Beleaguered music retailer HMV is looking to diversify its services by launching a new on-demand film service in an attempt to combat poor sales in their stores.
HMV has been announced as a partner of FilmFlex, a new video-on-demand rental service setup between Sony Picture and Walt Disney; one the biggest on-demand film services in Europe. FilmFlex will handle the site, distribution and rights, with HMV handling billing and promotion.
Movies are to be made available on the same date as their DVD release as part of a new HMV-branded movies-on-demand service.
HMV On-Demand will offer a wide range of films from over 30 distributors, including all the major ones from Hollywood. HMV are planning a soft launch today targeting their reward scheme members and will begin to ramp-up promotion of the service during the new year.
HMV is the latest in long line of companies that are adjusting to film and music industries which are evolving from physical to digital media. However, it’s going to be facing tough competition from the likes of LoveFilm, Tesco Blinkbox, Google’s YouTube and Netflix; who recently announced it would be launching in the UK and Ireland early next year.
It’s been a really tough couple of years for the music retailer as it has closed 30 stores in the last few months, due to a 15% fall in like for like sales.
HMV said that the new service will be accessible by PCs at first, but it does have plans to expand to other digital devices, and will be planning a host of models including download-to-own and cloud-based streaming.
“With a growing number of consumers now incorporating video-on-demand into their viewing and purchasing habits, the time is right to include a digital service into our own offer,” said Mark Hodgkinson, marketing and e-commerce director at HMV.
Jeff Henry, the former ITV and Hallmark Channel senior executive, was appointed as chief executive of FilmFlex’s European operation in July.
“Our deal with HMV illustrates perfectly the benefit of combining their well-known brand and high traffic volumes with our own expertise in technology and content,” said Henry.
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