Warner bows classics on high-def VOD before Blu-ray
Casablanca, Rebel Without a Cause in 85th anniversary celebration
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/14/2008
AUG. 14 | To celebrate its studio’s 85th anniversary, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution today is bowing Casablanca, Doctor Zhivago, Rebel Without a Cause and other classics, for the first time in high-definition for the video-on-demand market.
A total of 85 films will be released to VOD in the promotion, many of them in high-def before they have been released on Blu-ray Disc.
VOD services spanning Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox Cable, Charter Communications and Rogers Cable are included. Films also can be accessed on satellite systems DirecTV and Dish Network.
Additional first-time high-def VOD offerings include Beetlejuice, Ben-Hur, Chariots of Fire, Cool Hand Luke, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, The Shawshank Redemption and Singin’ in the Rain.
At the same time, Time Warner Cable is hosting several outdoor screenings of Warner films Casablanca and Superman: The Movie, among others, in New York and Los Angeles. Schedule details can be found at www.twoondemand.com.
