Independent Online Movie Retailer Film Fresh Announces Major Relaunch

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Film Fresh, the last independently owned and operated online film retailer of Hollywood, global and independent content, today announced the relaunch of its platform as well as new partnerships that enable expansion to 5,000 titles of the company’s online electronic sell-through (EST) and video on demand (VOD) offerings. Strategic enhancements in delivery technology, user experience and Facebook presence come from affiliations with Gigya Inc. and the Internet Video Archive (IVA). New stores on multiple OEM CE devices – wireless Blu-ray players and Internet-connected TVs, plus a new store for the Android operating system – give Film Fresh the ability to offer digital access across multiple touchpoints.

“We want to provide the sort of intimacy that people associate with the corner video store, encouraging chance encounters with new films that customers will grow to love.”

The seven-year-old company also renewed licensing contracts with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) and Warner Bros. (with other studios in the works), along with independent distributors Kino Lorber, Magnolia, Monterey Media, Big Air Studios and NCircle Entertainment, among others. Titles will be available for rental and for sale, via download and streaming on Windows, Macintosh and Android operating systems, using both Windows Media and Widevine-encrypted H.264 formats. A selection of titles will be available in both standard and high definition.

“With our large selection of films from both mainstream and alternative distributors, we are a place of discovery for all film audiences,” said Film Fresh CEO Rick Bolton. “We help people find good films – whatever that means to them – whether it’s a major Studio release, a classic library title, or a specialty film from a different country.”

Privately held Film Fresh employs a high touch strategy and transactional business model, providing films the same day and date of their DVD release, without the waiting period subscription services require. This is another way Film Fresh fulfills its brand promise “Find good films. Watch them everywhere.”

“We want to help people refresh their relationship to film as an artistic, expressive and entertaining medium,” Bolton continued. “We want to provide the sort of intimacy that people associate with the corner video store, encouraging chance encounters with new films that customers will grow to love.”

To that end, Film Fresh is launching significant improvements to its user interface, including the ability for customers to sign in and share experiences through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other networking services. In the very near future, the company will be introducing other significant online capabilities to enhance film discovery and selection.

Along with its online service at FilmFresh.com – which provides content for both PC and Mac users – the company is dramatically expanding its service to a range of consumer electronic devices, launching new stores on networked Blu-ray players and Internet-connected televisions by Philips, Oppo, Haier, Sylvania, Yamaha, Magnavox, Onkyo, Integra and Funai, among others. The company will also soon launch a Film Fresh store for the Android market, which will be featured on Motorola Mobility’s XOOM tablet. Film Fresh will demonstrate its stores at the January 9, 2012, “Digital Experience” event on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Film Fresh platform gives customers the ability to access their purchased and rented films across Film Fresh stores on all these devices. Movie titles can be stored in the cloud, and delivered on demand from the customer’s personal film locker to computer, living room device and tablet. Film Fresh is working aggressively to expand this service in the near future.

Viewers can experience both new and familiar favorites at www.filmfresh.com and visit us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

About Film Fresh

Film Fresh began business in 2005, specializing in independent film and world cinema on DVD. An early adopter of download technology, Film Fresh launched the first DivX digital storefront in North America in 2007, expanding this service offering in 2009 to include Hollywood fare. Recently, the company retired its DivX offering and shifted its focus to consumer-friendly downloading and streaming formats. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company offers digital titles from Hollywood, independent and international distributors for a variety of operating systems and consumer electronic devices.