Digital DVD Rental Takes a Dive

By Seamus Swords Staff Writer Friday, 12 March 2010 First published 3 March 2010

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INTEREST in streaming and downloading feature length films legally may be dwindling, according figures just released by Screen Digest.

This could spell bad news for the billion-dollar film industry and online DVD rental companies including Lovefilm and Netflix which have been betting heavily on online downloading and streaming services.

A Replacement for DVD Rental?

It is widely believed that the film industry is relying on film fans streaming and downloading movies to help plug the gap left open by dwindling DVD sales.

In 2007 and 2008 sales of digital films rose sharply yet in 2009 growth slowed. Although the figures suggested that digital films would bring in around $360 million the actual figure for 2009 was just $291 million dollars.

Industry analysts have been quick to suggest that the interest just isn't there for digital films and that compatibility issues could be at the root of consumers' lack of interest in the new format.

Compatibility Issues

When buying or renting a DVD or Blu Ray disc you wouldn't give a second thought to being able to play it on a DVD player, PC or games console.

Unfortunately, this has became a major issue for anyone buying a film digitally. For example, someone who brought a film via Apple's ITunes service will not be able to watch the film on Microsoft's Xbox console.

"Digital downloading is characterised by its restrictions - it's all about what viewers can't do, rather than what they can do," pointed out Arash Amel, a Research Director with Screen Digest.

If tech-savvy experts' suggestion that compatibility issues have put the biggest nail in the digital film coffin is correct the film industry should be cheered by recent announcements from Netflix and Lovefilm.

Lovefilm? Love films direct to your TV?

A new Lovefilm streaming service accessible through Samsung and Sony Bravia TVs will allow users to stream any film from the company's 60,000-strong catalogue straight to your TV via a platform known as Internet@TV.

The DVD rental service will offer price plans starting from around £12.99 a month.

Blockbuster has a similar deal with TiVo in the US.

So, even if 2009 seemed to signal the beginning of the end for streaming and downloading feature length films but 2010 has seen announcements suggesting that the digital film format may live to fight another day.

It remains to be seen if the new technology will be affordable enough for the general public to get on board but fingers crossed 2010 will allow streaming and downloading movies to become a part of everyone's film viewing experience. In the mean time, there's always online DVD rental.

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