Mountain View, California — In a novel shift to capture movie enthusiasts, on Tuesday Google Inc.’s YouTube and Google Play video services has announced a new partnership with 20th Century Fox, that will make Google’s catalog stronger with more than 600 new movies and TV shows such as “Family Guy,” “Glee” and “X-Men”, as well as Prometheus can be watched three weeks before the DVD hits the shelves in the US.
The move for Google customers is that they now have easy access to an enormous catalog of 600 titles that they can purchase and rent, and watch on their favorite Android device.
In fact, to celebrate and enjoy the new association, customers can purchase Fox’s latest release of Prometheus in HD for less than $15, available just three weeks ahead of the Blu-ray, DVD and video-on-demand release.
“Today you can buy Fox’s new release Prometheus in HD, available three weeks ahead of the Blu-ray, DVD and video-on-demand release,” writes Jonathan Zepp, Manager of TV & Film Content Partnerships at Google, on the Official Google Blog. “And over the next few weeks you will be able to rent or buy your favorite Fox movies like X-Men, Ice Age and Black Swan, and TV shows like ‘Glee,’ ‘Modern Family,’ ‘New Girl’ and many more.”
Apart from numerous other titles, additional new releases this year will include Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Ice Age: Continental Drift, The Watch, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. All releases will also be available in UltraViolet.
Along with loads of other title includes Family Guy, as Zepp explains in his post. “Google Play and YouTube offer the latest new movie releases and your favorite TV shows to enjoy on your Android phone or tablet and on the web,” he says. “But you have been missing one critical thing…Stewie Griffin.”
Elaborating on the new alliance, a company spokesperson said, “We are thrilled to welcome Twentieth Century Fox to the Google family. This new partnership expands our movies and TV shows catalog and, most importantly, gives consumers the opportunity to rent or own some of the best new releases and classic films ever made.”
But more importantly, these new titles will be available first in the U.S., but they will also be coming to other countries in the near future, though Google does not specify where or when that will be. “We are now working with all six of the major film studios and many independent studios to bring you the best new releases and your favorite classics to rent or own,” said Zepp.
Amazingly, Google now has all six of the major film studios on board, as well as a number of independent studios. The search engine leader, meanwhile, hopping to expand YouTube beyond its amateur-video roots to become a bigger source of Hollywood entertainment. The company also is trying to bolster Google Play, a service that lets users get movies, shows and books on their Android smartphones and tablets.
On the other hand, the Fox studio is seeking ways to garner more online revenue from its films and TV shows, which often are pirated and viewed for free.
Hence, this fresh alliance is just part of a broader initiative from Twentieth Century Fox, called Digital HD, which lets users download or stream over 600 Fox movies on various devices via Google Play and YouTube, as well as Amazon, CinemaNow, iTunes, Playstation, VUDU, and Xbox Live.