Disney to offer video-on-demand

Animation company Disney is set to begin testing a premium video-on-demand service that would make movies available to viewers at home shortly after they appear in theatres, reports New York Post.

At a two-day investor conference, Bob Chapek, Disney's president of distribution, indicated the company would target the in-home offering to families with young children.

"Our research shows that one of the biggest segments of the audience that's interested in home premiere are families with very young kids who can't make it to the theatre given the age of their children," Chapek said.

According to Digital Trends, Disney will introduce Studio All Access, allowing users directly buy and watch content from the couch on a variety of devices. Disney also signed new agreements with Redbox and Netflix, which will both shell out more in order to carry Disney DVDs.

The publication says, as DVD sales continue to sag and even Redbox will make the jump to digital rentals, it's only natural for producers to consider the in-home outlet. At a recent investor conference.

Disney president of distribution Bob Chapek acknowledged his company would find a new way to offer its content. “Our research shows that one of the biggest segments of the audience that's interested in home premiere are families with very young kids who can't make it to the theatregiven the age of their children.”

Redbox also has plans for to introduce new streaming video services that it claims will rival leading streaming media provider Netflix, Groovy Gecko reports. The publication says, the new subscription based streaming video service from Redbox will be online and operational by the end of the month and will deliver a significant shake-up to the sector.

It will allow users to pay a monthly fee to have access to Redbox's whole library of films, programmes and content, meaning users will not have to pay to download individual files. Furthermore, a range of partners look likely to get on board with Redbox in the near future, although specific names are yet to be mentioned.