Barnes & Noble on Tuesday announced that it will begin to provide the option to buy and rent movies later this fall. The company has secured partnerships with all of the major players in the video content industry, including HBO, Sony Picutres, Starz, Walt Disney Studios, Viacom and Warner Brothers Entertainment. Anything that’s purchased from the Nook Store will be available from the Nook Cloud, which means that other mobile devices with the Nook app installed will be able to access the content, too.
“As one of the world’s largest retailers of physical video discs and digital copyrighted content, our new NOOK Video service will give our customers another way to be entertained with a vast and growing digital video collection, as part of our expansive NOOK Store,” said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. “The launch of our new digital video service with our long-time studio partners allows us to bring award-winning current and classic movies, TV shows, documentaries and more to millions of customers’ screens, coming soon.”
We’re definitely pumped for the service; Amazon offers its Unbox service for prime members, but Barnes & Noble has definitely added a compelling feature that will help its Nook tablet compete more aggressively against the Kindle Fire and other tablets.
Barnes & Noble said the service will also launch in the U.K. in time for the holidays.
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NOOK Video™ to Premiere This Fall
Coming Soon: Shop Popular Digital Movies & TV Shows
Available for Streaming and Download
Content Licensed From Major Studios Including
HBO®, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ,
The Walt Disney Studios, Viacom and Warner Bros. Entertainment
to Bring Customers Entertainment Anywhere
New York, New York – September 25, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced its new NOOK Video offering will premiere this fall with blockbuster movies, classic films and original TV shows from major studios including HBO, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ, Viacom and Warner Bros. Entertainment, plus favorite movies from The Walt Disney Studios. Barnes & Noble, which is one of the country’s leading DVD and Blu-ray Disc™ retailers, will now offer an expansive digital collection of popular films and television shows to be enjoyed anywhere on NOOKs, TVs, tablets and smartphones. Barnes & Noble is also planning to make available content from other leading studios to be announced.
Beginning this fall in the US and coming this holiday season to the UK, NOOK Video will offer customers the opportunity to shop an extensive and diverse digital collection of standard and high-definition movies and TV shows available for streaming and download. Through deals with these and other major studios, the NOOK Video catalog will offer something for everyone in the family to enjoy, including Disney-Pixar’s Brave and Toy Story 3, Marvel’s The Avengers, 21 Jump Street, Awkward, The Artist, Breaking Bad, Dora the Explorer, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Spartacus, Magic City, The Walking Dead, True Blood®, Game of Thrones®, Harry Potter movies, The Dark Knight, The Hangover and many more.
Videos that are streamed and downloaded from the NOOK Store will be stored safely and securely in the NOOK Cloud™, so NOOK Video content can be enjoyed on NOOKs and other devices via soon-to-launch free NOOK Video apps. As with the NOOK Reading apps, NOOK Video apps will seamlessly work together so customers can pick up watching right where they left off on any of their connected devices.
NOOK Video will also integrate a customer’s compatible physical DVD and Blu-ray Disc purchases and digital video collection across their devices through UltraViolet™. Customers will soon be able to easily link their UltraViolet accounts to the NOOK Cloud allowing them to view their previously and newly purchased UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows across NOOK devices and NOOK Video apps, as well as through third party applications. In addition to purchasing a digital version via NOOK Video, customers can shop for DVDs and Blu-ray discs with the UltraViolet logo in Barnes & Noble and other retail stores, add them to their digital collection, and instantly watch compatible titles from the NOOK Cloud to enjoy wherever they go and however they choose.
“As one of the world’s largest retailers of physical video discs and digital copyrighted content, our new NOOK Video service will give our customers another way to be entertained with a vast and growing digital video collection, as part of our expansive NOOK Store,” said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. “The launch of our new digital video service with our long-time studio partners allows us to bring award-winning current and classic movies, TV shows, documentaries and more to millions of customers’ screens, coming soon.”
“With the great success of the NOOK tablet and Barnes & Noble’s in-store promotional efforts, we are very excited to bring our acclaimed programming to the NOOK Store,” said Henry McGee, President, HBO Home Entertainment. “NOOK Video offers a customized and convenient way for entertainment enthusiasts to own award-winning shows such as Game of Thrones®, Boardwalk Empire®, GirlsSM, and True Blood® and enjoy them across a multitude of devices.”
“The NOOK is a dynamic tablet with a beautiful display and we are excited to provide content from Viacom’s media networks on this enhanced portable, platform” said Denise Denson, Executive Vice President of Content Distribution and Marketing at Viacom. “This is another opportunity for our audiences to enjoy their favorite shows from across MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike and BET wherever they go.”
“NOOK Video provides customers a simple way to buy movies digitally and UltraViolet brings unmatched convenience and portability to those purchases, allowing consumers to access their digital collection from almost anywhere,” said Thomas Gewecke, President, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. “With Barnes & Noble’s in-store, online and digital promotions many consumers will learn how to maximize their entertainment using all the benefits UltraViolet provides.”
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