Vudu to offer permanent high-definition downloads

Magnolia's Man on Wire will be the first available title

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 2/23/2009

FEB. 24 | Blu-ray Disc is about to get some digital competition.

Internet movie service Vudu Inc. will begin selling the first permanent high-definition movie downloads, beginning with Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire, the company announced today.

Vudu has deals with Magnolia Pictures, First Look studios, Kino and other independents to offer all of their releases going forward as permanent HD downloads and is in talks with other studios to do the same. The company will immediately begin offering the first 50 titles, including War, Inc. and Transsiberian.

Vudu is positioning its service as an alternative to Blu-ray, noting it already offers 1,400 films in HD, more than have been released on the high-def disc format.

“The broader context is that you read every day about what’s happening with the DVD business—DVD sales are down, digital is up,” Vudu executive VP of strategy and content Edward Lichty said. “This is the first move in a broader shift to electronic.”

Vudu beats industry leader Apple iTunes and other major retailers including Amazon.com and CinemaNow in offering the own-able high-def downloads, though for how long is unknown. Last month, rumors surfaced on some online blogs that Apple was selling a high-def download of Paramount Home Entertainment’s Iron Man, but it turned out to be a typo on the film’s iTunes page.

Vudu’s HD downloads will be available in 1080p the same day they debut on DVD and Blu-ray, which is the same window that standard-definition download-to-own films are available and generally a month earlier than high-definition rental downloads, which fall into the pay-per-view window that follows DVD. Vudu will sell the HD downloads for $13.99 to $23.99, a premium to standard-definition downloads, but less than most Blu-ray discs.

“We continue to explore every channel for distribution, and the emerging digital platform that reaches consumers in their homes directly on their HDTVs via Vudu is an important new channel for us,” First Look Studios chief operation officer Dean Wilson said in a statement announcing the deal.

Vudu users will be able to download the films to their Vudu set-tops for playback on their HDTV. Films can be kept on the boxes or deleted and downloaded again from the Vudu Vault at a later date for free.

Vudu already offers permanent downloads in standard-definition and high-definition rentals, and Lichty said about 30% of rentals are in HD, though the majority of films offered are only available in standard-definition.

Vudu is in talks to add its service to other set-tops, and Lichty said they would offer the HD downloads anywhere Vudu is available. Users can’t transfer them to their PC or other devices though.

“All things being equal, it would be wonderful if all content were available everywhere,” Lichty said. “We’ve found the primary movie watching experience that people want is movies on their big high-definition TVs.”