Verizon joins movie-streaming market with a portable option
Everyone these days seems to be talking about the post-DVD age. Netflix has gone to streaming over the Internet, a service that Sandvine Corp., a research firm, says consumes about 20 percent of the Internet's bandwidth some nights. And Hollywood is experimenting with new ways to sell TV shows or movies direct to consumers.
Everyone these days seems to be talking about the post-DVD age.
Netflix has gone to streaming over the Internet, a service that Sandvine Corp., a research firm, says consumes about 20 percent of the Internet's bandwidth some nights. And Hollywood is experimenting with new ways to sell TV shows or movies direct to consumers.
Comcast Corp. has an online store to download purchased or rented movies to PCs, and now Verizon Communications Inc., through its FiOS TV service, has launched Flex View.
The Flex View service allows someone to purchase a movie for around $17 and then watch it on multiple screens: the TV, PC or smart phone. Verizon says it's the first pay-TV company to allow movie buyers the option of putting the same purchased movie on three separate devices.
A movie on DVD, the reasoning goes, isn't just watched on one TV. People take it to a friend's house, or pass it around. Thus, the portability of Flex View's different screens.
So far, said Tricia Lynch, a Verizon senior programming executive, the studios with Warner Brothers, NBC Universal, Sony Entertainment, Paramount and Lion's Gate Entertainment have agreed to participate in Flex View, which required extensive negotiations over digital rights management.
"For $16.99, they don't want to supply the entire city of New York with a copy of Jackass," Lynch said. Verizon also is speaking with Fox and Disney, she said.
Verizon runs the FiOS TV programming group out of New York, and Lynch noted that launching Flex View has been more labor-intensive than some might think because movies must be formatted for the TV, PC or tiny smart-phone screens. Also, Verizon must link the digital rights to purchasers and their devices in a database.
Flex View allows a purchaser to download a movie to a PC. But the movie for the TV remains on a Verizon computer server and is sent to the purchaser's home as it would be on video-on-demand. Even though the movie remains on the Verizon server, the purchasers can access it as many times as they want because they own it, she said.
Even if the purchasers drop the FiOS TV service, they can maintain an account with Verizon so they can access the purchased movie, Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said.
Replacing softening DVD revenue wasn't the only motivation for the movie studios to participate in Flex View, Lynch said. They were looking for a competing service to Apple's iTunes store, she said. Flex View has about 2,000 movie titles available, and Verizon says it will boost the number to 6,000 next year.
Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, offers movies for sale or rent through an online store on xfinitytv.com, spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury said. Movies can be purchased for a download to a PC. The company is developing the technology to watch entertainment on Apple's iPad. The service may be available next month. There are about 30,000 TV shows or movies available through xfinity.com, Khoury said.