Guba Debuts Online Video Store with Warner Bros.

Posted by: Heather Green on June 26

Warner Bros. keeps pushing the envelope in delivering TV shows and movies in alternative ways. After announcing last month that it was teaming up with BitTorrent, the studio today is now offering videos via online video service Guba.

Warner Bros. is starting with around 120 titles, ranging from movies such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Best in Show, to TV shows including Babylon 5.

The shows can be rented, starting at $1.99 cents for movies. Or they can be bought and downloaded onto a computer or copied onto a laptop. Movies prices range between $9.99 and $19.99. They can’t be copied yet to portable players, though that’s in the works. The company is using Windows DRM, though Guba says they’re looking into other formats.

And while the BitTorrent service is expected to launch later this summer, the movies and TV shows are now available on Guba.

Tom McInerney, Guba’s CEO and founder, describes Warner Bros. strategy as mimicking the companies deals with traditional retailers in the real world.

“This has been in the works for a long time, we’re speaking to all the studios, we’re expecting more in the coming months. They recognize that the Internet is where people are spending more of their time. The studios want to partner with online to have an echosystem where they can sell their products and don’t want to be beholden to a single player.”

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