Officially Licensed Downloadable Movies

Two movie download services, Cinema Now and Movielink, have announced that they have entered into licensing agreements with major studios.  Cinema Now has inked agreements with Sony Home Pictures Entertainment and Lionsgate Films, while Movielink has signed with Warner Bros., Universal, Sony Pictures, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox and MGM.  Of the seven studios that Movielink has signed with, five are in joint ownership of the company.  In addition, both companies have non-exclusive licenses with other studios and licensors.

With digital media comes heavy DRM implementation and Microsoft’s DRM software is the system of choice for both services.  Rentals from either company are yours to watch as many times as you wish during a 24-hour period which begins the moment you first start to view a film.  Purchased films are storable indefinitely, but neither company allows the movie to be burned to a DVD for playback on a standard player.  Movielink does allow their movies to be transferred onto 2 additional computers for playback, with the copies being managed by their Movielink Manager software.

Cinema Now has better pricing with purchased movies being offered for $9.95 to $19.95 and rentals going for $2.99 to $3.99.  Movielink on the other hand, charges more with purchasable movies going for $20 to $30, and rentals for $0.99 to $4.99.  (All prices quoted are in US dollars.)

DRM complications aside, with purchases prices rivaling and often exceeding that of a movie on DVD, it’s doubtful that traditional rental services like Netflix and Blockbuster have anything to worry about . . . for the short term.  Oh, and put away your trusty Firefox or other Internet browser as both services only work with Internet Explorer.

Read More | Cinema Now via Pocket-lint
Read More | Movielink