After five other Hollywood studios, Walt Disney signed a deal to make their films available over the internet.
In a move that is expected to bridge the gap between television and the Internet, CinemaNow Inc., a provider of on-demand movies, has announced the signing of a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.
Disney films such as "Glory Road" and the animated "Chicken Little" and other select movies and television shows on the very day of release, on a download-to-own basis via its website www.cinemanow.com, but the movies cannot be played on a standalone DVD player.
Movie watchers can now purchase Warner Bros. Pictures movies via electronic-sell-through. This is the first time that the television content of Warner Bros. would be available on a downloadable basis for consumers in the United States.
The first shows to be made available will include Warner Bros. television series ‘Babylon 5’ and ‘Duke of Hazard’. The movies to be initially offered include "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", "The Matrix" and "2001: A Space Odyssey". The two partners are also planning release of the downloadable version to coincide with DVD releases.
Movies will be made available over the internet the same day they are available on DVD. Customers would be able to move the films to other PCs or portable devices that support CinemaNow’s copyright-protection technology. The deal is not exclusive, which means Disney can offer its films elsewhere on the Web.
CinemaNow movies, which will be in Windows Media Video format, can be transferred to up to three devices, including portable players.
However, downloaded copies will not be able to be burned onto DVDs, a feature consumers’ want, but studios are not ready to allow until and unless the burned DVDs are more strongly protected against illegal copying.
CinemaNow will offer the option of transferring the film to a portable device later in June.
Disney’s announcement follows a handful of deals from April in which Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures jointly started a download-to-own film service via Movielink. Apple is also reportedly looking into offering feature film downloads via iTunes.
The main thing is Disney chose us to be first for them to go out with electronic sell-through on the Internet, said Bruce Eisen, president of CinemaNow. "We take that as a real nice vote of confidence."
Movielink does not yet offer transfer of films to portable devices, although the company said it hopes to have that feature within a year.
The companies announced that CinemaNow will sell the films for $19.95 and in June will allow consumers to transfer films to a portable device running Microsoft Corp’s Windows Media software.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Disney’s Home Video arm, is to make the films available, on a download-to-own basis.
We are pleased about this broadband distribution opportunity which allows Buena Vista Home Entertainment to provide viewers with more flexibility in viewing their favorite new releases and catalog movies on this emerging distribution platform, commented Pat Fitzgerald, Executive Vice President of Sales, Distribution and Trade Marketing, Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
Major Hollywood studios have not yet allowed films to be burned onto a DVD that can be played on a standard DVD player, although adult entertainment company Vivid Entertainment has started doing just that through CinemaNow.
Those films are priced between $20 and $30.
More titles on a legal, downloadable basis will also be available soon– giving consumers the right to own individual episodes or an entire season of WBTV’s content. This content would be protected by Microsoft’s Windows Digital Rights Management (DRM) software.
"We believe that Warner’s large library of outstanding motion pictures and television shows will be very attractive to our customers."
At Warner Bros., Jim Wuthrich, SVP Digital Distribution of their Home Entertainment Group said, "This is one more way for consumers to enjoy Warner Bros. high quality digital entertainment."
Starting June 6 this year with the DVD release of basketball drama "Glory Road", Disney will begin offering both new movies and older catalog titles like "The Insider" via CinemaNow. Eisen explained that prices would be similar to DVDs or about $20 per new title, and $10 for some of the older films.
According to reports, Disney’s pact with CinemaNow is non-exclusive, meaning Disney can make similar deals with other online services in the future.
Sony and Lionsgate have also begun selling some films on CinemaNow, which is partly owned by Microsoft, Lionsgate, Cisco Systems Inc. and Blockbuster Inc. Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.
CinemaNow said it is negotiating with other studios to offer films on the site. Announcements of similar deals could come as early as this week.
Portability is a key factor for studios such as Disney, whose films are watched as often by children riding in cars as college students on their computers. Disney’s deal with CinemaNow is its first foray into the download-to-own market, although it rents its films online.
Portability also makes it easier to transfer a movie from a computer in a den or bedroom to a large TV screen in the living room, where most people prefer to watch films.