According to a new press release, Blockbuster and Sonic Solutions have partnered to offer digital movies on multiple devices.

The two companies are collaborating with a host of consumer electronic (CE) manufacturers, including Sonic’s existing CinemaNow providers, to expand the ecosystem of interoperable devices offering the Blockbuster service. These devices include PCs, portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top boxes, mobile phones and Web-connected television sets. Additionally, the two companies will make their digital libraries of mainstream content available under the Blockbuster brand resulting in one of the most expansive VOD (video on demand) and EST (electronic sell-through) offerings in the marketplace.

The future of movie distribution has become a hot debate.  To believe DVDs are going to be the top delivery method forever would be foolish; however, DVD players are now used in over 80% of U.S. households, so DVDs still have some life to live.  Most likely, the future will provide us numerous options…not just one.

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Earlier this month, when Warner Brothers and Paramount Digital Entertainment signed agreements with software startup MOD Systems, history was made, albeit quietly. For the first time, MOD Systems could legally distribute motion pictures from the two studios via digital download to SD cards.

 

But more importantly, the agreements marked the first serious acknowledgement by any major studio that digital download via a self-service kiosk is a viable retail delivery channel.

 

“It’s a very big deal,” said Adrienne Lenhart, director of marketing for MOD Systems. “The studios are very, very, very selective about who they go with, especially when choosing something that’s a new format.”

 

Not everyone in the self-service industry shares Lenhart’s enthusiasm for digital download. Gary Lancina, vice president of marketing for redbox, says the real money – at least for the time being – is still in DVDs, citing the growth of redbox DVD dispensing kiosks from 6,000 locations at the end of 2007 to more than 12,000 locations by the end of 2008.

 

That said, both Lancina and Lenhart deny any competition between DVDs and SD cards, calling them “complementary technologies.”