Universal Pictures has launched a new service in the UK that will sell digital downloads of movies such as King Kong along with a DVD copy, tapping into the online video market now dominated by Apple’s iTunes.

From April 10, you will be able to download two digital copies of selected movies - one for a computer and one for a portable device - and receive a DVD in the mail.

Hollywood studios have been reluctant to sell digital versions of their blockbusters for fear they would be copied and pirated online. The new service will use Microsoft’s digital rights management technology, which is designed to prevent you from duplicating the movies, burning them to disc or uploading them to the Internet.

Universal will start the service with King Kong as part of an initial collection of 35 movies, including Pride and Prejudice and Serenity. King Kong will sell for £19.99, roughly equal to the retail price. However, some are already doubting whether or not consumers will be happy to pay up to £8 more just for the privilege of the digital download.

Earlier this year Sky also offered its movie package subscribers the chance to download movies. However, unlike the announcement from Universal, those movies weren’t able to be transfers to another device and are deleted after a couple of weeks.

The download-to-own service will also be available through AOL, whose UK online movie service is operated by Lovefilm. Expect Warner Brothers and other Hollywood studios to follow Universal’s lead in the download-to-own market.

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BIOS, Mar 27, 06 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Internet