Advanced Television

UV chief: ‘We’re not incompatible with Disney’

February 27, 2014

By Colin Mann

Following Disney’s launch of Disney Movies Everywhere – a cloud-based movie service – in conjunction with Apple, rather than allying itself to the UltraViolet digital content ownership ecosystem backed by rival studios and consumer electronics groups, Mitch Singer, president of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the body tasked with deploying UltraViolet, has suggested that the two are not incompatible and that there are “lots of ways” the two services can work together.

Speaking to Stream Daily, Singer said he did not see Disney Movies Everywhere as a foe, but as another important step forward for movie and TV lovers. “I think the key takeaway is that every single major motion picture studio believes that consumers who like to collect our content should be able to view that content across multiple devices.”

UltraViolet – which launched in October 2011 – carries 12,000 films and TV shows from all the major studios with the exception of Disney, as well as mini-majors (DreamWorks Animation, Lionsgate, Relativity Media) and the BBC and HBO.

Disney’s service — originally known as KeyChest when it was first announced in October 2009 — is launching with some 420 titles. It will only feature product released by Disney (including Pixar and Marvel titles) and only be available through Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, etc.) and desktop or laptop computers.

Singer said he was cautiously optimistic the opposing solutions would find a way to come together in the future.“We’re not incompatible. There are a lot of ways we can work together and I think that teams at DECE and the studios and Disney will continue to have conversations along those lines.”

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