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Under a deal with the Universal Pictures Australasia, ASX-listed broadband TV operator ReelTime tomorrow will begin offering DTO – “download to own” – movies, which consumers can keep by burning onto a DVD.Universaland ReelTime claim it’s the first such “secure burn” download deal in the world. However the sharemarket is not impressed.
They also claims this is the first time DTO has been offered at all in Australia. First 35 movies on offer will be Universal’s Miami Vice, Doom, Love Actually, Serenity and Pride and Prejudice. The collection will expand to more than 100 titles by early January, Universal says.
The deal is exclusive to ReelTime. No other major Hollywood studio has so far offered DTO titles via ReelTime or any other operator in this country.
However ReelTime does offer movie downloads or streams from other studios for video-on-demand (VoD) subscribers. The older VoD titles are not owned: they must be watched within 24 hours, after which they disappear. They cost
$4-6, about the same as a DVD rental.
The DTO movies are bought for something close to DVD retail prices – Miami Vice is $35, including 3pc “credit card surcharge” – and remain the consumer’s property forever. Buyers can burn three copies. Release dates are said to be identical with DVD retail releases.
No Macs or Linux, please
The service is offered through a number of ISPs who have signed up with ReelTime, and download times will vary according to the speed of broadband offering; movies will be stored on ReelTime servers in each State. A standard 90min movie would take 1 hour 36 min. on a 1.5Mbps DSL service. ADSL2+ services can do it in 7min.
The movies must be downloaded to a Windows PC: Macs and Linux operating systems aren’t currently supported, but ReelTime says this may change,
ReelTime offers advice on how to connect the PC to a TV. Next year, it hopes to launch a set-top box which will enable the DTO movies to be downloaded direct to a TV.
The stockmarket was unimpressed. ReelTime shares dropped 1.2 cents, or almost 11 percent, to close at 9.8 cents on the ASX yesterday. Some 428,000
changed hands.
