What do you do if you’re a cinema business that has to compete with the thriving home entertainment business? You join them. In the first quarter of 2013, Hoyts Stream will bring you a pay-as-you-go model for New Release as well as Classic Movies and TV content.
An all-you-can eat subscription model, specifically for Movie & TV Classics, will follow later in 2013. This is a massive announcement as this service does not currently exist for movies and TV shows. Obviously the music landscape has been transformed by subscription services, so it was only a matter of time.
New release content on the Hoyts Stream Service will release day & date with current DVD windows. While it’s not matching the day and date of cinema releases we really want, you can understand why the cinema business wouldn’t be prepared to go that far.
The Hoyts Corporation Chairman David Kirk says, “Australians are growing more and more demanding in how they want their movie experience delivered. The convergence of entertainment and technology is exciting & has inspired us to harness digital platforms so as to provide our customers choice for how they consume filmed entertainment from Hoyts, be it on the big screen, small screen or now any screen”.
Hoyts are also announcing Hoyts Kiosk, a partnership with Oovie to deliver DVD rentals. Apparently Oovie is Australia’s largest network of DVD rental machines. DVDs can be rented for $3.50 at supermarkets and many other locations. Oovie currently has more than 390 bright green machines located in NSW, VIC, QLD, TAS and the ACT and is rolling out 100 additional machines by July 2013. Personally I’ve never seen an Oovie machine, but they claim more than 700,000 customers have.
No announcement on pricing at this stage, but stay tuned, this is one we’ll watch with serious interest.
