Already owning a minority stake in subscription-based entertainment service LOVEFiLM, it has been announced today that Amazon have purchased all remaining shares, hence acquiring the company outright.
Greg Greeley, Amazon’s Vice President of European Retail, states:
LOVEFiLM has been innovating on behalf of movie rental customers across Europe for many years and with the advent of the LOVEFiLM player, they are further delighting customers by streaming digital movies for their immediate enjoyment.
LOVEFiLM and Amazon have enjoyed a strong working relationship since LOVEFiLM acquired Amazon Europe’s DVD rental business in 2008, and we look forward to a productive and innovative future.
LOVEFiLM CEO Simon Calver is also positive about the acquisition, stating:
The deal is a winner for the members who love LOVEFiLM because of its value, choice, convenience and innovation in home entertainment.
With Amazon’s unequivocal support we can significantly enhance our members’ experience across Europe.
Across Europe? Hmm. Here’s hoping the move will see LOVEFiLM expand outside of their current markets – the UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark – and improving the service even further.
Source: Press release
bunimomike
Wow. Hadn’t read any rumblings at all (about this) and that’s quite a scoop for Amazon. Hopefully, it’ll allow LOVEFiLM to become a serious player on the European circuit. My flat-mate has been enjoying the streaming service although it’s been SD resolution films so far.
wuntunzee
Tried the one month £9.99 trial and was not at all impressed with the selection on the PS3.
skibadee
they add more all the time very pleased with it so far.
wuntunzee
Their best ones when I tried were I Am Legend, Aeon Flux, and V For Vendetta. Then a few days later V was taken off.
It was lack of films post-2000 that irked me mostly.
Squalje
Wonder what they can do to enchance the experience then – I actually signed up on the trial this week.
R4U Eldave0
Just moving into my second month of the free trial and I am reasonably impressed so far. Decent selection of films and games and it should save me a fortune if I continue to use it after the free trial expires (£10 a month on LoveFilm instead of £50 on games). My only big gripe at the moment is how slow the turnaround is. I watched a film Thursday night last week, sent it back and have only just recieved my next disk. Then again I mostly have games on my list and I just get the feeling their stock levels aren’t as good for those as they are for DVDs
bunimomike
So they would’ve received it Saturday morning. If they close on the weekend, it would’ve been processed on the Monday and sent the replacement out Tuesday at the latest (potentially). There are plenty of Royal Mail depots where they’re still catching up with the craziness of the snow and how it hammered most comms/transport/etc.
R4U Eldave0
I thought that, but I had an email sitting in my inbox on the Friday saying “we have received your disks” and nothing was sent until yesterday afternoon. Either way, it is going to make it tricky getting my 4 rentals in a month if I have to sit around waiting for them to despatch my next rental for almost 2 weeks of it heh
mrfodder
Would love this service in Ireland. But since Amazon haven’t bothered applying to launch there music download service here, I won’t hold my breath.
BigD-UK-
hopefully Amazon can put more cash into the streaming side of things. i was a member a year or so back, but left as i was disappointed with the order i was sent the films (didn’t seem to make a difference what priority i set). thought about the streaming side of things but Sky Movies has kept me entertained.
m61726b
Great to see someone who has a great idea rewarded with a big pay day. Been using Lovefilm since the very start and couldn’t recommend them enough. Although I have been waiting for Elf to arrive since the end of November. Looking forward to watching a Christmas film in Febuary.
TheDeathAvenger
Do you mean that Lovefilm have sent the disc and it has not arrived yet, or do you mean that you are still waiting for them to send it out?
If it’s the former I’d suggest you report it missing!
Kevling
They bought Audible a couple of years back too, and with the way Kindle took off this year, followed by this, looks like Amazon are cementing their coverage of the whole media spectrum now – digital physical, purchase, rental, streaming…
Hopefully Amazon’s investment will seriously expand the streaming library as well, to provide a European equivalent to Netflix…
kevatron400
Yeah I was thinking that. Would be nice to see some proper blockbusters on the streaming service.
Bilbo_bobbins
UNfortunately for Blu-ray lovers, Lovefilm is pretty useless IMO. I was on it for a few months and could hardly find any decent blu-rays to watch, plus they didn’t send the decent ones I wanted, always the rubbish films.
Darth Newdar
I disagree. Lovefilm (in the UK at least) have plenty of Blu-rays, I’ve rented at least 15 from them.
shields_t
I’m with you Darth Newdar, I watch a fair amount of films and when I signed up for my trial I literally went through the list by genre and ticked pretty much everything I hadn’t seen before and they seem to have prioritised Blu Rays since, I’ve probably had about 8 in the last month.
TheDeathAvenger
You getting sent ‘rubbish films’ might have something to do with you choosing to add them to your rental list.
If there is one particular film you what to see asap, then just create another list and move the film(s) you really what to see onto that list (Just remember to assign a disc to that list).
Obviously there are going to be many films that are only available on DVD, but most films that would benefit from a blu-ray release, seem to be getting released on blu-ray at some point.
GTRsannin
Well hopefully this will bring it to my PS3 too since i live in an area where there are no lovefilm