Big Surprise: Disney's MovieBeam Service Finally Sold

MovieBeam, the one time high-profile Disney spin off was bought by Movie Gallery for $10 million dollars. MovieBeam re-launched last year with nearly $50 million in funding and the rumor was that they spent many millions more on the now defunct project. You have to ask yourself why any company would want to spend $10 million dollars to acquire the assets of a company that has no revenue and no customers. Apparently, Movie Gallery bought the technology so they can develop a movie delivery service of their own.

Say what now? Your going to replicate a service that has already been proven to be one that consumers don't want? Am I the only one who thinks many of the companies out there today are not looking at mistakes made in the past? The history of the Internet can and does teach us many valuable lessons, if we are willing to learn from them. All that matters is what customers adopt and are willing to buy. The technology behind the service means nothing if it's not adopted, as was evident from the MovieBeam service.

Comments

[Max]

Hopefully you'll take this constructively. Strong medicine coming. That post is no more than a knee-jerk reaction to a piece of industry news. Is that the kind of thought you're going to put behind this blog? Do you expect me to return? I don't think you would. (If anything, that further investment in Moviebeam (which I know nothing about) should prove that you're not wasting your career in streaming media). The success of any tech company rests largely on timing. There were many YouTubes before and after YouTube. YouTube peaked when Flash added streaming capabilities. I don't know the future any better than you; but I certainly won't make the rookie mistake of reading too much in past failures to monetize new technologies. Whatever these guys see to make that investment, I don't know. My guess is you can tell us if you put your mind to it. I hope in the future you will. Good luck with your Blog!

[Bruce N. Goren]

You are missing the point. Movie Gallery is not interested in the failed stingy business model of Disney/MovieBeam. They are simply buying a technology shortcut to instantly ramp up and compete with Blockbuster and NetFlix.

[Dan Rayburn]

Timing is only part of it. If your technology does not work, like MovieBeam's didn't, then the best timing in the world won't help.

Yes, I am going to read a lot into past failures, especially when this technology you call "new" has been around for 13 years now. Too many companies are focusing too much on the technology and not enough on the business models and the demands of consumers. Many companies don't learn from past mistakes and are doomed to repeat them.

Also, to your point about Flash and YouTube. YouTube videos don't stream, they never did. They don't get delivered from Flash Media Servers. YouTube grew out of the fact they made their service easy, it worked and their technology was the best at the time.

Movielink, who's technology does work and has been around for over 5 years has not been able to make a business out of downloading movies. But I'm suppose to believe that a company like Movie Gallery, that no one has ever heard of, using technology they acquired that does not work, is somehow going to compete with Blockbuster or Netflix?