Hollywood knocks on the download door

Several major film studios are announcing plans Monday to make movies available for download onto PCs.

Consumers would be able to save the films to watch any time, and would pay between $10 and $30 to download, depending on how new the film is. New movies are expected to be released for download the day the DVD goes on sale.

The industry has been moving toward online distribution for a while, though just how eagerly is subject to debate. The new services, available through MovieLink and CinemaNow, should prompt repercussions along the distribution line, from DVD sales to cable TV to the video rental business.

Blog community response:

"This move is clearly an orchestrated attempt by Hollywood to loosen up its strict online distribution policies to get ahead of the rise of unauthorized film distribution on the web. The move also possibly presages a similar deal with Apple's iTunes, which has been wooing Hollywood for sale of full-length films via its popular platform."
--IP Democracy

"What's less clear is how the new service will play with pay-TV services like HBO and Showtime, which traditionally get movies six months after they show up at Wal-Mart and three months or so after they can be downloaded to computers."
--PaidContent.org

"The item I find most exciting about this service is not so much that the latest releases will be available, but also back catalogues. I'm not sure what format they will be using, but even if they supply the raw DVD on a 10Mb connection it will only take around 45-60 mins for movie to arrive."
--Connected Internet