Amazon To Offer Indie Films on HD DVD

Amazon and Microsoft are partnering to being 1,000 independent film titles to Amazon's CustomFlix DVD on Demand service in HD DVD format.

Amazon.com and Microsoft had announced a partnership which will make 1,000 independent film titles available via Amazon.com’s CustomFlix DVD-on-demand service in HD DVD format. Under the program, Amazon will waive the processing fees for the first 1,000 films it accepts for production, while Microsoft will supply the technology necessary to encode the films and package extra features on the HD DVD discs.

“This collaboration with Microsoft is a great opportunity for independent filmmakers to reach Amazon customers with their films via the HD DVD format,” said Peter Faricy, Amazon.com’s VP of music and movies. “By working together with Microsoft and leveraging the proven CustomFlix DVD on Demand model, we can lower the barriers to entry for independent filmmakers and dramatically increase the selection we offer our customers.”

CustomFlix is a produce-on-demand movie service: when a customer orders a film, the company produces a one-off disc and its packaging and sends the requested content to the customer. With retail space for DVD and movie titles being so expensive, CustomFlix hopes to offer an alternative distribution channel for film content which might not otherwise be available for purchase. Sundance Channel will be reviewing the HD titles submitted to the CustomFlix HD DVD program for potential broadcast; it will also make its ecology series Big Ideas for a Small Planet available in HD DVD format via CustomFlix.

CustomFlix has not released pricing information on HD DVD titles to be offered through the program, or when the first titles will become available.