Best Buy is getting into the Internet video rental and sales game, joining the likes of Netflix, YouTube and, at some point in the near future, Hulu.
The company will also be competing against other traditionally offline retailers, such as Walmart and Blockbuster. The move, it said Tuesday, will come by the end of the month and will involve selling and renting newly-released movies over high speed Internet connections.
According to the company’s press release, the service will be available through a number of select connected Blu-ray Disc players and HDTVs, as well as on PCs by way of CinemaNow. Best Buy purchased CinemaNow from Sonic Solutions, the company that will provide the technology for piping video to buyers.
Immediate availability of new releases is a primary feature of Best Buy’s new Internet video service. Rentals will be available for around $4 with title purchases varying from $10 to $20. The one hesitation we have with this is, why should a DVD purchase, minus the physical DVD, cost the same?
According to the Associated Press, Ryan Pirozzi, Best Buy’s director of digital video, said that the technology will take time to gain traction and it will be 2012, at the earliest, before Best Buy will begin phasing out DVDs in its stores.
