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Movie Gallery fires up in-store PowerPlay subscription plan
At this point, Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video are just children in the grown-up world of video rentals, but even we can't help but appreciate its latest, um, attempt. After finding that people don't actually enjoy waiting for DVDs to arrive by mail, it has concocted its very own in-store subscription service, dubbed PowerPlay. In theory, at least, it's a fantastic plan; users are able to pop in, check out a DVD or Blu-ray for an unlimited window of time (or video game for five days), and then return it at their leisure. The problem? The unlimited service is a staggering $39.99 per month, and so far as we can tell, you can only have one flick at a time checked out. Other plans are certainly available, but none of 'em come close to the awesomeness of Blockbuster / Netflix. Sorry, but it's true.[Via VideoBusiness, image courtesy of CPDothan]
MovieBeam sold, plans three market return tour this year
Looks like Movie Gallery finally got something for the assortment of PBS bandwidth and spare parts remaining from the now-defunct MovieBeam service. The new owner is Indian conglomerate The Valuable Group, headed by Sanjay Gaikwad who apparently thinks serving up a remarkably limited assortment of heavily compressed HD and SD movies on demand is an idea that deserves to fail all over the world, instead of just in the U.S. Since $100 million burned up by Disney and others wasn't enough to make things work, he plans to invest a similar amount over the next two years to relaunch the service in North America, the U.K. and "other overseas markets". Variety notes The Valuable Group already delivers movies digitally to India and South Asian theaters via satellite so maybe they know something we don't about this business model, and with plans to roll out service in three markets with "new, cutting edge features" by year end we'll get to find out soon.
MovieBeam to have one last go at it?
When MovieBeam shut down operations last December, we had a feeling we wouldn't be mourning for long, but we definitely didn't see it playing out like this. Reportedly, Movie Gallery is asking for bankruptcy court approval to sell its VOD service to one Dar Capital Limited for a cool $2.25 million. Should the deal go down, the firm would technically pick up 1,800 customers who had once shelled out for the dedicated set-top-box -- but really, why on Earth would any halfway sane investor exhume this thoroughly decomposed corpse and attempt to breathe new life into it?
Movie Gallery to enter on-line video rental service
Movie Gallery -- the media cats behind Hollywood Video and Game Crazy stores -- just announced a foray into the online video rental service. Set to launch sometime in mid-to-late 2007, the new service is meant to complement its brick-and-mortar business. They also announced an extension to their movie kiosk program by adding another 200 movie vending machines to the 74 units already occupying high traffic areas in malls and supermarkets. How the new rental service (no mention of download-to-own) will integrate (if at all) with their recently acquired MovieBeam service is unclear. One thing's for sure however, Blockbuster had better get a move on if they hope to compete in this redefined marketplace which is both busting at the seams while simultaneously converging.[Via eHomeUpgrade]
Movie Gallery picks up the pieces of MovieBeam
MovieBeam's short, sordid history hasn't exactly come to a close, but it's certainly a far cry from the service's once lofty goals. First it was spun off from Disney, with Intel and Cisco investing an extra $50 million in the newly separated company to further develop the service, now that company has been sold to Movie Gallery for a fraction of the amount that's been spent on the service over the past few years. According to paidContent.org, Movie Gallery plans to spend less $10 million on the service in 2007, including all acquisition costs and development expenses. In the short term, it appears that Movie Gallery plans to continue to operate the MovieBeam service in the 31 metropolitan areas in the U.S. it's currently available in, and it'll also begin to market the service in its Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery stores, as well as on its website. The company also appears to have some longer-term plans for the service, including downloading or streaming movies over the Internet, although it's not providing any more specific details just yet.Read - Movie Gallery Press ReleaseRead - paidContent.org[Via Techdirt]
