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Blockbuster, Sonic Solutions in Web movie alliance
LOS ANGELES, Jan 14, 2009 (Reuters via COMTEX) --
Blockbuster Inc, trying to keep pace with
rival Netflix Inc and others in the fledgling digital movie sector, on Tuesday
said it reached a deal with Sonic Solutions to provide thousands of films to
various devices.
Blockbuster will offer 10,000 premium films and 40,000 digital titles
altogether to Windows and Mac-enabled computers, portable media players, Blu-ray
Disc players, personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top boxes, mobile phones and
Web-connected TV sets through technology owned by Sonic Solutions, which
recently bought CinemaNow, an online movie pioneer.
Sonic Solutions and Blockbuster are collaborating with a many consumer
electronic companies, including Sonic's existing CinemaNow partners, such as
Dell, Archos among others.
James McQuivey, analyst with Forrester, said the alliance improves
Blockbuster's competitive stance in the fledgling online delivery space.
"Netflix pioneered the idea of putting the service into more than one
device. Blockbuster is trying to reassure technology partners that they are
eager to get into the space," he said.
Blockbuster on Tuesday said it was considering a digital subscription
offering down the road, but was sticking for now to offering films digitally on
an a la carte basis via streaming and downloading.
Tom Adams, of Adams Media Research, said because Blockbuster offers films
on an ala carte basis, it will have newer quality content than Netflix, which
is often criticized for offering older titles.
Netflix has faced challenges in obtaining the rights from Hollywood
studios to provide newer films digitally because it is offering them through a
subscription basis and Hollywood has more restrictions when licensing movies
digitally for subscription services.
"Blockbuster's selection will be better than what Netflix is offering,"
he said.
"Our goal through this alliance is to have the Blockbuster movie service
available in a wide range of devices, beginning as soon as the second quarter of
2009, including PCs, portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, personal
video recorders (PVRs), set top boxes, mobile phones and Web-connected
television sets," a Blockbuster spokesman said.
Sonic's CinemaNow will enable us to not only offer progressive downloads,
but streaming, via a wide variety of consumer electronic devices.
(Reporting by Sue Zeidler; editing by Carol Bishopric) Keywords: BLOCKBUSTER
SONICSOLUTIONS
(susan.zeidler@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 213 955 6748; Reuters Messaging:
susan.zeidler.reuters.com@reuters.net)
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