Single-Use Video Disks on Horizon
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Filed at 2:49 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Everybody knows the annoyance of planning a night at home watching the latest hot movie only to find that someone snatched up the last copy at the corner video store moments ahead of you.
And who hasn't known the frustration of racing to return a tape in time to avoid the late fee, only to find the store locking its doors?
On Monday, the nation's largest retailer of brand-name consumer electronics will introduce a single-use video disk as a solution to those problems.
Circuit City is test-marketing Divx, disks movie fans can buy for $4.49 each, view once, then toss away. Because the disks are bought and not rented, retailers could stock far more copies of in-demand flicks than video rental stores do now.
Digital video disks, or DVDs, are high-capacity storage devices that look like CDs but can hold about seven times more data, or the equivalent of a full-length movie. Their picture quality is much higher than standard video tapes.
''We are presenting this to the consumer as a better way to rent a video product,'' said Richard L. Sharp, Circuit City's chairman and CEO.
The disks will be sold in Richmond, Va. and San Francisco until the fall, when Circuit City plans to launch them nationwide.
Ordinary DVDs sell for $25 to $30 and buyers can play them as often as they want. Divx is for people who aren't sure they want to shell out the money to own the movie but who still want to see it.
Unlike a video rental, where you have to pick up the tape the evening you plan to watch the film, Divx allows people to buy a movie days or months before watching it. However, once a disk is inserted into a Divx player, it will only work for 48 hours.
To see the film again after the 48 hours have expired, a user has to pay an additional $3.25 by punching a code on a remote control. Divx players will be hooked up by phone line to a central billing computer, which will keep track of additional charges. The computer will be run by Digital Video Express LP, a joint venture between Circuit City and a Los Angeles entertainment-law firm, Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca & Fischer.
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