Best Buy has embraced a new digital movie distribution format, creating an alliance with CinemaNow as the popular electronics retailer wants to make renting and purchasing digital content more popular among consumers.
Although most consumers still rely on DVD and Blu-ray to acquire content, there has been a growing trend towards digital media. Netflix, still best known as a DVD rental service, now has a record number of subscribers viewing content through its streaming service available on the Microsoft Xbox 360, Roku player, and similar devices.
An important note about this partnership is that Best Buy is now prepared to begin offering the CinemaNow content sharing software on each PC or TV with Internet capabilities. To be able to offer the software on so many potential items in each store could be extremely beneficial for Best Buy and CinemaNow.
It's an intelligent business design by Best Buy -- the company has the ability to pressure hardware manufacturers and Hollywood to create more organized payment and revenue sharing systems.
The new Best Buy service, which will be branded and marketed under the Best Buy name, will begin in early 2010.
A shift from physical media towards streaming content is inevitable, and analysts say that it's only going to grow in 2010 and 2011. Consumers are purchasing TVs and Blu-ray players that have digital streaming capabilities bundled in, while also signing up for Internet services that offer better download speeds.
Blockbuster, which has recently closed numerous movie rental store locations across the country, has seen some success after a partnering with CinemaNow for online streaming.
