Blockbuster Inc. has teamed up with Samsung Electronics America, Inc., where their partnership is aimed at bringing more benefits to consumers at home. With their forces combined, they plan to enable consumers to access Blockbuster’s vast and growing library of premium digital entertainment through a range of new Samsung HDTVs, home theater systems and Blu-ray players. These new services will be available out later this fall, where millions of folks throughout America can expect to gain access to Blockbuster’s digital library of movies right in the comfort of their living room. In addition, as part of the agreement, Blockbuster OnDemand will have priority positioning on the Blu-ray interfaces.

What’s this service all about? Well, the BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand service offers comprehensive on-screen search and browsing capabilities, in addition to full details, ratings, trailers, and other information about individual movies straight on your TV screen, doing away with the need for for customers to manage a viewing queue on their PC. This translates to experiencing the wonders of instant viewing, as once a customer rents or buys a movie, all they need to do is press Play and they’re good to go, courtesy of Blockbuster’s adaptive streaming technology that guarantees quality viewing with immediate and uninterrupted playback for added convenience.

This strategic alliance will also entail the sale of Samsung Blu-ray players that boast the integrated BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand service at Blockbuster’s thousands of participating corporate-owned stores and franchise stores and online at blockbuster.com, all the while taking into account the numerous existing brick-and-mortar retail channels from Samsung. It is expected for all new Samsung Blu-ray disc players and HDTVs to incorporate the BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand service by this fall. For those who are owners of selected 2009 Samsung Blu-ray players and home theater systems, Samsung LCD and Plasma HDTVs Series 650 and above, and Samsung LED HDTVs Series 7000 and above, will be able to gain access to the BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand offering for free simply via a firmware upgrade.

Press Release