Virgin and Universal offer PictureBox on-demand movies

Posted by David Walker on Mon 29 Jun 2009

Something old, not much new

Virgin Media and Universal have already buddied up to offer a music download service, now the two entertainment giants have teamed up once more, this time offering the PictureBox movie subscription package for a £5 monthly fee.

It's new to Virgin Media, but not a new service - indeed, Picturebox has been available via BT Vision for some time. But for the Virgin launch, Universal has thrown in an extra sweetener, movies in HD amongst the 28 that will be available to watch on-demand at any given time for a fiver.

According to Katharine Burns, executive director of content acquisition at Virgin Media: 'Our customers love movies on demand and they’re watching millions of films every year. The addition of PictureBox means Virgin Media is the perfect choice for film fans, with a fantastic HD line-up and even more films to choose from, all at great value for money.'

Whether customers agree with that is a different matter, with headline movies at launch including modern-day titles like Hot Fuzz, The Bourne Ultimatum, Children of Men and The Holiday, along with classics including Scarface, Total Recall, The Nutty Professor and E.T – The Extra Terrestrial. Not bad, but if you're a film buff, there's every chance that these are the sort of films you've already seen, in some cases many many times over.

But on the flipside, PictureBox offers 28 ever-changing movie titles, including some HD, for just £5 on your subscription. That's as cheap as just one cinema visit - and you can bring your own snacks.

Link: Virgin Media

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