Comcast has operated two transactional services since acquiring Vudu.com/start from Walmart last year. Rebranded store will remain Roku’s official transactional outlet.
Comcast’s Fandango unit has combined its two transactional services, FandangoNow and Vudu, and will now operate one rental/sale platform under the “Vudu” moniker.
The Vudu rebrand will extend to the official movie and TV show rental store on Roku, which previously carried the Fandango moniker.
“At Fandango, we’ve been building a digital network that super-serves tens of millions of fans across the entire entertainment lifecycle, from movie and TV discovery with Rotten Tomatoes, to our three theatrical ticketing apps and now an even larger scale Vudu on-demand streaming destination,” said Fandango President Paul Yanover, in a statement. “During a time where consumers have a myriad of viewing options, we’re proud to deliver a service that presents an unparalleled library of content, many titles that are not available on subscription services, and the flexibility to pay as you go.”
Added Tedd Cittadine, VP of content partnerships for Roku: ”Consumer excitement for premium video on-demand has grown significantly as users turn to streaming to access the latest movies and TV show releases. We’re thrilled to continue our long-standing partnership with Fandango as we build a future where all TV will be streamed by creating a seamless experience for users to discover and enjoy premium video on-demand releases.”
Fandango's newly combined digital store will offer more than 200,000 new release and catalog movies and TV shows, thousands of which will be available for free AVOD viewing.
Fandango has operated two transactional services since last year, when it acquired Vudu, a platform with more than 60 million registered users, from Walmart.
Location problemHowever, even if you find a title that you like, you will not be able to watch it outside the US as the channel (as many other VOD services) is geo-fenced. What it practically means is that if you are outside the US or traveling, you cannot access the service. Even if you bought the movie in the US and want to stream it while traveling abroad – you cannot do that.
REFERENCE : Vudu.com start code