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Will's Web Watch: Bye, bye Blockbuster
The 'Amazonising' of the DVD rental industry...

By Will Sturgeon

Published: Tuesday 07 October 2003

OK, the headline is actually a lie - I never go to Blockbuster anyway but if I did then I would now be bidding farewell to the hassle of heading out to the video store of a weekend and looking for a DVD to rent.

www.ScreenSelect.co.uk contacted me last week to tell me about a new service they have just launched. In a nutshell, log-in, select a DVD, add it to your basket and then return home the next day to find it waiting for you on your doormat.

When you're done watching it, pop it in the pre-paid envelope and send it back. Drop it in a letterbox on your way to work and you've not even deviated from your usual routine at all. No more standing in the queue behind a couple arguing over whether it's going to be Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan or Arnold Schwarzenegger and an "Uzi nine millimetre".

Screenselect claims it is 'Amazonising' the DVD rental business and certainly in terms of ease and convenience it has a point. (Assuming it doesn't start to Amazonise its delivery times as well.)

But of course the one thing you can't quite legislate for in this convenient model is the spontaneous "I've got a hangover/a cold/nothing better to do" (delete as appropriate) and I fancy getting a film out.

You can order DVDs and sit on them until that moment arrives, (the bonus there being there are no late fees to pay with Screenselect) but it's unlikely you would plan in that way.

In truth the service is geared more towards the film buff, the serial DVD watcher. That's because when you return your first choice, you in doing so inform Screenselect that you are ready for them to send out the next DVD on your list. This means there is always a DVD travelling one way between you and them. Unless you choose to clear your list.

And therein lies a slight problem. At first it took me a while to even find 10 DVDs to add to my list - the minimum needed to activate your subscription. So is this a flaw in Screenselect's plan? Apparently not - the company claims to have the largest library of rental DVDs in the UK.

So it must be an indication of the extent to which Hollywood has really put innovation and originality on the back burner of late. I'm sure the new releases are there - they just don't really appeal.

Of course all the classics are available but if you're the sort of person to get use out of a service such as this, then you probably already own The Godfather and its ilk. For a while the only films I could find on there were ones I already owned.

However, the bottom line is that this is an excellent service. The one caveat I would add to that is 'while it lasts...'. Or perhaps that should be 'as long as it lasts'.

The concern with all new dot-com businesses is longevity. Often some outstanding ideas have gone the way of Boo.com and the movie business is one in decline (with the studios predictably blaming Kazaa).

But Screenselect deserves to succeed, that much I'm willing to say. Take advantage of the 10-day free trial and find out for yourselves.