Best Buy rumored to take on iTunes with movie download store

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Apple authorized reseller Best Buy will soon add its name to a growing list of firms bidding for a slice of the online movie download business, according to a new report.



Citing unnamed Hollywood studio executives, Variety.com claims the No. 1 U.S. specialty electronics retailer is in talks with CinemaNow and other digital movie download providers about a potential partnership regarding the service, which would ideally launch as early as this summer.



Best Buy is just one of several big-box retailers scrambling to adapt the the digital landscape for movie downloads in the face of plummeting sales of physical DVD, which have long been one of its bread-and-butter businesses.



The report is not clear on how Best Buy would benefit from the rumored partnership with CinemaNow but speculates that the chain may market its own brand of web-enabled devices, such as big-screne TVs and Blu-ray players, that would tap into the service.



Such a move would be similar to those employed by Blockbuster, Amazon, and Netflix, each of which have partnered with set-top-box makes like TiVo and Roku to push their digital catalogs into consumers' living rooms.



For Best Buy to be successful, it would mean defying the odds. Similarly situated Wal-Mart attempted a launch its own movie download service with the help of HP back in 2007 but never made it past the test phase.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 43
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Movie downloads are about as open a field as you can get.



    Apple made hay with iPods and iTunes for music but they haven't really

    cornered the market when it comes to downloadable movies.



    I say the more the merrier though even as we get more vendors I'm not

    noticing any real pricing advantage.



    I've grown quite accustomed to purchasing 2nd hand movies from craigslist in

    bundles and that's not going to stop anytime soon.
  • Reply 2 of 43
    So, how many "Company XYZ takes on iTunes/iPod/iPhone/___ (fill in the blank)" stories have we had now?



    I am sure someone will succeed some day, but right now everybody is playing catch-up.
  • Reply 3 of 43
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    the name of the game i trust



    i trust to buy DRM'd stuff from ITunes because it has been around for a few years, it's stable and Apple is not going out of business.



    MS changes their online strategy every year it seems. same with best buy, after 2-3 years if they are still around and the price is worth it then i'll look at it



    i'm not about to risk "buying" something only to have the store fold and my drm'd files will be useless and unplayable
  • Reply 4 of 43
    I don't understand what's the need for referring to this action in such adversarial terms "to take on iTunes"?

    Why can't it just be "Best Buy rumored to join the movie download party". I understand the instinct to create compelling headlines - but try not to cross the line between creativity and deception.
  • Reply 5 of 43
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by al_bundy View Post


    i trust to buy DRM'd stuff from ITunes because it has been around for a few years, it's stable and Apple is not going out of business.



    MS changes their online strategy every year it seems. same with best buy, after 2-3 years if they are still around and the price is worth it then i'll look at it



    100% agreement ? I do the same for the same reason (plus convenience). I am just not sure that a majority will decide on anything else but price.



    IMHO, Apple needs to make up their minds where they want to take AppleTV (and FrontRow). So far it is a one trick pony with too many limitations (narrow format support, no DVD/BD-Player, no PVR functionality, no 1080p), I still like it, but most of my content is from Apple. If others embed their services in more useful/flexible devices, then Apple might get cornered rather soon.
  • Reply 6 of 43
    bdkennedy1bdkennedy1 Posts: 1,459member
    Yeah, like that's gonna happen.



    I know I always associate movie rentals with Best Buy. <sarcasm>
  • Reply 7 of 43
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    If Apple for whatever reason can't deliver more movies than what they currently offer, open it up. This closed system doctrine for Apple re everything will ultimately result with its failure and the movie catalogue is the main reason. It's just not a serious addition to a home system with that catalogue. Hopefully ATV will change- by opening it up.
  • Reply 8 of 43
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdkennedy1 View Post


    Yeah, like that's gonna happen.



    I know I always associate movie rentals with Best Buy. <sarcasm>



    Well a lot of people associate them with movie DVD purchases.



    I associate them with scratched-up dented MacBooks myself.
  • Reply 9 of 43
    A venture which they will botch due to lack of market penetration and the way they will surely try to peddle it in their stores.
  • Reply 10 of 43
    Doesn't or didn't Best Buy get into the music download business? I haven't seen too much about it lately. Why would movies work if music didn't?
  • Reply 11 of 43
    jimdreamworxjimdreamworx Posts: 1,095member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by carloblackmore View Post


    I don't understand what's the need for referring to this action in such adversarial terms "to take on iTunes"?

    Why can't it just be "Best Buy rumored to join the movie download party". I understand the instinct to create compelling headlines - but try not to cross the line between creativity and deception.



    What's the point of a headline if it can't be deceptive?

    How else can it be compelling?



    Kent Brockman is your guide on things like this.

    "A world leader has been assassinated. We'll tell you who... right after this commercial message..."
  • Reply 12 of 43
    brclark82brclark82 Posts: 182member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ifiredmyboss.com View Post


    Doesn't or didn't Best Buy get into the music download business? I haven't seen too much about it lately. Why would movies work if music didn't?



    Best Buy now owns Napster, which may be how they are planning on distributing these movies.
  • Reply 13 of 43
    rainrain Posts: 538member
    Remember that movie rentals and Apple TV are still "Hobbies" for Apple.



    If Apple had been aggressive with it's video offerings as it was with music, it would have a huge market advantage right now. Instead, it's probably 4th or 5th out of what... 30-40 companies offering video downloads and having set-top boxes?



    If they made the Apple TV actually useful, I know of 7 people right now who would buy one, myself included. Until then, Apple isn't even an option. Nobody wants to invest in a 'hobby' project that doesn't function.

    More Apple TV sales = more downloads.
  • Reply 14 of 43
    Too little too late for Best Buy.



    Netflix/Tivo/Amazon/XBOX are formidable challengers. Comcast is now releasing new movies on the day they come available on DVD (ie. Frost/Nixon and The Wrestler). New TVS are coming out with these features imbedded.



    Together, they may just be too much for even Apple to take on, much less Best Buy. I think its the equipment cost and no DVR is the biggest barrier.
  • Reply 15 of 43
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Love my AppleTV.



    Does anyone know how many movie titles are currently on the AppleTv? I watch about 3 movies per month. It's gonna take me about 3 years just to watch the top 100 movies.



    Larger catalog? I can't keep up with the current one.
  • Reply 16 of 43
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rain View Post


    Remember that movie rentals and Apple TV are still "Hobbies" for Apple.



    If Apple had been aggressive with it's video offerings as it was with music, it would have a huge market advantage right now. Instead, it's probably 4th or 5th out of what... 30-40 companies offering video downloads and having set-top boxes?



    If they made the Apple TV actually useful, I know of 7 people right now who would buy one, myself included. Until then, Apple isn't even an option. Nobody wants to invest in a 'hobby' project that doesn't function.

    More Apple TV sales = more downloads.



    Although I agree with you that Apple could do more to make AppleTV a general purpose media appliance, the availability of movie downloads is most certainly a function of the studios.



    Apple can't be as aggressive with movies as they were with music, because the studios have the object lesson of the success of iTunes making them extremely wary of granting the same kind of channel dominance again.



    Whether that actually makes economic sense for the studios in the long run, I can't say.
  • Reply 17 of 43
    mark2005mark2005 Posts: 1,158member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rain View Post


    Remember that movie rentals and Apple TV are still "Hobbies" for Apple.



    If Apple had been aggressive with it's video offerings as it was with music, it would have a huge market advantage right now. Instead, it's probably 4th or 5th out of what... 30-40 companies offering video downloads and having set-top boxes?



    Apple has consistently claimed that "The iTunes Store is the world?s most popular online TV and movie store, with over 250 million TV episodes purchased and over 33 million movies purchased and rented." This quote from PR on Mar 19, 2009. And nobody has ever publicly challenged Apple on that claim, so they are very likely to be #1, not #4 or 5, for video downloads



    Jobs called AppleTV a hobby but he never said that about movie rentals. Movie rentals can be played on a computer or iPod/iPhone as well.
  • Reply 18 of 43
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    It would have to take something very, very special for me to leave the Apple ecosystem when it comes to downloadable content.
  • Reply 19 of 43
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    For Best Buy to be successful, it would mean defying the odds. Similarly situated Wal-Mart attempted a launch its own movie download service with the help of HP back in 2007 but never made it past the test phase.



    Hollywood is screwing this up. On-line movie purchases should be no different than buying a DVD at Wal-mart, Best Buy, or even your local grocery store. Hollywood needs to create a standardized DRM (there's couldn't be worse than anybody else's) and let everyone sell players and titles from whomever wants to jump in and compete. People should be able to buy digital movie downloads from virtually every on-line store they visit, just like a DVD. Hollywood needs to pony up the money and stop looking for everyone else to provide the solutions.
  • Reply 20 of 43
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pixelcruncher View Post


    Hollywood is screwing this up. On-line movie purchases should be no different than buying a DVD at Wal-mart, Best Buy, or even your local grocery store. Hollywood needs to create a standardized DRM (there's couldn't be worse than anybody else's) and let everyone sell players and titles from whomever wants to jump in and compete. People should be able to buy digital movie downloads from virtually every on-line store they visit, just like a DVD. Hollywood needs to pony up the money and stop looking for everyone else to provide the solutions.



    This idea is a bit optimistic... in the best case, they might come up with something like one DRM per studio or a Sony rootkit, or with things being required to be licensed and implemented at the OS kernel level (as with BD), then causing OS makers to not accept it or Open Source systems to be unable to afford it. If they want online sales to pick up, they should at least give us the same possibilities as with physical media ? I can share DVDs/BDs with my colleagues and sell them, DRM is only a copy-protection here (and even that takes away your right to make a private copy/backup). For some odd reason, DRM with online media is more than a copy-protection and ties content to hardware (obviously in an attempt to make you buy the same thing several times; something nobody will do, unless pricing goes down drastically). None of these systems really work, they only limit legitimate buyers.
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