MSN Movies Premieres New Star-Studded Offerings

MSN Movies Premieres New Star-Studded Offerings "The introduction of these new services is further evidence of the commitment by MSN to provide the best destination for broadband users and demonstrates the exceptional ability of MSN to deliver a premium online experience through strategic partnerships. Consumers and movie lovers can enjoy these enhanced services:
-- Door-to-door movies. MSN and Blockbuster have teamed up to bring BLOCKBUSTER Online (TM) , a new online DVD rental service, directly to MSN customers. Visitors to http://movies.msn.com/ can now get unlimited DVD movie rentals, three out at a time, by mail from Blockbuster for one low monthly fee of $19.99.
-- With the online service, there are no return dates, so MSN users can say "so long" to extended viewing fees, while choosing from more than 25,000 movie titles.
-- The service also includes two free Blockbuster in-store movie rental coupons per month for those last-minute "gotta have it now" rentals.
-- Consumers also can choose an option that allows them five DVDs at a time for $29.99 or eight DVDs at a time for just $39.99.
-- Movies on demand. CinemaNow and MSN have teamed up to enable MSN visitors to download and enjoy movies and television shows on demand. Via a co-branded site at either http://movies.msn.com/ or http://www.cinemanow.com/, consumers can download the latest pay-per-view movies starting at $3.99 for a 24-hour viewing period. CinemaNow boasts an extensive library of approximately 2,000 films as well as popular TV content from companies such as Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Disney, Fox, Lions Gate Entertainment and Miramax Film Corp.
-- For avid movie fans, MSN and CinemaNow will also offer subscription services: Premium and Premium Plus. A Premium subscription entitles a user to a limited set of nonfrontline content (films not in first release) for $9.95 per month or $49.95 per year. A Premium Plus subscriber gets access to the Premium set of content, TV and music content for $29.95 per month or $99.95 per year.
-- More theaters, more movies. MSN has renewed and expanded its alliance with MovieTickets.com. As a result of the deal, the number of theaters offering tickets to MSN users will increase from 600 to 750, and consumers can purchase tickets directly from 32 theater chains."

Oh, so it's kind of like Amazon's relationship with Toys R Us, with Blockbuster being the catalog and fulfillment operation...