Blockbuster On Demand coming to Samsung TVs, mobile
updated 12:35 pm EST, Mon February 20, 2012
Blockbuster streaming due on Samsung TVs in 2012
The manager of the Blockbuster name in Australia, Franchise Entertainment Group chief Paul Uniacke, stated Monday that Samsung had scored a key deal to get Blockbuster On Demand across virtually all its devices. The pact outlined to Smarthouse would see Blockbuster arrive both on TVs and Blu-ray players as well as on mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and ultrabook. Unofficially, the US, UK, and mainland Europe would get access in the first half of 2012, with Australia not expected before September.
Concerns had existed that Blockbuster's presence was shrinking following a decision by TiVo to shed support. A Samsung move would dramatically improve Blockbuster's reach given Samsung's front position in TVs. Typically, only companies like Netflix have had a similar level of ubiquity.
Separately, insiders claimed that Samsung was working on a universal payment system that could tie together disparate services to pay for it regardless of where it comes from. A typical challenge of Internet TVs has been having to juggle multiple accounts to get access to both pay-per-show and subscription services.
