Blockbuster announces cable VOD tie-ups, expanding CinemaNow OnDemand deal

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Blockbuster announces cable VOD tie-ups, expanding CinemaNow OnDemand deal

by Richard Lawler posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 9:26AM
As a part of its "transformation to a Multi-Channel Brand" Blockbuster continues to use its name recognition to reach new markets, simultaneously trumpeting the success of a partnership with CinemaNow, resulting in Blockbuster OnDemand on Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray players, as well as other hardware and soon, Motorola phones, while also easing into the cable video on-demand arena. In deals with Suddenlink and Mediacom via their VOD provider, Avail-TVN, they'll start off slowly by rebranding parts of their VOD service under the Blockbuster name, do some cross-promotion and then eventually take their relationship to the next level by allowing customers to search the rental giant's Blu-ray and DVD library for movies that might not be on VOD right now. The old dog seems willing to try anything to get back on top, but alone or all together, it's tough to see these strategies restoring the customer base Netflix and Redbox continue to eat away.

Read - Blockbuster Enters Strategic Alliance With Cable Operators Suddenlink Communications and Mediacom Communications

Roxio CinemaNow to Power BLOCKBUSTER ON Demand on a Range of New Consumer Electronics

To Provide Instant Access to On-Demand Hollywood Hits on Samsung TVs and BD Players, TiVo DVRs and Motorola Mobile Phones

Novato, CA (September 22, 2009) – Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC) today announced it is set to power access to the BLOCKBUSTER On Demand® movie service across a range of new home and mobile electronic devices. As part a multi-year agreement, Sonic's Roxio CinemaNow® will enable digital delivery of a vast library of premium content to the living room through TiVo® Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) and an assortment of Samsung HDTVs, home-theater systems and Blu-ray Disc® (BD) players. In addition, Roxio CinemaNow will help bring BLOCKBUSTER On Demand movies to customers on the go via select Motorola mobile phones.

Blockbuster and Sonic will continue to collaborate with CE manufacturers to make their digital libraries of mainstream content available on the broadest possible selection of PCs, portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top boxes, mobile phones and Web-connected television sets.

"Combining Blockbuster's trusted brand with Sonic's digital delivery technologies has proven to be a very successful formula," said Dave Habiger, president and CEO, Sonic Solutions. "Our alliance will continue to help more CE manufacturers complement the rich entertainment playback capabilities of their devices with a vast array of high-quality content."

Helping to provide seamless access to content from BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand are Roxio CinemaNow's powerful delivery systems. Behind the scenes, Hollywood-approved digital rights management, along with encoding and adaptive delivery technologies, enable the secure, device-optimized playback of Blockbuster's content, while at the same time providing a convenient and hassle-free entertainment viewing experience.

"We are pleased with our collaboration with Sonic and the tremendous strides we are taking to make Blockbuster's digital content readily available to millions of consumers," said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO. "We will continue to work together to form relationships with more top-tier device manufacturers and expand our reach to more home and mobile electronics.