Andre Yoskowitz
12 Aug 2007 17:25
Cinebank, the largest video rental operator in France has developed a new and unique system for movie rentals by creating a portable hard drive that customers can use to load up at an instore kiosk then play back on their TVs via HDMI or a docking station.
The devices can hold up to 14GB of data, which is enough for over 30 movies at DVD quality.
The rentals use DRM and remain watchable for 30 days after which they expire. The kiosks can load 6 movies onto the drive in under 2 minutes.
Users pay for the movies using a prepaid card and the revenue from each rental is split between the retailer and the movie studios.
The new venture is aptly named Moovyplay and is created by the owner of Cinebank, CPFK Holding which also owns Video Futur and Video Pilote.
The system can hold up to 3000 movies which allows the rental stores to expand without actually adding physical stock.
So far, Moovyplay has licensed titles from Warner Bros. and New Line and is in talks with all the other major American movie studios. Licensing deals have also been made with nine major French distributors, including Seven Sept. and BAC.
The drives are being made by the leading manufacturer of portable media players in Europe, Archos and the drive itself will sell for 140 Euros.
The company hopes to open 13 kiosks as a test in November and if they are a success, the company hopes to expand to elsewhere in Europe and ultimately the US.
The company also said the entire operation was being handled internally, including the DRM encryption and prepaid cards.
Source:
Video Business