Movie Downloads from Blockbuster

Blockbuster has taken the step and begin offering, still as a beta only service movie downloads and movie rentals. This new service marks the integration of the Movielink service which they purchased just about one year ago.

Currently Blockbuster is offering around 5,000 movie and TV shows which can be either purchased or just rented. The movie pricing begins at $7.99 and the rental pricing starts at $1.99.

The movie purchase and rentals are an interesting approach, especially considering how rival Netflix remains just with streaming movies on a subscription level. Blockbuster is planning to offer some movie titles for purchase on the day of the DVD release, and also make those titles available for rent within the VOD window.

While I like the Netflix approach better, because its already tied into my standard account, I think the likely winner will be the one who will be able to offer more new release titles faster.

The Blockbuster movies also have a variety of options for viewing, which is a nice plus for them. They can be watched on your regular Windows PC, a TV through a Windows Media Center PC, by using the AT&T Homezone set-top box, an Xbox 360, as well as a variety of portable media players.

Blockbuster turns to the net to survive

As Blockbuster Inc. continues to slug it out with rival Netflix Inc., it?s staking its claims to differentiation and its future on a bid to be a multi-channel retailer and not just a DVD rental company. And in repositioning to a multi-platform strategy, the Internet and e-commerce figure to play a big role.

A recent overhaul to Blockbuster.com sets the stage for multi-channel offerings, CEO Jim Keyes is telling analysts this spring. For example, Keyes says that customers will be able to purchase movie downloads from Blockbuster.com by the end of the second quarter. The company also plans to experiment with digital downloads at kiosks in stores.

Blockbuster?s $6.6 million acquisition last year of Movielink LLC, which has an inventory of thousands of movies and TV shows, will facilitate the company?s ability to provide digital content to a variety of formats, including personal computers, portable devices, and, eventually, home TV screens.

Blockbuster also is using a marketing deal with Yahoo to generate more sales online and in stores, and it has announced plans to partner with Paramount Pictures and MTV Networks to offer exclusive digital content. Read more about the Blockbuster Yahoo deal.

The company expects to spend some $130 million this year on capital projects including $40 million on information technology and web infrastructure upgrades.

?As new entertainment technologies emerge, consumer options multiply,? Keyes notes. ?All of these initiatives underscore our determination to position Blockbuster as the only provider of media content across all platforms?in-store, by mail and by digital download.?

Movie downloads – an interesting debate

Apple CEO Steve Jobs dropped a bombshell on HD DVD, Blu-ray, Blockbuster, Arts Alliance Media (Love Film and Vizumi movie downloads) any everybody else in the movie download business this week.

Steve Jobs announced at Macworld that iTunes will now rent out movies. Users will be able to download movies and watch them on iPods, iPhones, Apple TV or home computers. Inevitably, Apple has the support from all the major movie studios.

So will history repeat itself and Apple repeat what they did to the music industry with iTunes and change the way we watch movies with iMovies?

An interesting battle to come out of this news will be the battle of HD. Movie lovers will have more options than ever on how they prefer to enjoy their movies and no doubts that digital downloads are the future but not overnight. Average Joe isn?t going to immediately throw out DVD player tomorrow to buy an Apple TV.

In the same instance, Blu-ray may never reach mass usage before digital downloads become mainstream. However, physical media will not vanish because many consumers like to own something they can touch and feel so DVDs will still be in demand for the short term. Another thing to support this is that the market is full of DVD players and only in recent year has seen the VHS video disappear from the shelves. And, when up-scaled, many regular DVDs look surprisingly impressive on HD TVs.

One thing against DVD collections is they take up so much room and that is where digital downloads has an advantage. Conversely, you will need a device big enough to store all these downloads and also Broadband that allows you unlimited downloads.

Before Apple announced their movie download plans, many digital movie rental services already have existed. Websites such as Netflix, Cinema Now and Vizumi Movie Downloads allow movie streaming for its users, offering legal movie downloads to own and rent, and importantly backed by film studios.

HD video-on-demand is available from certain cable TV providers. You can download HD movies from Xbox Live but the choice of movies is limited. Downloads can take forever. Quality can be poor and this is frustrating having taken so long to download and although iTunes presence will help movie download rentals forward, home-theater geeks will complain that Apple's HD video quality is only 720p and audio is only Dolby Digital 5.1 which is good enough for the general user.

So what are Apple charging for movie downloads? This is where the battle for movie downloads could we won or lost. Apple is currently offering $4.99 to download a HD movie. Users then have 30 days to watch it and 24 hours after you start watching to finish it. It will be very interesting to see what Microsoft does which already has 18 million Xbox 360s in homes worldwide and also Sony with the recent success of Playstation 3 and also PSP.

Subscription plans are not yet available and users will demand watching HD movies as often as they like with no restrictions.

As for the electronic market, there will be big demand for a combo HD DVR/HD-movie-library downloading unit. One solution would be to merge HD channels, regular TV channels and HD movie-rental services into one subscription package for a monthly fee.

The writing's on the walls of video rental stores such as Blockbuster and I expect they will jump on the band wagon of movie downloads also. Why waste petrol driving to Blockbuster if you can download it from the comfort of your home? Even Netflix seems like a hassle in comparison because who exactly wants to wait hours upon hours for a Blu-ray movie to show up in the mailbox?

One thing is for sure, the movie download market is going to get very competitive which is great for us the consumer as it will bring the best products and lower prices.

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Blockbuster plans to turn to Digital

Despite popular opinion forecasting an upcoming bankruptcy, Blockbuster is determined to move ahead in the world of movie rentals and is revamping their business model to eventually morph into a digital download giant.

Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes outlined the plan at the Citigroup 2008 Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference on Tuesday, stating that in the first two quarters of this year we'll beginning seeing kiosks in Blockbuster stores that will allow movie downloads. The will be the first step in Keyes' plan to turn Blockbuster into "an entertainment convenience store." The kiosks will likely be a stepping stone on Blockbuster's way to offering a digital movie download service on the web.

Interestingly, when responding to a question about the potential of flash drives in movie download distribution, Keyes said "we are working on a flash drive ourselves...a micro SD chip for side-load capabilities into portable devices, and we?re working on direct download to a device itself.? We'll have to keep our eyes out for the Blockbuster flash drive in the future.

Keyes was bullish about Blockbuster's financial potential this year, citing high gas prices, the turning of the tides in the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war, the downfall of competitor Movie Gallery, and the lack of fresh television content thanks to the Hollywood Writer's Strike.

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