Sky has taken the wraps off of a new download to own service, Sky Store Buy & Keep.
As was rumoured, Sky Store Buy & Keep does exactly what it says on the tin; it lets you buy movies directly from the Sky Store and keep them on your Sky+HD hard drive.
Customers will have the freedom to partially delete or ‘archive’ films if they need to free up space on their hard drives. Archived fims can be re-downloaded later.
If you move house or upgrade to a different Sky+HD box you’ll also be able to re-download your previous purchases. As an added bonus, Sky will post you a DVD hardcopy of each downloaded movie as well.
Launch of Buy & Keep on Sky Store now lets Sky TV customers subscribe to Sky Movies, rent or buy from the Sky Store.
Nicola Bamford, Director of Sky Store said, “We know millions of people love to buy films and now it becomes even easier to do it straight from your sofa with Sky Store.
“The ability to now own a copy of your favourite film using ‘Buy & Keep’ is the perfect solution for any film fans wanting the immediacy of enjoying the latest movies on your main TV, with the added benefit of receiving the original DVD in the post.”
Prices will range from £7.99 to £14.99 per title. You’ll be able to rent the latest blockbusters from Sky Store as usual, but titles will only be available through Buy & Keep once the DVDs are released.
Currently, Sky has deals in place with 20th Century Fox, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Over 200 titles will be available from launch and will include The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Turbo, Life of Pi, About Time and The Wolverine. Talks are ongoing with other studios and Sky hopes to increase the number of titles available throughout the year.
That’s pretty much the shape Buy & Keep will take when it launches. But what about the future?
Sky has revealed plans to sell TV box sets through Buy & Keep as well as films. As is the case with rental movies, non-Sky TV customers will eventually be able to Buy & Keep content from the Sky Store website.
While Buy & Keep will be launching first on Sky+HD, Sky says that it will be arriving on phones and tablets in the future.
Earlier this year, BT launched a new launched a new download to own feature as part of BT Box Office. Over 600 films with prices starting at £5.99 and £8.99 for SD and HD titles are available to BT TV customers.
Titles from 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s libraries such as The Social Network, Elysium, Black Swan as well as Turbo and The Wolverine are currently available.
It’s currently unknown whether or not BT will let its customers access BT Box Office content on phones and tablets or online.
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