Sky has announced that it will be launching a new service that will allow users to download films on-demand and keep them.
Speaking at the Guardian Changing Media Summit in London on Tuesday, Sky’s chief financial officer and MD of commercial businesses, Andrew Griffith, announced that ‘Buy and Keep’ will sit alongside the company’s existing pay-per-view rental service, Sky Store, and is set to launch in the coming weeks.
In a move that looks to rival big players including Apple, Amazon, BT, Netflix and Tesco’s Blinkbox, Griffith said that Sky is “well positioned” to enter the rentals market and take a share.
Griffith said that Sky will be looking to target families that find renting films electronically more convenient than purchasing DVDs.
While some have voiced concerns about the longevity of the DVD market – including ITV’s controller of digital, Jon Block, who at last week’s Connected Consumer Conference said that DVDs are a “declining channel” – the market is still worth £1.4 billion.
“Having millions of our customer homes connected means we can think about expanding the number of transactional content windows we offer,” Griffith said in a report in the Guardian.
“[Buy and Keep] will have all the flexibility and convenience of a digital store but all delivered to your TV set with instant access through the touch of a button on the Sky remote.”
Sky will become the second pay TV provider to offer such as service, following BT’s announcement in February that customers will be able to purchase films on its YouView box.
The cost of Sky’s service is yet to be confirmed.
