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Day-and-date movies come to iTunes

PRESS RELEASE: May 1, 2008—Apple® today announced that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios are available for purchase on the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com) on the same day as their DVD release. New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod® with video, iPhone™, Mac® or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV®, with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99.

“We’re thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios.”

New releases available for purchase on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include “American Gangster” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Other popular titles now available for purchase include “Juno,” “Cloverfield,” “I Am Legend,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

Pricing & Availability
Movie purchases and rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac or Windows require iTunes 7.6.2, available as a free download immediately from www.itunes.com. iTunes movie purchases and rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. iTunes Movies are available in the US only and are $9.99 (US) for library title purchases and $14.99 (US) for new release purchases and $2.99 (US) for library title rentals and $3.99 (US) for new release rentals, and high definition rental versions are priced just one dollar more with library title rentals at $3.99 (US) and new release rentals at $4.99 (US). Short films are available to rent for 99 cents (US). Movies can be previewed, purchased and watched on iPod classic, iPod nano with video, iPod touch, iPhone and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.

Blockbuster Online

One of my biggest criticisms of Blockbuster Online’s service was how it dealt with high-def titles. While they carry Blu-ray and HD DVD movies, these were different titles than the same movie on DVD. They would not automatically send the Blu-ray version of a film, you would have to select that specific title.

Recently (and I’m not sure when) they have finally come to parity with Netflix in this regard. They now allow the user to receive Blu-ray, HD DVD or both instead of the DVD version.

My friend just walked me through the process of setting this up, and it’s fairly simple. In the account settings you chose an option for high-def, and they confirm you have a high-def player, high-def TV and supporting cables and then you select which hierarchy you would like, and you’re ready to go.

I’m still waiting to find out how much this rate hike will be for Netflix, but I am certainly taking another look at Blockbuster Online.

Editor’s note: You can also discuss DVD Rental Services with us at http://dvdrentalforums.com

Netflix plans to raise prices for Blu-ray subscribers

An upsetting move from Netflix who recently lowered subscription rates, President and CEO Reed Hastings recently announced a rate hike for Blu-ray subscribers was in the works.

Purchasing Blu-ray DVDs costs more both at retail and wholesale than standard definition DVDs, and consumers are used to paying more for high-definition content in every other channel, including video rental stores, video-on-demand, and cable channels. Because of the higher cost of Blu-ray and the consumer expectations around high-def content, we are planning on implementing a modest monthly premium for access to Blu-ray some time this year.

He did not give any information concerning when this increase would take effect or how much it will be. I hope it’s no more than $1.00 per month.

While I do agree that Blu-ray is a higher quality product and worth the extra cost, I feel this is not a competitive move while Blockbuster is offering this for free, plus they include free rentals when you return a movie to a store location. While I prefer the Netflix service, if Blockbuster starts offering more features for less I might have to revisit that option.

Blockbuster expands Blu-ray to all US and Canadian stores

Last year, Blockbuster Video scandalized the “format war” by choosing Blu-ray for 1,700 of their stores across North America. Yesterday they announced they will be expanding to all corporate stores in the US and Canada. Franchise stores are not included, but can opt-in if they’re willing. With nearly 5,200 stores in the US, this is a big boost for the Blu-ray business.

Not only will they feature Blu-ray rentals and purchases, they are also pushing Blu-ray by displaying a kiosk with a 42″ HD television and a Sony Playstation 3 playing Blu-ray content. Another example of the industry now fully embracing the winning format.

While this is all good for some, locally there have been five Blockbuster franchise stores close in the past several months. It is beginning to look like the brick-and-mortar video rental shops are increasingly less sustainable. With Movie Gallery filing bankruptcy in October of last year, and their subsequent closing of 500 stores, they too are looking to online rental and video downloads to increase their business.

Press release

Netflix streaming to PS3, Xbox360

This seems too good to be true, but I’m hearing that internet-connected Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox360 consoles will both stream movies directly from Netflix. This amazing feature costs nothing above your existing Netflix subscription fee.

The Xbox360 user will use their existing Xbox LIVE account. “You can choose from over 7,000 movies and TV series, and your choice starts playing on your TELEVISION in as little as 30 seconds.”

The PS3 requires a one-time purchase of a specially-formatted DVD for $3. “Now you can watch movies from Netflix instantly by using your Internet-connected Playstation 3. Simply insert a special Netflix disc into your PS/3 to enable instant movie streaming. The disc is available from Netflix for a one-time fee of $3.”

Source: Seanbajuice

Netflix to support Blu-ray exclusively

Over the remainder of the year it’s going to be increasingly more difficult to acquire HD DVD movies apparently. The leading online movie rental company, Netflix Inc., has announced they will phase out HD DVD by the end of the year. You already can’t rent HD DVD in most Blockbuster stores, so by next year it seems Blockbuster Online will be the only place to rent HD DVDs, that is unless they also follow suit. The ironic thing is many HD DVD fanatics called on a boycott of Blockbuster after they announced they would exclusively rent Blu-ray Discs in their stores last year.

“The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. “We’re now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def.”

Netflix states that a majority of subscribers that have selected high-def rentals have chosen Blu-ray over HD DVD. No numbers were provided.

The plan is to only purchase Blu-ray Discs from here on out and to phase out the current stock of HD DVD. They did not mention if they would sell the stock off or how they plan on this.

This is really just another sign showing the obvious, HD DVD’s days are numbered. As I said before, there is no war anymore and the HD DVD holdouts are simply insurgents. This isn’t fanboy, this isn’t because I’m dedicated to any format, this is because it’s clear as day that the war is over.

Netflix’s press release says it clearly in the opening line: “With the industry now having picked a winner in the face-off between the two competing high-definition DVD formats, Netflix … will move toward stocking high-def DVDs exclusively in the Blu-ray format.”

Netflix hopes for Mac delivery

I consider this good news as I use a MacBook for the majority of my personal computing and I use Netflix. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, said they’re planning on bringing “Watch-Instantly” to the Mac platform. Previously it has only been available to PC users through Internet Explorer.

Netflix has been using Microsoft Windows Media digital-rights-managed codecs to protect the content, but Apple uses their own FairPlay DRM which they have not licensed. It’s ridiculous that Apple uses tactics Microsoft has been sued for and nobody bothers (probably because the Mac lifestyle gives Apple a free pass on quite a bit just because it’s “hip”), but I’m not sure why Netflix can’t simply use Open Source Software DRM for cross-platform, cross-browser support.

Regardless, Hastings believes the future of online distribution will grow substantially. He views the Watch-Instantly feature as just the first foray into online distribution.

As a side point, Hastings mentioned that Warner’s support of Blu-ray exclusively should help grow the BD rental business.