HMV and Play.com to launch film download services

New Media Age is reporting that both HMV and Play.com are planning to launch film download services in the next six months.

HMV is expected to offer a trial service at the start of next year while Play's offering will come in the next few weeks.

"Next year is going to be very important for downloadable film", said Gideon Lask, HMV ecommerce director. "We don't want an 8-tonne gorilla to place itself in the room like iTunes did in the music industry."

Amazon and iTunes offer movie downloads in the states, this news has prompted speculation that the two giants could launch their full offerings in the UK soon.

According to statistics from Nielsen Online, interest in online entertainment sites has seen a year-on-year growth of 91%, from 641m minutes viewed in September 2006 to 1.2bn minutes 12 months later.

Tiscali Movie Downloads to Rent or Purchase

If you know which film you want to download, a great option is Tiscali's search tool to find it quickly. You can search for titles based on film title, actor, director or genre. Alternatively you can browse through their large catalogue of titles by collections which are listed on the left hand side of the home page (genre, studio, new releases etc).

Another Movie Downloads website, Tiscali, sell films on a rental or purchase basis. Titles ?To Rent? give you a 7 day window for watching the film once download is completed. As soon as you start playing the movie, a 24 or 48 hour viewing period kicks in. After this time the film can no longer be played but you can play, stop, rewind or fast-forward the film as many times as you like within the viewing period. All this information is clearly displayed in the basket before you complete your purchase.

Titles which you purchase ?To Own? have a different license that enables you to watch them as many times as you like. These titles are known as bundles because they comprise multiple digital files and sometimes a DVD. Two digital files are delivered, one for your computer and a smaller file that can be synchronised to your portable video player.