Published:
13-Jul-07
Microsoft has added content from Disney-ABC Domestic Television to its Xbox Live Marketplace. 35 movies from Disney-owned studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films, are now available on a rental basis. Nearly all of the titles are available in both SD and HD quality. In addition, Microsoft announced the expansion of the Marketplace service to Canada and Europe by the end of 2007.
Fellow console manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is expected to launch a video-on-demand service via the PlayStation Network by mid-2008. The store will enable users to download music, movies and television content directly to a PS3 or PSP.
Our take...
The addition of Disney content will supplement the movie library already available from Paramount, Lionsgate and Warner through the Xbox service. Since its November 2006 launch, nearly 10m pieces of entertainment content, including games, television shows and movies, have been downloaded from the Marketplace by Xbox 360 owners. Screen Digest estimates that over 2.7m of these downloads were movies and that in 2Q 2007 Xbox Live Marketplace accounted for around 50 per cent of the online digital movie rental market in the US. Of all the major Hollywood studios, Disney has shown the most reluctance to distribute its content through online digital rental and retail services. In the US Disney content is available on a digital retail basis through three platforms, the most notable being Apple's iTunes. Following the deal with Microsoft four US online services now offer content from the studio on a rental basis. In contrast, Warner and Sony each have 16 deals for digital distribution in the country.
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