Reports are circulating in which Amazon has reached a business agreement with Warner Bros. that will make the company the first major retailer to offer films in the upcoming UltraViolet digital format.

News of the deal surfaced at CNET just one day after Amazon VP Bill Carr had announced at a CES panel discussion that the company had reached a deal with a major Hollywood studio.

During his announcement Carr stood on the stage with members of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) including Warner Bros., Fox., Universal and Sony.

The announcement still hasn’t been officially made by Warner Bros. or Amazon.

If you’re unfamiliar with the UltraViolet format it’s intended as a way to alleviate the jitters some users feel over Internet video while still keeping the sales of physical discs. During the programs early implementation restrictions were placed on how long they could hold onto a digital copy and some technical encounters were experienced.

According to the UV group they will adopt a common file format in late 2012 which should help solve technical issues that are associated with different digital rights management setups.

Do you think the move to the UltraViolet system was a smart decision for Amazon and the studios that support it? Would you be more inclined to use the program if a common file format was implemented by studios using UltraViolet technology?

Amazon and Warner Bros. Reach Agreement Over UltraViolet Digital Format is a post from: The Inquisitr

Warner Brothers has announced plans to delay the release of its movies for DVD rental and streaming purposes to 56 days, double the company’s current 28 day rule.

Rumors of an increase had been circulating for some time after the company revealed they were not happy with current agreements which offer customers very little incentive when it comes to actually purchasing a DVD or Blu-ray disc.

While the move sidesteps DVD and streaming release dates for services such as Netflix and Redbox who rely on cheaper costs to support their low rental pricing, other outlets such as Blockbuster and Family Video can still purchase the movies at full wholesale pricing and then rent them to customers.

It’s likely that streaming providers will attempt to pay more money to Warner Brothers as they attempt to close the added time on that window.

Warner Brothers is not officially commenting on the move at this time although they are expected to reveal their plans at CES next week.

In the meantime with the rise of BitTorrent access, streaming services such as MegaVideo and other means for finding and downloading movies it will be interesting to see what type of piracy occurs as the company attempts to keep wanted movies out of the renting hands of potential viewers.

Will you be heading out to buy movies now that you have to wait a longer period of time to rent or steam them? I will personally just watch non-Warner Brothers movies until their flicks finally reach Red Box.

Warner Brothers Doubles DVD and Streaming Rental Delay, Hopes To Sell More Discs is a post from: The Inquisitr

While Sony itself isn’t being the big bad wolf in this story they are in a round-about way because of an agreement they have with subscription movie channel Starz, which in turn has an agreement with Netflix through the StarzPlay label.

It seems that in the agreement between Starz and Sony that Starz has a cap of how many times they can show any of the Sony movies in any given month.

So due to the increasing popularity of Netflix it seems that Starz is constantly bumping up against those caps and in turn has to get Netflix to pull any movies that are hitting that cap imposed by Sony.

Pauline Fischer from Netflix writes this on the company blog regarding the issue

You may have noticed that Sony movies through StarzPlay are not currently available to watch instantly. This is the result of a temporary contract issue between Sony and Starz and, while these two valued partners work through their differences, we hope you are enjoying the wide variety of new movies and TV shows added daily.

Apparently the movies currently hitting those caps and as such being removed from rotation include The Social Network, Easy A, and Salt.

via The Next Web

Netflix told to pull some Sony Movies because – they are too popular is a post from: The Inquisitr

YouTube has finally managed to lock up contracts with North America’s top movie studios, contracts that will give the world’s largest video streaming site the ability to rent major movie releases to their customers.

According to website The Wrap, YouTube has locked in deals with Sony, Warner Bros. and Universal, alongside smaller studios including Lionsgates, Kino Lorber and various other independents.

Unlike services such as Netflix which rely on a monthly subscription base, YouTube will be using the older “pay per movie” model which will allow users to stream their rentals for a specified period of time, more than like 24 hours.

You may recall that YouTube rolled out their Video On Demand program more than one year ago with $3.99 rentals for various Independent movies, however since that time very little information had been revealed by the streaming service. Some older movies currently listed on YouTube’s VOD site are renting for as little as $2.00, unfortunately Scream 4 isn’t on my list of “must see movies” at the moment.

YouTube Almost Ready To Begin Renting ‘Major Studio’ Online Movies is a post from: The Inquisitr

Just this weekend, I was pondering the utter dominance of Netflix over the home video market while passing the sad shell of a former Blockbuster near my house, wondering if its reign would remain relatively unchallenged.

It seems Netflix may have its first really major competition, as Amazon has just added free video streaming to its popular shipping “club,” Amazon Prime. “Millions” of people currently subscribe to the $79 a year service (Amazon doesn’t like to broadcast sales numbers, it seems), and Amazon Prime users will now have an additional 5,000 or suchlike movies and TV shows available to stream to streamable devices. Amazon says:

“In addition to now offering unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows to Amazon Prime members, we continue to offer all customers more than 90,000 movies and TV shows through Amazon Instant Video,” said Cameron Janes, director of Amazon Instant Video. “With Amazon Instant Video customers can rent or purchase hit movies, such as ‘The Social Network’ as well as purchase the latest TV shows available the day-after they broadcast.”

Shaking out the freebies is easy- go to the Amazon Instant Video page, and sort for “Prime Eligible.” If you’ve got a free or trial Prime account, though, you’re not invited to the streaming orgy. (And though no service for Wii is available, Roku will stream Amazon Prime videos.) While the number of titles is small compared with Netflix, and Wii streaming is not available, do you think you’ll hang on to Prime instead of Netflix if you’re a subscriber of both? Does this feature add any value for you? Do you think people will begin phasing out Netflix subscriptions for the net-cheaper Amazon content, just paying extra for non-Prime titles?

[Press Release]

A challenger appears: Amazon Prime adds free video streaming to its service is a post from: The Inquisitr

Netflix today officially rolled out their $7.99 streaming only plan in the US. The plan allows users to watch movies instantly on their PCs and TV’s, while providing no physical DVDs.

Under the company’s new program all other DVD rental plans increase by anywhere from $1 to $7, depending on the size of the DVD plan.

According to Gizmodo,

New subscribers will be hit with the increases immediately, while existing Netflix users will see their bill get bumped starting in January.

It should be noted that only about 20% of the Netflix catalog is available through the company’s streaming option, while programs such as Hulu Plus offer the same type of services with the addition of TV series.

Here’s a full chart of the company’s new plan pricing:

Netflix Rolls Out “Streaming Only” Plan, Increases All Other Plan Pricing is a post from: The Inquisitr

Wal-Mart is branching out into the realm of streaming content with the acquisition of online movie service Vudu.

Parties involved been tight lipped, but both sides started to disclose the existence of the deal to movie studios and TV makers today. Financials are not yet available, and neither Vudu nor Wal-Mart reps have offered comment on the acquisition. While Wal-Mart reigns in the US DVD market, the massive retailer has yet to foray successfully into streaming content and their MP3 shop lags behind iTunes and Amazon. Vudu has seen some resistance in convincing consumers to add another device to their home TV setups, as DVD players, Wiis, Playstations and XBox devices already have a large footprint in many American homes.

The deal could see higher sales of content-ready TVs, creating a larger base of consumers interested in slimming down their TV clutter (DVDs take up a lot of space.) Streaming content would also allow the notorious cost-cutting retailer to make an easier buck without the expense of dealing with a larger physical inventory. Vudu stopped making hardware last year due largely to consumer resistance, and Wal-Mart previously forayed into digital distribution of content in an earlier partnership with HP.

Wal-Mart’s buying Vudu is a post from: The Inquisitr

The company will start airing flicks on the ABC network Saturday nights, then putting the full-length features on Disney.com’s “Wonderful World of Disney” section for the following week. It’ll happen all summer.

“Finding Nemo,” “Monsters, Inc.,” and “Freaky Friday” are already on the line-up. Expect to see plenty of magically inserted mid-movie ads.

Disney Offers Free Movie Streaming is a post from: The Inquisitr