The future of film: DVD/Blu-Ray vs online streaming

Best Buy, Blockbuster and Netflix are just some of the companies that believe online streaming will replace optical media

The large multinational retailer of consumer electronics, Best Buy, has just announced an agreement with Sonic Solutions to enable customers to buy or rent from Sonic's Roxio CinemaNow™ library films. According to reports in the New York Times and Engadget.com on the 3^rd of November, Best Buy's retail stores and their website BestBuy.com will sell a selection of internet-connected devices, with accompanying software enabling access to a library of films. Best Buy's aim is to capitalise on the home entertainment market, which it sees as migrating from Blu-Ray and DVD films, to watching such content exclusively online, via devices such as smartphones, netbooks, notebooks, televisions or PCs.

Customers will no longer need to buy a physical medium containing a film, but will be able to own an electronic license to watch the film instead. Best Buy is planning to launch its service early next year and they hope that once customers enjoy the benefits of being able to watch their films on any of their internet-connected devices, they will make most or all of their film purchases this way.

This seems to be a replacement for the legal limitations placed on our current DVD and Blu-Ray copying rights. Whilst it is possible to convert DVDs into high quality video files and then enjoy such files on any device capable of playing them, it is often illegal to do so, due to the illegality of circumventing copyright protection measures accompanying most commercial discs.

An approach favouring the consumer would be to legalise the copying of a legitimately purchased DVD or Blu-Ray disc, for personal use only, and subsequently enjoy the relevant content on any device. However, this would undoubtedly lead to more piracy, so the law is unlikely to change. It isn't clear at this stage whether customers will be able to download the films for permanent use (such as downloading a protected video file with digital rights management), but fears of further piracy may mean the content is only viewable via the internet, with content being stored remotely, on servers.

Best Buy is not the only organisation rumoured to be investing in this enterprise. The New York Times quoted Tim Bajarin, the president of the technology consulting firm, Creative Strategies, as saying that all 'these guys — Best Buy, Blockbuster and Netflix — realize...that the era of the boxed DVD is about to end...they all have to make the transition to the next generation of movie distribution, streaming directly to the consumer.”

According to the New York Times, business analysts believe that Best Buy 'has the clout to press both movie studios and consumer electronics companies to adopt a one-time payment model and ensure that movies play on many devices. And the company has the ability to market such a service aggressively to consumers.'

The press release from Engadget.com states that the 'Roxio CinemaNow ecosystem includes PCs, connected TVs, set top DVRs, Blu-ray Disc and mobile media players from leading manufacturers such as Archos, Dell, HP, LG, Microsoft, Nintendo, Pioneer and TiVo and is powering internet movie delivery for Blockbuster.'

With such heavy support for this new approach to film distribution, it seems the change is inevitable. However, have Best Buy undertaken sufficient market research to ensure that their existing DVD customers really want this change? Next year will reveal a lot more about the longevity of Best Buy's service and whether people will pine for tangible, colourful DVD and Blu-Ray cases.