Media Wonk

Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Warner embraces DivX - October 14, 2008

In a major coup, DivX Inc. has landed a deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment to enable online retailers to offer Warner movies and TV content in the DivX format. The deal covers all titles released digitally by the studio, including new releases and catalog product. For now, the titles will be available only in DivX standard definition, but will become available in DivX HD in September, 2009. In addition to being viewed on PCs, game consoles and other DivX-capable devices, the movies can be burned onto DVDs and played back on DivX certified DVD and Blu-ray Disc players.

DivX recently inked a deal with CinemaNow to deliver movies and TV content in the DivX format, which included Warner content. But the deal announced today marks the first time the studio has directly embraced the format for all of its content and made it available to online retailers generally. The only other major studio to embrace the DivX format directly is Sony Pictures, which licensed DivX in January for U.S. distribution, and in June for international distribution.

The move is an interesting one for Warner for several reasons. Most importantly, it signals the studio's seriousness about achieving interoperability across digital platforms. Warner is a founding member of the recently formed Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem alliance, which is seeking to define standards for digital content distribution and playback, and it's spearheading SMPTE's effort to develop standard "packaging" for digital content delivery. But the DivX deal allows the studio to immediately leverage DivX's vast--if ad hoc--ecosystem of interoperable devices.

DivX estimates that more than 90 million DivX-certified devices have shipped worldwide since it started the certification program, which are guaranteed to play back any DivX-encoded content. The DivX codec has become a popular--and highly regarded--format for distributing content online. And it has achieved that interoperability without relying on an industry standards-setting process.

The large number of DivX certified DVD and Blu-ray players also gives Warner a major platform on which to quickly build a download-and-burn business, even as the industry-standard system developed by the DVD Copy Control Assn., has its slow and long-delayed rollout.

In addition, Warner's embrace of DivX HD is a clear indication that the studio does not envision Blu-ray Disc to be the sole--or even necessarily the primary--platform for delivering HD content.

In an up-and-down day on Wall Street, shares of DivX were down 10 cents in midday trading.
[Deals & Dealmakers]  [Digital Home]  [Discs]  [E-Content]  [Platforms & Formats]   LEAVE A COMMENT