Fox to release movie downloads weeks before discs

 Internet News, Marketing
Sep 102012
 

Fox is to offer movie downloads up to three weeks before the films arrive on disc and in video-on-demand services in a bid to boost digital sales.

The studio’s scheme will take place in the US, and push product – starting with Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel, Prometheus – through the UltraViolet cloud movie service.

Prometheus will be offered to UV users in the States on 18 September – folk waiting for the DVD or Blu-ray won’t get it until 11 October, which is when the film will also be made available to video-on-demand services, such as Netflix. The download will cost less too, though by how much will depend on the extent to which retailers discount a given title’s discs.

Fox executives told the New York Times that the studio will offer early, lower-priced sales on all of its forthcoming films for an indefinite period to give it time to assess the scheme’s impact.

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