Online DVD sales company EzyDVD is getting into digital streaming in a move that it hopes will shake up the Australian pay TV business.
According to a story on the Australian website mUmBRELLA, EzyDVD's parent company, Access Digital Entertainment, will launch the new online service, EzyFlix.tv, as one of the first in Australia to use the UltraViolet system that gives customers access to a digital locker from which they can share purchased content with up to five others.
"[t]his really distinguishes our service from every other in that when someone buys a DVD, Blu-ray and digital copy with UltraViolet rights, they can add that to their digital locker," Craig White, CEO of Access Digital Entertainment, told the publication.
Being able to access the content to share could be difficult, but White said he feels "confident that we will be able to have all major Hollywood studios in very quick time and will have announcements in a matter of weeks."
"We'll have a pure on-demand pay-per-view model--no subscription, no set top box, no tie-in, no lock-in--and we'll have a download-to-own model as well," he added.
It's not as if EzyFlix.tv is entering a virgin market, though. There's competition galore from Foxtel, Quikflix and Fetch-TV, all already battling among themselves and not really welcoming a newcomer.
"It would be arrogant to say I'm not worried but at the same time it would be welcome competition," said White. "It's to be expected and it's appropriate for the Australian market. It will be a long time before winners and losers are sorted out."
For more:
- mUmBRELLA carried this story
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