DVD burning kiosks to provide movies on demand

A few weeks ago we noted that a consortium of companies were contemplating a new DVD format that would allow the proliferation of DVD-burning kiosks that could dispense copyrighted titles on copy-protected DVD media that could be played in most standard DVD players. Unlike CD-burning kiosks, DVD kiosks could offer a real innovation in the market, since it's still relatively difficult (and often illegal) to download and burn movies to DVD. As we noted in the previous article, the biggest hurdle was getting the big studios to accept the new DVD format, and the business model of burn-on-demand DVDs overall.

After all that, it looks like we may be getting ready to see the first wave of DVD kiosks soon. According to this article at MSNBC, "major film studios have given their backing to a DVD format that will allow shops to compete better with online retailers by selling a far wider selection of films. The DVD Download format features copyright-protection software that will allow stores to burn any one of thousands of movies on to a DVD while customers wait."

Obviously the biggest perceived benefit is that of product line extension -- being able to supply customers with more of the 65,000 DVDs that are out there without having to reserve more shelf space for each new title. Indeed, as Mark Ely, Sonic's Head of Corporate Strategy notes, "In the next three to four years, we expect 15-20 per cent of DVDs will become on-demand rather than being displayed on retailers' shelves."

Tags: DVD kiosk, interactive kiosk, self-service, Sonic