UltraViolet Garners Support from Samsung and Amazon

10 Jan, 2012 By: Stephanie Prange

---

LAS VEGAS — The cloud-based platform UltraViolet, which is backed by five of the six major studios, received a strong show of support Jan. 10 from various segments of the industry here at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Already 750,000 households have an UltraViolet account, which lets them buy movies on disc, send the content to a digital locker in the cloud, and then access that content at any time on virtually any playback device. That figure was achieved just three months after Ultraviolet launched and represents about 1 million people, according to Mark Teitell, executive director and GM of Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the cross-industry consortium behind UltraViolet.

“This UltraViolet business model was built to make ownership easier,” Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president David Bishop said during a panel following the UltraViolet press conference.

At the press conference, Samsung Electronics Co. announced a feature on its new smart Blu-ray player line that will allow consumers to upload their existing disc library onto their UltraViolet digital library via the Blu-ray player. With the Disc to Digital feature, announced last week, consumers can register ownership of their DVDs and Blu-rays and access the content on a variety of devices through UltraViolet. The content will available through the Flixster application on Samsung’s Smart Hub and a range of connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs and smart TVs.

In addition to Samsung, Amazon joined the UltraViolet space, announcing a deal with a major studio to offer electronic sellthrough and UltraViolet rights through Amazon. Amazon's Bill Carr would not reveal the studio.

“We have been supporters of the digital locker concept,” he said during the panel. “We have seen from customer feedback that they love the idea.”

Executives on the UltraViolet panel said they were in continuing negotiations with many other retailers. That panel included Sony Pictures’ Bishop, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn, Universal Studios Home Entertainment president Craig Kornblau and Warner Home Video president Ron Sanders.

So far, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner have together released 19 UltraViolet-enabled titles and say they plan to significantly expand their list of UltraViolet films and TV shows. Collectively, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group will release hundreds of additional UltraViolet-enabled titles in 2012, including new releases, catalog and TV titles. Release plans include most theatrical new release titles in 2012, such as Moneyball, J. Edgar, Happy Feet 2, Tower Heist and Hop, along with theatrical catalog and TV titles, including The Town, The Smurfs and One Tree Hill: Season 9, Chuck: Season 5 and The Big Bang Theory: Seasons 1 and 2.

The latest studio to announce an UltraViolet title is Paramount, with the Jan. 24 release of Paranormal Activity 3.

Panelists discussed Disney’s absence in UltraViolet and DECE and all agreed that they’d love to have Disney on board. Disney has its own digital initiative, Disney Studio All Access, which has yet to launch, as well as a relationship with Apple, which has iTunes — both factors that may be holding up the studio in joining UltraViolet. Apple's iTune controls an estimated 95% of the electronic sellthrough business, which Ultraviolet seeks to expand.

Not on board any longer, however, is Netflix, which is leaving DECE, according to various reports.

Yesterday, Panasonic touted its partnership with Flixster to add UltraViolet to its Viera connected HDTVs, and Rovi announced the launch of the Rovi Digital Copy Solution, which is software that enables compatible CE devices and PCs to recognize movies on disc, authenticate origin and trigger access to UltraViolet.

In the first half of 2012, DECE will introduce a Common File Format for downloads, making download functionality consistent across all UltraViolet retailers and repeated downloads of different file types unnecessary, even when using different brands of UltraViolet-compatible media player apps or devices.

UltraViolet became available in the United Kingdom with Warner Bros.’ Final Destination 5 released Dec. 26, 2011, and DECE plans to begin an UltraViolet roll-out in Canada in the coming months.

Panelists acknowledged that the rollout of UltraViolet has not been completely smooth.

“We built a great house and we were so excited to move in, but we found out some of the kitchen cabinets weren’t done,” said Mitch Singer, president of DECE and chief technology officer of Sony Pictures. “But that foundation is solid.

“This [sort of open system] has never been done before,” he added.

Kornblau noted many of the initial hiccups with UltraViolet have been cured, such as Android compatibility.

Sanders noted that consumer uptake of digital copy was strong, and UltraViolet is “factors above what they liked about digital copy.”

Fox’s Dunn predicted the pieces are in place for “fourth-quarter mass consumer adoption.”

Amy Jo Smith, executive director of DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, the industry consortium that helped make DVD and Blu-ray Disc a success, said the organization would also promote UltraViolet.

“We plan to devote the same attention to UltraViolet as we did to DVD and Blu-ray,” she said.

 

Bookmark it: