Internet movie rental service Movielink LLC (www.movielink.com) and on-demand movie provider CinemaNow Inc. (www.cinemanow.com) entered the download business Monday.
Movielink now offers movies to purchase on the same business day and date as their DVD-release windows. The company will offer subscribers the ability to download and own movies, but only for playback on PCs.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. will supply the movies.
A quick look Monday found Movielink offering King Kong for $19.99, a special offer compared with its regular $26.99 list price. Walk the Line and The 40 Year Old Virgin were also available for $26.99, while Must Love Dogs was priced at $24.99.
Buyers can share the movie on several PCs and burn a DVD of the movie using Microsoft Corp.’s “Windows Media 9,” but encryption software prevents them from playing the DVD in a DVD player for display on a TV.
Buyers can use a “Microsoft Media Center Edition PC” to stream a copy of the movie to a TV set connected to a “Media Center Extender” on an “Xbox.”
The purchase price is higher than what DVDs sell for in store, with Movielink executives citing the download convenience and multi-PC access for the roughly $10 in price difference.
Among other movies about to debut for purchase on Movielink: Good Night and Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain, Price & Prejudice, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Fun with Dick and Jane.
As for CinemaNow, the company reached licensing agreements with Sony and Lionsgate to offer movies for download-to-own purchase through its Web site, for unlimited playback on the download device.
The company said the agreements mark the first time content has been made available on CinemaNow in the traditional home-video window.
CinemaNow customers can now choose from more than 85 premium Sony, MGM and Lionsgate films for legal and secure download, at prices from $9.95-$19.95.
The service is also offering a limited-time “Buy One, Get One for $4.95” promotion, under which customers who buy one movie at regular price can purchase another for $4.95.
All content will be copy-protected by Microsoft’s “Windows Digital Rights Management” software, CinemaNow said.
