announced today that users will soon be able to stream and download thousands of movie titles to a variety of devices, including mobile phones, PCs, Macs, portable media players, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes. The company will utilize a CinemaNow’s system for the project.
“We put our toe in the water and now this gives us a significant leap forward in our consumer offerings” for digital delivery, Blockbuster Chairman Jim Keyes said in an interview.
Although it will rely on an ala carte service, Blockbuster is considering a subscription based model, but some claim it will have more new releases available with its current offering. Currently, the ala carte model sits better with Hollywood studios that have restrictions when licensing for subscription models such as Netflix. When it launches, Blockbuster’s service will offer 10,000 premium films and 40,000 additional titles.
“We are excited to be partnering with Sonic, the industry’s leading entertainment delivery and technology provider, to make Blockbuster’s digital entertainment service easily and instantly available to consumers through the widest range of devices available in the marketplace,” said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO. “Blockbuster is a ubiquitous entertainment presence in the physical world. Through this alliance with Sonic, we plan to become a ubiquitous presence in the digital world as well. Our goal is to offer consumers the most digital content, the most accessibility, via the most devices, both in- and out of home.”
Netflix has been pursuing a similar strategy the past year. The Los Gatos-based company’s Internet streaming service, called “Watch Instantly,” already is compatible with Blu-ray players, Microsoft Corp.’s video game console, the xBox 360, and will soon have built-in access to some flat-screen TVs.
Blockbuster is hoping to further distinguish its digital delivery service by focusing on latest releases available on DVDs. In contrast, Netflix’s streaming service mostly serves up video that has been out on DVDs for years or movies that never had much drawing power.
“With more and more broadband-enabled consumer electronics hitting the market, there is a growing need for a service that gives consumers access to premium entertainment on any device, anytime and anywhere,” said Dave Habiger, president and CEO, Sonic Solutions. “By pairing Sonic’s digital delivery technology with Blockbuster’s trusted brand and library of content, we enable any CE manufacturer to add an impressive digital movie service to its product offerings and in doing so, create the most flexible digital entertainment service for consumers.”
For now, Blockbuster intends to rent digital video on a pay-per-view basis or sell the movies to own. Keyes, though, said the company hopes to develop a subscription plan for consumers who want unlimited access to Blockbuster’s digital library.
With the introduction of this content provider heavyweight it may mean that some ISPs, like Comcast for example, will be forced to rethink their data download caps which, for Comcast is 250GB. An average Blu-ray download is more than 5GB on average.
jared@zeropaid.com
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