Variety reports this morning that in the wake of Wal-Mart’s announcement yesterday that it is getting into the movie download business with all six major US film studios as content suppliers, Amazon.com and TiVo will test a system that will allow people with TiVo machines to watch movies and television programs downloaded via Amazon’s website.
Amazon introduced a movie download service last year, but has not gotten much traction, at least in part because there has been no way to watch the movies on television. And TiVo has been testing ways in which to transfer its DVD rental service into an online environment.
Amazon introduced a movie download service last year, but has not gotten much traction, at least in part because there has been no way to watch the movies on television. And TiVo has been testing ways in which to transfer its DVD rental service into an online environment.
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Later this month, Apple will introduce its new Apple TV system that will allow users to download movies onto their computers via iTunes and then wirelessly play them on their television sets. The Apple TV box will come with a 40 GB hard drive, so you don’t even have to store the programs on your computer.
This is all just the beginning. The movie download business hardly exists, and yet the innovations to this point are somewhat breathtaking.
To repeat the point we were making yesterday, all this wrangling over the movie download space should be a cautionary note to retailers spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to better and more effectively market DVDs.
Ironically, Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Supervalu will be installing Redbox DVD rental kiosks in 187 of its Jewel-Osco stores. Redbox, which is co-owned by McDonald’s and Coinstar, is in some 2,000 locations around the country.
We’re not saying that this is a bad move. What we are saying is that the DVD is today’s technology. You’ve got to start thinking about tomorrow.
