Amazon.com unveils movie-download service

Pre-empting a competitor, Amazon.com today unveiled a service aimed at conditioning the masses to purchase and download movies online.

Amazon Unbox features software that allows consumers to purchase, download and play television shows, movies and other videos on their computers and portable devices.

Apple Computer — which has dominated downloadable music and video sales — is widely expected to unveil a rival service on Tuesday through its iTunes store, in tandem with an updated iPod music and video player that features a wider viewing screen.

The major Hollywood film studios have faced increasing pressure to sell movies online, as box-office receipts steadily decline and peer-to-peer networks offer illegal movie downloads for free.

While movie-download services already exist, they have been largely hindered by viewing restrictions and inconvenient download times that have discouraged mass adoption.

Movielink.com, for instance, does not allow movies to be burned onto DVDs or moved to portable video players for viewing. Rentals must be watched within 24 hours of first hitting the play button.

CinemaNow.com allows customers to burn certain movies to DVD, but the selection is small and features lesser-known titles. Downloading movies takes at least an hour through both services, even for customers with high-speed Internet connections.

Amazon's service will offer the same new releases carried by movie-rental companies such as Blockbuster and Netflix, with TV shows and movies from more than 30 studios and networks.

The online retailer will charge $1.99 per TV show, and between $7.99 to $14.99 for most movies. Movie rentals will run $3.99.

The movie-download business is a natural fit for Amazon, which still draws a third of its business from media sales. The company also operates the Internet's top-ranked movie site, IMDb.com, which drew 18.7 million unique visitors in July, according to comScore Networks.

Amazon faces a fierce rival in Apple. The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer-maker entered the video downloads business last October when it added music videos and episodes from five television shows, including ABC's "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," to its store.

Customers purchased and downloaded more than 1 million videos within the first two weeks of the service.

Amazon's shares fell $1.07 today to close at $29.73 before the new service was unveiled.

Monica Soto Ouchi: 206-515-5632 or msoto@seattletimes.com