IP Democracy: Download to Burn Movies Hit the Internet

Bolstered by what appears to be a major studio-backed PR campaign (NYT article here, LA Times article here, Reuters article here), two online movie distributors announced this morning that they will sell movies that customers can download and burn to DVDs. This download-to-own model is a breakthrough for traditional Hollywood films, which the studios have been reluctant to release via the Internet on anything but a rental basis.

Studio-backed Movielink announced announced it has deals with MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros that allow customers to purchase films for download and burning. However, the DVDs that are created from these film downloads will only be viewable via PC playback, a sign that the studios are not yet ready to cross the final boundary between PC and TV.

Movielink will makes films available on the same day and date they are released for traditional DVD sales. Among the films available will be Brokeback Mountain, King Kong, Good Night, and Good Luck, Pride & Prejudice, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Walk the Line.

Another movie web site, CinemaNow announced a deal to sell 85 download-to-burn films with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lionsgate. Among the films available for download are Memoirs of a Geisha and Saw II.

The two sites are pursuing different pricing strategies. Films on Movielink are priced at $20 to $30 for new releases and $10 for old releases; movies on CinemaNow are priced at $9.95 to $19.95.

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.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on April 3, 2006 7:21 AM to IP Democracy