HMV is the latest company to dip its toe into the online film rental market after it announced plans last week to provide a film viewing on demand service via a specially created website.
The service was made available from the end of last month with customers able to utilise the new film rental service through hmvondemand.co.uk. While the service is up and running, the music and movie retailer is not planning to launch a marketing campaign to promote the new film hire scheme until after Christmas. Initially the on demand movie rental facility will be targeted at HMV’s 2 million loyalty card holders, before the service is promoted to a wider audience.
HMV has teamed up with the largest online movie rental provider outside of the US, Film Flex. The company is a joint partnership between the Walt Disney Company and Sony Pictures Television which currently provides the movies as part of the films on demand services offered by Virgin Media and Film 4.
Those who sign up to the film rental service from HMV will have their pick from thousands of film titles, including the chance to rent the very latest movies releases. The service will mean that HMV on demand customers will be able to hire movies online on the same day as they’re released on DVD.
Titles which were made available for online rental from HMV following its launch included Bad Teacher, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and X Men: First Class.
