Lovefilm Signs Exclusive Warner Bros Deal

WARNER Bros entertainment has coupled up with LoveFilm to offer its subscribers Warner Bros films via the Lovefilm streaming service.

Already being able to boast 67,000 films on its streaming service Lovefilm will now also be able to show Warner Bros films including Batman Begins, The Matrix and The Wedding Singer as well as newer releases including Clash of The Titans.

The Warner Bros films will available on the same day as their retail release date with the films being able to rent on BluRay and DVD 28 days later.

Some quotes from the guys in charge

Josh Berger, the president and managing director at Warner Bros UK commented on the deal saying "This terrific deal underlines our commitment to providing consumers with as many opportunities to view our world class content as possible"

Simon Calver, the CEO of Lovefilm, also expressed his delight at the new deal. "It cements a highly valued long term relationship with Warner Bros. in the DVD rental space and will help us to expand Lovefilm into a hybrid film delivery service that gives our members the titles they want, in the way and time they want to watch them."

Lovefilm teaming up with Warner Bros will no doubt bring some great films to the LoveFilm player but there is a dark cloud on the horizon which has been highlighted Lesley Mackenzie, Group Digital Officer at LoveFilm.

Sky's Monopoly

Mackenzie mentioned the issue at an event in London last week. She suggested that Sky has a monopoly in the movie streaming business.

At the moment Lovefilm has "Day and Date" rights on the films they rent meaning as soon as they are released on DVD Lovefilm can make them available to rent. At the moment Sky has an exclusive deal with most of the major movie studios for a "first play window", meaning it can offer the latest films exclusively to its customers.

Speaking about the monopoly Mackenzie said "For our service to be successful we have to have big releases and titles and that means having a relationship with the studios. Sky gets first pay window video on-demand and so they get all the big titles before they go onto terrestrial."

Ofcom have also criticised Sky.

The communications regulator claims that the company has an unfair monopoly on streaming video on demand (SVOD) rights stating that Sky is hindering the fair distribution of premium movies by its ineffective exploitation of SVOD rights.

Whilst Sky has the upper hand in the video on demand market, though, Lovefilm's deal with Warner bros is step in the right direction.

Now Lovefilm's premium account holders with have access to more films via its streaming service offering some serous competition with Sky.

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