The Ultraviolet movie locker service, which currently has more than 30 million users, will shut down on July 31, 2019, the industry consortium has confirmed to Variety.
Movies Anywhere is here to take over
Ultraviolet launched in 2011 and was backed by several major Hollywood studios. It was designed to be a digital movie locker where users could store movies bought online or redeemed via a digital code included with DVD and Blu-ray discs.
DECE, the consortium behind the initiative, says that Ultraviolet stores more than 300 million movies and TV shows from more than 30 million users but it is not clear how many of these are active users. Ultraviolet never convinced Disney to join the initiative and failed to expand to most regions of the world. After Disney and partners launched a similar initiative with Movies Anywhere in late 2017, some Hollywood studios jumped ship.
That appears to have been the last nail in the coffin for an initiative that has often been portrayed as a faltering attempt at a digital movie locker. The Ultraviolet service will shut down on July 31, 2019..
- "In the years since UltraViolet’s launch, we’ve seen the emergence of services that provide expanded options for content collection and management independent of UltraViolet. This and other market factors have led to the decision to discontinue UltraViolet," DECE said.
Ultraviolet is advising users not to close their account just yet. If you have an account make sure that at least one digital movie retailer is linked to Ultraviolet to ensure that your movies remain available elsewhere after July 2019.
If you want to continue having your movies stored in a digital movie locker you should transition to Movies Anywhere that is now supported by most major Hollywood studios, including Disney, and many online retailers, including iTunes, Vudu, Google, and Microsoft.
Users of Ultraviolet will be informed of the development on Thursday.
Update: A FAQ about the Ultraviolet shutdown has been published here.
- Source: Variety
