Movie and tech firms team up for solution to illegal file sharing

UltraViolet offers a legal way of buying and watching movies

A consortium of technology and entertainment companies is pioneering a cloud-based approach to selling and distributing digital content.

UltraViolet is a new service developed to provide consumers with a simpler way to buy and watch digital entertainment across multiple devices and platforms.

UltraViolet will allow consumers to watch their digital entertainment on several devices, such as connected TVs, PCs, game consoles, smartphones and tablet PCs.

The service will consist of a cloud-based account for each user, which will include a digital rights locker and account management functions.

Consumers will be able to create an UltraViolet account, free of charge. Once created, the account will let them access and manage their UltraViolet entertainment, regardless of where it was purchased and in what format.

The consortium, known as the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, consists of nearly 60 companies including Microsoft, IBM, Intel, BT, Nokia, Sony, Fox Entertainment, Warner Bros, DivX and Paramount.

The move comes as a giant step forward for the movie industry, which has struggled to take advantage of the internet and cloud services, instead leaving it susceptible to copyright infringement due to the proliferation of file sharing.

New business models in the world of music and gaming, with the likes of Spotify and OnLive respectively, have offered consumers an alternative to illegal means of digital content distribution.

Media companies and experts had cited bandwidth issues as a reason that similar services had not been available for movie fans until now. But a launch date for the UK has not yet been confirmed.

"With the digital locker, UltraViolet provides a new perspective on the value of collecting both physical and digital media," said David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures.

Thomas Gewecke, president of Warner Bros Digital Distribution, added: “Making interoperability possible meets a key consumer need, and fundamentally improves the digital video experience.”