MSN.co.uk signs partnership deal with Video Island to launch online DVD rental service
MSN.co.uk is launching a new online DVD rental service after signing a partnership deal with internet company Video Island.
The new service, MSN DVD Rental, will be fully integrated within the MSN Entertainment Channel and includes 15,000 titles that customers can order online.
The product is mainly being marketed online through the MSN Web portal and new subscribers are also being enticed to use the service with a free 14-day trial. Packages start from £2.99 a week.
Subscribers to the service will be offered three flat-fee monthly packages allowing an unlimited number of rentals, with a revolving library of two, three or five DVDs out at any time. Every DVD is delivered directly to customers’ postal addresses. Customers can keep the DVDs for as long as they wish, as soon as one is returned, the next DVD is immediately dispatched.
Users will be able to search for titles by name, genre or decade. There will also be a facility to reserve soon-to-be-released films.
MSN is embarking on an aggressive online campaign to steal the search engine crown away from Google. It is ploughing up to £3bn into the development of a revamped search engine and improving and introducing new Web portal services, such as the DVD rental package, to try to attract more users.
