Dixons Retail, the electronics retail group that owns Currys, PC World and Dixons, is launching a movie-rental service called Knowhow Movies on Thursday, March 1.
Dixons is teaming up with Rovi by using the Rovi Entertainment Store, an end-to-end, white-label solution for storefront creation and management. Deals are in place with Disney, Pixar, Warner Bros and Momentum Pictures.
Knowhow Movies can be accessed from broadband-connected devices including HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players and game consoles such as the PlayStation 3, and Xbox. In the near future, a roll-out to iOS and Android based devices is planned.
Unlike Amazon’s Lovefilm and Netflix, Knowhow Movies will offer movies on a transactional basis rather than on subscription. New releases will be priced at £3.99 (€4.71) to rent and £12.99 to buy, catalogue titles from £2.99 to rent and from £5.99 to buy and TV shows will start at £1.99.
“With Knowhow Movies, we are offering customers the most flexible service available – they will only pay for what they watch, will have access to the latest releases instantly, and can buy and view films and TV shows on any of their connected devices. We chose Rovi for this service because of their considerable depth of expertise in the provision of over-the-top on-demand services and extensive reach across the globe,” said Niall O’Keeffe, Knowhow development director at Dixons Retail, in a statement.
“Although the launch of this service is breaking new ground for Dixons Retail, it is a natural extension for us given our position in the value chain where we have over 250 million customer interactions per year. The Rovi platform enables us to bring life to customers’ technology and deliver Knowhow Movies, which is simple to use and exciting for the user. It’s the perfect model for us and our customers.”
“Dixons Retail is our first major retail customer in the UK and an ideal company to collaborate with to expand our footprint in Europe, and help further fuel interest in over-the-top entertainment,” said David Cook, SVP, retail sales and marketing, Rovi. “As a leading consumer destination for technology and home entertainment products and services, Dixons Retail is in a strong position to help educate consumers and introduce them to the convenience, quality, and flexibility of IP-delivered video entertainment.”
The service is also scheduled to offer DivX Plus Streaming, Rovi’s adaptive streaming solution that enables the digital delivery of a Blu-ray Disc-like entertainment experience. This solution not only dynamically adjusts streams to help deliver maximum visual quality based on available bandwidth, but also offers an advanced feature set with support for 1080p, subtitles, multiple language tracks, and trick-play functions such as smooth fast forward and rewind.
