Sonic Solutions is planning to roll out Roxio CinemaNow Widget, a new service that allows consumers with internet-connected televisions running Yahoo! TV Widgets to find, rent and purchase movies on their connected TVs.
Sonic claims that the new service offers a selection of video entertainment for rental or purchase, including new releases from Hollywood studios often on the same day the DVD is available in stores. The new offering’s cloud-based media services support devices from multiple manufacturers, forming a connected ‘ecosystem’ that consumers can use to choose, move and view video entertainment.
According to the company, the CinemaNow ecosystem currently includes PCs, connected TVs, set top DVRs, Blu-ray Disc and mobile media players from manufacturers such as Archos, Dell, HP, LG, Microsoft, Nintendo, Pioneer and TiVo.
Reportedly, Yahoo! TV Widgets enable internet services and online media to reach viewers with applications specifically tailored to meet the needs of the television watchers. Yahoo! TV Widgets are supported by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, which is based on the Konfabulator widget platform for PC that Yahoo! re-engineered for consumer electronics devices.
Mark Ely, executive vice president of strategy at Sonic, said: Whether on the go or in the home, consumers are increasingly looking to seamlessly access and enjoy their favourite entertainment on connected devices. With Roxio CinemaNow running on Yahoo! TV Widgets, consumers will now be able to find, rent and purchase Hollywood’s hit movies instantly on their connected TVs.
