OPINION: Taking the handcuffs off
By Paul Sweeting -- Video Business, 4/11/2008
APRIL 11 | IT WASN’T REALLY news last week when reports resurfaced that Blockbuster Video is working on a plan to stream movies to a set-top box of some sort for viewing on users’ TV sets.
Paul Sweeting is editor of Content Agenda
The retailer had said as much before, and those plans were a principal factor behind Blockbuster’s acquisition of Movielink last year.
We also know one main reason it hasn’t happened yet: Blockbuster has been unable to secure the rights it needs from the studios under a formula that would allow it to integrate such a service with its existing business.
True, Movielink came with some electronic rights to about 6,000 major-studio titles. But most of those are older titles and not all of Movielink’s rights agreements permit streaming to a TV set-top.
Read the full story at Content Agenda.com.
