DailyTech - Sears, Sonic Solutions to Compete With Netflix

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Internet Sears, Sonic Solutions to Compete With Netflix
Tracie McDaniel - December 28, 2010 2:47 PM

25 comment(s) - last by HrilL.. on Dec 29 at 1:01 PM

(Source: wwwery.com)

(Source: ibtimes.com)

Duo launches movie-download service

It appears that Netflix has more competition, and Sears is playing catch up with other retailers. Sears and Sonic Solutions announced today that they have partnered up to provide Alphaline Entertainment, the newest offering of downloaded entertainment on the internet.

Sonic Solutions provides content delivery through the RoxioNow Platform for the now live service. Sears and Kmart customers will be able to access movies and television shows from the newest online movie download service the same day they are released to DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

"Collaborating with Sonic provides a great opportunity for Sears and Kmart to launch digital services for customers seeking even faster access to the latest in home entertainment experiences," said Karen Austin, President of Consumer Electronics for Sears and Kmart. "We'll continue to increase the reach and flexibility of the Alphaline Entertainment service by providing consumers on-demand access to the latest entertainment from a range of home and mobile electronics."

Sonic has already teamed up with Best Buy to put its movie library into the store's Web-connected gadgets and Sears competitor Wal-Mart just bought Vudu, a service that streams movies to internet-connected TVs.

The Sears/Sonic team has a multi-year agreement and is setting-up plans for a multi-phase rollout that will also make the service available on portable media players, mobile phones and high-definition televisions. According to the company, the service is being embedded in chips for TVs, mobile phones, Blu-ray Disc and other connected devices.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By Yames on 12/28/2010 3:22:40 PM , Rating: 0

I guess you are talking about those old internet services like Prodigy, NetCom, and old school AOL, but I don't see you point. You only enable/use the services you are interested in. You are still in control of what you use. I guess your TV menu could be cluttered, but then that is the fault of your TV manufacture for not giving you a way to hide the services you don't want.

Either way I still love my Netflix and like that there is competition out there.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By bbomb on 12/28/2010 3:36:06 PM , Rating: 5

Well, you end up paying for the royalty the manufacturer has to pay to include that service whether you want it or not because trust me, it isn't embedded for free.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By Shadowmaster625 on 12/28/2010 4:11:48 PM , Rating: 2

Can you document that claim? TVs with internet are basically just like a small computer with a stripped down web browser. It shouldnt cost anything to add another hulu or youtube to their list, other than the cost of making sure the videos actually stream, buffer, and output correctly.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By AssBall on 12/28/2010 4:36:50 PM , Rating: 1

You aren't paying for the technology, you are paying for the marketing.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By Zorlac on 12/28/2010 4:56:00 PM , Rating: 2

I cannot document this practice, but it is sure strange that I can watch a TV show such as 'ALF' on Hulu Plus via my computers, but when you try to watch it on any other device (i.e. HDTV with embedded Hulu Plus, Blu-Ray with embedded Hulu Plus, iPhone 4, etc.), you get a message stating that the show is only available via a computer.

Dont all said devices use the same internet? ..../sigh

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By thrust2night on 12/28/2010 5:08:23 PM , Rating: 2

Yes but it's not about the internet but about Hulu resizing videos to fit the screen of your phone or other device and probably get rights/permissions from manufacturers to be able to use those Blu-Ray or HDTVs to get to play Hulu videos.

Although I think it should be fairly simple to use the same video to play on your HDTV, for smaller devices such as phones it would require more work and storage space.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By RamarC on 12/29/2010 9:23:51 AM , Rating: 1

bbomb is correct. there's a licensing fee paid by the manufacturer to add the internet streaming service. it may be small, but it is a fee and they just can't add services on a whim.

youtube, amazon, roxio, and hulu are free, but netflix and divx.tv are not. remember, that hulu has already forced certain manufacturers to remove its service from several devices.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By Richard875yh5 on 12/29/2010 9:32:04 AM , Rating: 2

Cost is what I think consumers are worried about. If a bunch of services are embedded in a TV, I'm sure that will bring the cost up considerably.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By theapparition on 12/29/2010 11:05:03 AM , Rating: 1

Wrong. Those services pay the manufacturer to load them, in effect, LOWERING the price of the finished goods (in this case a Television).

Without such advertised subsidies, the cost of many goods would skyrocket considerably.

I don't have an issue with 2000 services installed on web capable TV's, as long as they are non-intrusive (no constant pop ups, ads, etc) and they do not have an adverse affect on the overall functionality.

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RE: Please stop the embeding

By knutjb on 12/29/2010 1:00:56 PM , Rating: 2

It will all be a moot point if the FCC continues create regulations out of thin air for the net without legal authority.

You won't be able to access Netflix or whoever without paying exorbitant fees to anti-competitive ISPs and all the extra taxes required by the FCC to make sure all is "fair."

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