BLOCKBUSTER HIT WITH 28 DAY DELAY BY WARNER BROS

Warner Bros has decided to give Blockbuster the same month long delay the studio loves so much before new movies can be rented out as its competitors, Redbox and Netflix. While Blockbuster has had delays at its kiosks already, being first to get new flicks in stores has been a part of its marketing for a while. The LA Times reports Blockbuster so far is turning to simply buying the copies it needs at retail to rent them out immediately, but we'll see how long that lasts. If you enjoy your discs via kiosk or mail don't think you're out of the woods either, as the paper mentions Warner wants to delay new flicks to those outlets even longer when their deals are renegotiated.

ULTRA-VIOLET MOVIE STREAMING SERVICE FROM MOVIE STUDIOS TO LAUNCH THIS WEEK

Warner Bros, Sony, Paramount and 20th Century Fox’s UltraViolet service, which will allow consumers to stream purchased movies to internet connected devices, will make its debut this week. The movie studios hope UltraViolet will attract consumers back to purchasing movies instead of simply renting them. Here’s how it will work: when you purchase a DVD or Blu-ray disc with an UltraViolet label, you will have the option to also stream the movie to portable devices such as smartphones and tablets, or to connected TVs.

The idea is that users will be able to permanently purchase a movie and keep a copy of it in the cloud. “We want to emphasize the concept of ‘buy once, play anywhere,’” Warner Bros president of digital distribution Thomas Gewecke said. For now, it remains unclear how successful the service will be, as many consumers have instead opted for products that provide streaming access to large libraries of movies, such as cable set-top boxes, Boxee or Roku.

“Green Lantern” and “Horrible Bosses” are the first two movies to offer an UltraViolet option, and both films will be available for purchase on Friday.

DISH NETWORK LAUNCHES BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE PASS

Dish Network on Friday announced the upcoming availability of Blockbuster Movie Pass, an unlimited video streaming service akin to Netflix’s “Watch Instantly.” Beginning October 1st, Dish subscribers will have unlimited access to a small library of digital content that they can stream to a PC or to a TV using a standard Dish set-top box. While Netflix is moving in a completely different direction, having just spun off its DVD rental service to focus on streaming, Dish is sticking with the multi-pronged approach as Blockbuster’s best bet. “We’ve created a package that combines the best assets of the movie entertainment and video gaming industries with the convenience and integration provided by a multichannel video provider,” said Blockbuster president Michael Kelly in a statement. “Blockbuster Movie Pass is the ultimate programming package for every movie buff. The combination of DVDs by mail and unlimited in-store exchanges provides more than 100 million people living near Blockbuster stores, which are open 7 days a week, immediate satisfaction and unmatched choice.”

NETFLIX SPINS OF DVD BUSINESS TO QWIKSTER

Over on Netflix's official blog, company head Reed Hastings has announced in a surprisingly humble blog post and video (see below) that it's splitting the DVD-by-mail business away into a new venture dubbed Qwikster (horrible name that conjures up the Amway site Quixtar). While the recent price changes already split the cost for each service, when this takes effect in a few weeks it will result in two different websites, two different sets of movie ratings and queues, and two different charges on customer's bills. Reed admits two separate sites may make it more difficult to manage a presence on both, but says dropping the need for compatibility between the two will enable new features to balance that out (huh?). The familiar red envelopes will remain, however they will now sport the new Qwikster (ugh!) logo.

In other news, Netflix Qwikster (god, I hate that name) is getting into video game rentals, available for an extra charge similar to the existing Blu-ray disc option.

CD AND DVD COPYING FOR PERSONAL USE GETTING OK IN UK

Reuters is reporting that the British government will announce tomorrow that it plans to legalize the copying of CDs and DVDs onto computers or portable media players for personal use -- a move that will bring it up to speed with most other European countries (and the US and Canada). Of course, the key words there are "personal use." You still won't be legally allowed to share that music over the internet after you copy it without permission, and it's not yet clear how the new rules will apply to DVDs (or Blu-rays) with copy protection measures