• NYTimes Bits Blog, Tuesday, November 3, 2009 1:53 PM

Best Buy, a top seller of DVDs, is not ignoring their likely extinction. On Tuesday, it's expected to announce a partnership with Sonic Solutions' Roxio CinemaNow service, which will allow it to stream first-run DVDs directly to consumers online. With the service, consumers pay once for a "DVD," which they will eventually be able to play on any device: television, Blu-ray disc player, personal computer, handheld media player or smartphone.

Best Buy-branded, the service is expected to be available starting early next year. This is not the retailer's first foray into the digital realm. Just last month, it announced a deal with Netflix to stream its movie library to Best Buy's Insignia-branded Blu-ray disc players. Will this latest effort stick? The analysts that The Times surveys, at least, believe Best Buy certainly has enough clout to press both movie studios and consumer electronics companies to adopt a one-time payment model.

Read the whole story at NYTimes Bits Blog »