David Farnor | On 10, Nov 2015

Vubiquity is in talks with retailers to help them sell digital movies to consumers.

The company, which provides premium content services around the world, is a leading figure in the digital industry, recently making a move into the UK market by acquiring FilmFlex, the company behind Film4oD, Virgin Movies and others. Now, it has its sights set on an even more ambitious target: the high street.

Much like its white label VOD service, which powers branded platforms such as TalkTalk Box Office, Vubiquity’s new product would enable retailers to sell digital titles in their physical stores – making online content more visible to consumers, especially as many movies are released online to purchase and download (in the electronic sell-through, or EST, window) ahead of their DVD and Blu-ray release.

As part of this expansion, the company has hired home entertainment and retail specialist Rob Salter, formerly CEO of Reverbz Media Ltd, who will head up the new initiative as Vice-President of Retail. Before founding Reverbz, Salter was Category Director (Media & Entertainment) at Tesco and previously Global Vice President Wal-Mart, Global Sourcing at Handleman Company, CEO of Blueprint Digital Ltd, and Sales & Marketing Director at Entertainment UK Ltd.

Vubiquity will provide all the necessary digital content services for retailers, including content licensing, processing for multiplatform viewing, metadata management, and digital distribution. Reverbz will provide the physical supply chain in the retail environment.

“We see an excellent opportunity to grow significant business in this channel,” says Salter. “Retailers have driven the growth of home entertainment and the building of personal video collections since the first VHS tapes in the mid-1980s. We believe retailers will continue to be a key part of the future of selling video in the digital age. Vubiquity wants to support retailers’ ambitions to go on selling content to their customers in disc form, and also help them go beyond the disc into digital ownership and consumption.”

Add to Watchlist