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EzyDVD has announced it will be offering movie downloads in September via a new service called EzyDownload.
The service will be a direct competitor to Bigpond Movies and will offer new-release movie rentals for AU$6 each in addition download-to-own (DTO) content.
The service will use the assets of Reeltime.tv which closed in February. According to Andrew Wilshire, EzyDownload CEO and also the former CEO of Reeltime.tv, it won’t simply be a rebadging of the old site but built from the ground up.
He added that EzyDownload is partnering with, as yet, unannounced ISPs to provide “no cap limit” downloads. “Sixty per cent of the broadband users in Australia that are non-Telstra have limited options in video consumption by the nature of supply and network,” Wilshire said.
He believes that EzyDownload will work because of the EzyDVD relationship and its large subscriber base. He stated that EzyDownload was a long-term investment and that it would be a “battle of tenacity and survival” until the service became profitable. EzyDVD has in excess of two-hundred thousand subscribers which means that EzyDownload has “an intrinsic client base to tap Reeltime never had any of that”.
“EzyDVD is a significant brand and the most significant retailer of DVDs in the space. [It’s] the most popular DVD-related website on the internet in Australia. That sounds like a pretty good start,” Wilshire said.
The movie and TV downloads will be in DVD resolution (720×576) and will feature digital right management (DRM). At present movies are Adobe Flash-based and will only work on a Mac or PC, but he said the company would look at other platforms — such as iPods and set-top boxes — in the future.
Wilshire said that there’s a Linux-based set-top box designed for VOD available in the United States for US$100, and that it would be a natural progression for EzyDVD to offer these for sale in stores. The service is one of many designed to provide video on demand to subscribers and will compete not only with BigPond Movies but with Video Ezy in-store and Foxtel’s HD+ On Demand.
While the EzyDownload website is active at the moment, the only content on the site is the words: “It works!”
