NBC - COMCAST MAY PROVIDE MOVIES ON DEMAND ON DAY OF DVD RELEASE

COMCAST MAY PROVIDE MOVIES ON DEMAND ON DAY OF DVD RELEASE

The movie industry, already warring with the likes of Netflix and Redbox over renting movies at kiosks and online as soon as they are released on DVD, may have a new foe to fight. Comcast said on Tuesday that during the next year it expects to release about 100 movies on its video-on-demand service on the same day they are released on DVD. The announcement came as negotiations between Comcast and GE continued over the cable company's bid to acquire 51 percent of NBC Universal. If that should materialize, Reuters observed today (Wednesday), Comcast could become "an industry game-changer [by] offering blockbuster [Universal] films on movie-on-demand channels ahead of their DVD release."

04/11/2009