Malcolm Owen
Digital movie locker service Ultraviolet has warned it will be shutting down on July 31, with the rise of the competing Movies Anywhere and other movie storage options thought to have prompted the shutdown of the service.
In an email to consumers, Ultraviolet advises that users will continue to be able to access movies and TV shows through retailers linked to their library, as well as to buy new content and redeem codes as usual, up until its closure at the end of July.
On the shutdown date, the library will automatically close, preventing any further changes from occurring, but bought content will still be accessible via retailers previously linked to the account. While more purchases could be made or film codes redeemed, they are to be performed solely at that retailer, and will not be added to an Ultraviolet library.
The service advises customers to log into their accounts and to select Retailer Services to verify there are online stores linked to the library. It is advised users should not unlink or close their Ultraviolet library, as the service is working with retailers to maintain access to acquired items beyond the closure date.
While the iTunes store isn't a retailer that worked with Ultraviolet, retailers who do offer access to Ultraviolet collections do have their own iOS apps for streaming, meaning that some iOS users will be affected by the closure.
Approximately 30 million users are signed up to Ultravioet, and collectively store more than 300 million movies and TV shows via the service.
Speaking to Variety, Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) president Wendy Aylsworth advised the decision was caused through the changing market for online services. "The marketplace for collecting entertainment content was very small when Ultraviolet started," advised Aylsworth. "It was siloed into walled gardens at the time."
Ultraviolet formed in 2011 with the support from most major Hollywood studios, bar Disney. Codes included in DVDs and Blu-ray discs offered to provide a digital version that could be watched online, introducing some users to the idea of streaming video for their paid content at a relatively early point in the life of the general paid streaming market.
Its biggest competitor is the Disney-produced Movies Anywhere, which has gained support from the studios that worked with Ultraviolet, with some deciding to cease distributing via Ultraviolet last year. Movies Anywhere crucially also included support for some major digital retailers that didn't work with Ultraviolet, including Apple's iTunes store alongside other major players Amazon and Google Play.
While the success of the Disney competitor may have contributed to its downfall, Aylsworth claims the decision to shutter Ultraviolet "doesn't really have anything to do with Movies Anywhere."
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32 Comments
While it appears that any movies you own will still be available this just highlights the issue of owning or renting. What happens when the company you bought movies or music from decides to quit or goes out of business? iTunes shows no sign of being doomed (well, the usual suspects say it is) but you never know do you. I currently have a library of purchased movies spread across iTunes, Vudu, and Amazon Prime so we’re talking Apple, Walmart, and Amazon. Not much to worry about there.
What are other’s takes on owning or renting?
This is why I don't buy Digital Movies from anyone. I will buy the movie on Disc and RIP IT myself and put it up on my NAS to watch anywhere using PLEX. Then it's all under my own control. I have the Physical Disc as backup put away in one of my large Disc binders.
In this case, you would have bought the physical media and gotten a Ultraviolet Code which you would enter to get a digital copy to watch. So you should still have that Physical Media and not really losing anything in this case.
So long as I have Internet service, I can watch all my Movies anywhere in the world. It's like my own personal Netflix service. But I can also have PLEX transcode movies to a format for my iPad and dump them to my iPad. Using the Plex app on my iPad, I can grab a bunch of movies from my NAS and have them right on my iPad to watch anywhere without having to have Internet access and stream them. Just watch directly. The last time I was camping, Wifi over at my Campsite was almost worthless. I could about get my e-mails, but streaming, HAHAHA. But if I'm on a plane, or I go to my Moms House for the weekend, and where she lives in the boonies where there is no high speed Internet, I just dump a number of movies on my iPad. I just don't trust any of this digital movie stuff. Anything out there in the CLOUD not under my control can disappear.
If you "own" any movies with UV, the most important thing here is: Sync UV up with Vudu and then sync Vudu up with Movies Anywhere (and any of the retailers, including Apple, you use in their list). And if you have the option (and the space) to download those movies and back them up (in iTunes, for example), I would. There are some movies that won't follow to MoviesAnywhere (Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM aren't participants), but (on an Apple TV, for instance) you can rely on Vudu for those (though, of course, that assumes the service continues). In terms of owning vs renting: I personally think you should have physical media versions of anything you value (I also have a working VCR and LaserDisc player and an analog 480i CRT TV for the really old stuff). I've picked up a couple digital copies of movies very cheap or free here and there, but my digital copies are solely for convenience and I would never rely on those to be my sole copies of something I love.