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Blockbuster Seeking to Bring Movie Downloads to Apple Devices?

Wednesday March 25, 2009 7:26 am PDT by Eric Slivka
Reuters reports today on a deal between TiVo and Blockbuster that will allow TiVo subscribers to download to their set-top boxes films offered through Blockbuster's OnDemand service. Looking beyond the TiVo agreement, a senior executive at Blockbuster revealed the company's intentions to pursue bringing a similar service to Apple's products.

"You will see us in a large number of other devices going forward," said Kevin Lewis, senior vice president of digital entertainment at Blockbuster, who added that the company also plans to makes its system available to Apple Inc's products. "We need to be in the normal places that consumers want to watch movies," he said.

It is unclear whether Apple shares Blockbuster's interest in bringing this service to its customers, as Blockbuster's offerings would directly compete with Apple's own video content available through the iTunes Store and Apple TV. Apple recently made HD movie rentals and sales available through the iTunes Store, signaling their continued commitment to Apple-controlled distribution of digital content.

According to Reuters, Blockbuster expects to offer about 10,000 movies upon launch of the TiVo service later this year, roughly double the number currently offered through the iTunes Store.

About 10,000 movies will be available when the service launches in the latter half of this year. Most rental films on Blockbuster.com today cost about $2 to $4, while purchased movies start at less than $10.

Blockbuster claimed that its roster of movies on TiVo will outshine that of online choices available at Netflix and Amazon. Indeed, while Amazon and Netflix have more videos available in total, most are older titles, whereas Blockbuster.com offers many more recent hits.



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