FandangoNow, Fandango’s digital movie rental and sell-through service, has completed an integration with Movies Anywhere, the Disney-owned service that uses the KeyChest digital rights system.

With the digital tie-in, FandangoNow customers can use the Movies Anywhere platform, including apps and the web site, to access and view movies from studio partners that include Walt Disney Studios (including Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm), Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Universal Pictures (including DreamWorks and Illumination Entertainment), and Warner Bros.

Movies Anywhere estimates that its library holds nearly 7,500 digital movies, including the just-released Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Tied to that release, Movies Anywhere has added several profile picture options that, for example, let users pick from the Rebel Alliance Starbird, Stormtrooper or the First Order emblem.

Movies Anywhere supports several platforms, including Amazon Fire devices, Android and Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOS, Roku and web browsers.

RELATED: M-Go to Become FandangoNOW

FandangoNow joins a growing group of digital retailers that support Movies Anywhere, including Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes and Walmart-owned Vudu.

RELATED: NBCU’s Fandango Acquires  M-GO

“We are thrilled to welcome FandangoNOW, a go-to online destination for movie fans, as our newest digital retailer,” Karin Gilford, GM, Movies Anywhere, said in a statement. “Movies Anywhere is rapidly revolutionizing the way that consumers access and enjoy their digital movie collections. The app has been used to store over 100 million movies to date.”

FandangoNow, the electronic sell-through service that's now part of NBCUniversal, has cut a deal with Showtime that will allow it to offer original series from the premium programmer for digital download, starting with Billions.

FandangoNOW said it will soon offer individual episodes and full seasons of other Showtime series such as Dexter, Ray Donovan, Twin Peaks, The Tudors, and The Affair, among others.

FandangoNOW, which announced the Showtime deal in tandem with the Los Angeles Entertainment Summit, is currently selling the HD version of season 1 of Billions for $19.99 and season 2 of the Showtime original starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis for $29.99. FandangoNOW is also selling individual episodes of Billions in HD for $1.99 each. The standard definition versions of the series are being sold for less.

RELATED: M-GO to Become FandangoNOW

“SHOWTIME’s award-winning original series and documentaries have delighted audiences for years and we are thrilled to offer their premium programming on FandangoNOW," Adam Rockmore, chief marketing officer at FandangoNOW, said in a statement. "We are kicking off the relationship with the launch of Billions, just in time for a summer Billions binge.”

FandangoNOW announced a similar digital deal with HBO in February.

RELATED: FandangoNow, HBO Forge Digital Deal

FandangoNOW said its service is now supported on more than 200 million devices, including a range of smart TVs, OTT players, gaming consoles, web browsers, and iOS and Android mobile devices.

FandangoNow, the electronic sell-through service that's now part of NBCUniversal, has struck a deal with HBO Home Entertainment that allows users to purchase and download series and individual shows from the premium network. 

RELATED: NBCU’s Fandango Acquires  M-GO

FandangoNOW, which claims to have an installed base of more than 100 million devices (via a mix of smart TVs, mobile apps, and OTT players), is starting off by selling HBO titles and series such as Game of Thrones and The Sopranos, Girls, Divorce, Insecure, The Night Of and Band of Brothers. Series such as Ballers, Silicon Valley, Veep, True Detective and The Newsroom and others will be added later.

RELATED: M-GO to Become FandangoNOW

By way of example, FandangoNow is selling episodes of Game of Thrones for $2.99 for the SD version or $3.99 for HD, or a full season for $38.99 (HD) and $28.99 (SD).

“HBO is synonymous with high-quality programming," Adam Rockmore, chief marketing officer of FandangoNOW, said in a statement. "By selling HBO's original content, including award-winning series like Game of Thrones and more in the coming months, FandangoNOW continues to expand the breadth and scope of quality entertainment available to its customers to enjoy anytime and from anywhere."

“Fandango is a leader in the category for their ability to market to entertainment enthusiasts through their digital network,” says Sofia Chang, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Digital Distribution, HBO. 

“This partnership allows us to expand our EST offering to HBO fans across a wide variety of devices,”  added Sofia Chang, HBO’s EVP, worldwide digital distribution.

The FandangoNow adds another digital distribution point for HBO, which also sells a standalone OTT subscription service called HBO Now, and also offers select shows and series under a licensing deal with Amazon Prime. Amazon also sells HBO and Cinemax subscriptions via its Amazon Channels SVOD platform. 

RELATED: 'Amazon Channels' Pitches HBO and Cinemax Subscriptions

Adding some value to movies that it sells digitally via its X1 video platform, Comcast said it is offering a new slate of enhanced “movie extras” to select titles it sells digitally from four studios -- Universal, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, and Sony Pictures.

Those interactive elements, which include photo galleries and video clips that are updated as the movie plays back, are available for certain movies from those studios via Comcast’s X1 platform. Comcast said extra features will evolve and vary by title, and that it expects to add more studios and movies to the mix in 2017.

Comcast, which launched its electronic sell-through product in 2013, is juicing the launch with a ten-day free pass that lets subs check out 16 examples/pieces of those new enhanced movie extras, including games, 360-degree maps and set tours for films such as TheSecret Life of Pets, JasonBourne, Mockingjay Part 2, Star Trek Beyond, Hotel Transylvania 2, Underworld, Nerve and Warcraft.

RELATED: Comcast’s ‘Xfinity TV Store' Opens Doors Online And On Set-Top Boxes

Comcast said it is offering the new features using a new tech standard from MovieLabs that helps to weave interactive, “contextually-integrated” Internet content with the movie-watching experience.

Those enhancements are entering the fold as an increasing number of movies are purchased digitally and start to bring in the kind of extra features that one might find from a title on Blu-ray or DVD.

“We’re excited to work with these studios on this ground-breaking innovation to redefine the home entertainment movie-watching experience,” Daniel Spinosa, GM of movies, pay-per-view and commerce at Comcast Cable, in a statement. “X1 is an immersive, dynamic platform that enables us to continually provide our customers with one-of-a-kind experiences, and we are actively working with our programming partners to deliver next-generation, enhanced entertainment experiences for all content including movies, events, sports, and news."

Virgin Media, Liberty Global’s U.K.-based cable operator, unleashed a refreshed video platform Wednesday, led by a long-anticipated next-gen TiVo-powered device that supports 4K and High Dynamic Range.

Virgin Media, which has been dropping hints about the V6 for months amid heated competition coming way of Sky’s new video platform, said the new device features a revamped UI and cross-platform search feature while integrating OTT services from sources like Netflix, iPlayer and Vevo. It’s being paired with a new RF-based remote that does not require line-of-sight. The box also includes a remote-finder button that, when pressed, causes the remote to make a trackable beeping sound, and 1 terabyte  of storage – enough to hold 100 hours of HD recordings. The V6 can record six shows at the same time, or 12 if the customer links two of them together.

RELATED: Sky Meshes With Whole-Home Video

Virgin Media is offering the V6, which carries an upfront cost of £99.95 and is compatible with the MSO’s legacy TiVo-based boxes, to existing subs on its “Mix” bundle or higher starting before the end of 2017, while new subs will be able to order it with their bundles starting in January.

Liberty Global said it plans to launch the V6 box, which can use non-TiVo interfaces like its Horizon UI, to other markets in Europe next year. The box was developed under Liberty Global’s EOS program, which has been billed as the “workhorse” of a newly unified video hardware platform.

In addition to a revamped TV Everywhere app, Virgin Media also launched a new ad-free kids app.

Virgin Media also trotted out the “TellyTablet,” a mobile HD device outfitted with 14-inch screen, four built-in speakers, 32 GB of memory, and two USB ports, that is optimized to run the operator’s own apps and any offered via the Google Play store. Subs can get their mitts on it next month by paying £299 upfront or spreading the cost over 24 months.

With a nod to the electronic sell-through model, the operator is also gearing up for the launch of the Virgin Media Store, a service that lets subs buy movies and TV shows, including some titles before they arrive on DVD. For film purchases, Virgin Media will also send the buyer a DVD copy. Virgin Media Store will launch in February 2016.

FandangoNOW, Fandango’s multiscreen premium VOD service that’s now part of the NBCUniversal, said it is making its debut on game consoles with the launch of an app for the Xbox One and Xbox One S.

Xbox One S to Hit Stores Aug. 2

The expansion gives FandangoNOW and its library of 40,000 movies and TV shows for rent and purchase a presence on the Microsoft gaming platform.

RELATED: NBCU’s Fandango Acquires  M-GO

Examples of new movies hitting FandangoNow this month include  Suicide Squad, Sausage Party, The Secret Life of Pets, Jason Bourne, Don’t Breathe, Kubo and the Two Strings and War Dogs.

To prime the pump, Xbox One and Xbox One S users who activate FandangoNOW on their console will get 50% off of their next transaction.

RELATED: M-GO to Become FandangoNOW

FandangoNOW on Xbox One will also support DTS-HD surround sound.

Fandango said its OTT/VOD service is now available on an installed base of more than 100 devices, including smart TVs from Samsung, LG Electronics and Vizio, Roku streaming players, support for the Google Chromecast streaming adapter, and iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. The service also supports browsers at FandangoNow.com.

“At Fandango, we engage with millions of entertainment fans every day, super-serving their movie experience, starting with movie discovery at the first trailer release to theatrical ticketing and now at home with FandangoNOW,” Fandango president Paul Yanover said, in a statement.  “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Xbox to bring their users access to FandangoNOW’s extensive library of movies from the big screen and next-day TV shows right in their living room.”

OTT specialist Vimeo launched its global television store today at MIPCOM, and announced Starz as a new partner for the service.

Vimeo announced Lionsgate as the first Hollywood studio partner for the service in September, paving the way for the new offering to feature series such as Orange is the New Black, Casual, The Royals, and Mad Men.

The arrangement with Starz will enable Vimeo to add originals such as Ash vs Evil Dead, Black Sails and The Girlfriend Experience to the service, which is offered in more than 150 countries. Vimeo’s digital storefront also features catalog titles such as Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Boss, Blue Mountain State and Manhattan. 

In June, Lionsgate announced a deal to acquire Starz in a cash and stock deal valued at $4.4 billion.

RELATED: Vimeo’s VHX OTT Platform Offers In-App Subscriptions

Vimeo, a unit of IAC, said the storefront was unveiled today at MIPCOM in Cannes, and led by Jim Packer, Lionsgate president of worldwide television & digital distribution, and Sam Toles, Vimeo’s SVP, programming.

“As audiences across the globe continue to shift towards online viewing, Vimeo is taking a leadership role, establishing our On Demand storefront as the world’s first transactional service to offer premium television on a truly global basis” Toles said, in a statement. “We’re truly excited to be partnering with Lionsgate and now Starz to offer their content and today’s launch marks a huge expansion for our offering of premium programming.”

“Vimeo is undoubtedly one of the most cutting-edge online video platforms and Starz is very pleased to join Lionsgate in agreeing to provide content to Vimeo’s storefront.

“With this agreement, Starz will make available for purchase three of its most powerful and compelling STARZ Original series for consumers around the world,” added Jeffrey Hirsch, COO at Starz. 

Verizon Fios has signed on as the first MVPD to support Disney Movies Anywhere, the cloud-based electronic-sell through platform/digital locker for the Mouse’s mix of flicks.

The launch with Verizon coincides with Disney’s digital release of the new The Jungle Book.

Disney’s digital service, which offers more than 450 digital movies, including the Star Wars series and titles from Pixar and Marvel, launched in February 2014. Verizon launched its EST product in 2010.

Verizon Fios subs can now connect their digital movie collections with the Disney Movies Anywhere ecosystem. Those customers can also purchase Disney titles on that service and watch on Fios set-tops (via Fios on Demand), on smartphones and tablets with the Fios Mobile app. DMA also has an app that supports iOS and Android devices, Android TV devices, Amazon’s Fire tablets, Fire TV boxes and Fire TV Sticks, Roku players, and the Xbox 360.

In addition to Verizon Fios, DMA also works with a group of distribution partners that includes iTunes, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play, and Microsoft Movies & TV.

In concert with the Verizon deal, DMA said it will offer a free digital copy of Monsters, Inc. to new and existing members who connect an iTunes, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play, Microsoft Movies & TV or Fios through Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Comcast, which also has its own EST service, struck an expanded content licensing deal with The Walt Disney Studios in April to offer a selection of digital library titles and new releases as they become available via the Xfinity On Demand digital store. Comcast, however, does not currently link to the Disney Movies Anywhere platform. 

Vubiquity said it has struck a five-year multiscreen video deal with FlixFling, a new OTT streaming service that touts a catalog of more than 15,000 movies and TV shows.

Under the deal, Vubiquity will provide FlixFling with access to its AnyVU Content Cloud, a commercial multiscreen platform that manages the distribution of movies and TV shows.

FlixFling delivers content over-the-top via pay-as-you-go and subscription-based offerings. According to its site, it currently supports multiple platforms, including Vizio smart TVs, apps for iOS, Android and Windows 8 devices, the Xbox 360, Roku players and the Google Chromecast streaming adapter.

Of recent note, Philadelphia-based FlixFling announced a streaming video deal with Consolidated Communications, which offers broadband service across an 11-state territory.

“We’re proud to offer a deep library of curated premium titles in the AnyVU Content Cloud, including our selection of pre-licensed content,” Fred Handsman, SVP of business development at Vubiquity, said in a statement. “We’ve built a service that can seamlessly make these titles available to FlixFling’s customers across multiple devices and in a variety of ways, including subscription video-on-demand and electronic sell-through.”

“Our partnership with Vubiquity will provide a huge influx of new releases, sometimes months before they are available on other services,” added FlixFling CEO Thomas Ashley. “The AnyVU Content Cloud is a tremendous asset for FlixFling to be working with and we’re thrilled to add Vubiquity's catalog of premium content to our extensive library of major studio releases, TV shows, indies, and exclusives.” 

Vubiquity said it is setting its sights on the OTT market in Latin America with the debut of a managed digital storefront product for the region.

Vubiquity said the product, to debut at next week's Andina Link show in Colombia, expands on the company’s current work with telecom operators in the region with a suite of content services, including content acquisition licensing, scheduling, programming and processing and marketing support. Vubiquity has already launched digital storefronts with partners in other regions, including North America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

It  added that the new digital storefront for the region provides a “white-label” portal for partners and content distributors that also links access to Vubiquity’s film and TV catalog alongside studio-approved DRM, and support for various business models, including subscription VOD, free, ad-supported VOD, electronic sell through and live TV.

Vubiquity said the storefront for Latin America supports Web browsers, iOS and Android mobile devices, and set-top boxes.

"The telecoms market in Latin America is especially competitive and complex, and our storefront provides service providers with the edge they need over other OTT providers,” Hector Rodriguez, Vubiquity’s VP for the Latin America region, said in a statement. 

Fandango, the movie ticket buying service that’s part of NBCUniversal, will be expanding into the world of digitally-distributed movies and TV shows after acquiring M-GO, a  joint venture of Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation founded in 2012.

M-GO sells and rents digital titles via a range of connected devices, including Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, Web browsers, Samsung, Vizio and LG smart TVs, on Roku players and Roku TVs, and is optimized for the Google Chromecast.

Fandango said it will use M-GO to create theatrical ticketing and home entertainment bundles, including "movie catch-up" bundles, home entertainment pre-sell opportunities, and bundles with bonus content, and collectibles.

Additionally, FandangoLabs will tap the M-GO platform “in the creation of new moviegoing products and services,” and Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Technicolor will collaborate on “next-generation video technologies,” including augmented and virtual reality.

NBCU corporate cousin Comcast currently sells and rents movies and TV shows via its own EST service, enabling playback on mobile devices and set-top boxes. M-GO's EST competition also includes Apple iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, and Google Play, among others. 

Fandango said it is acquiring M-GO after a record-breaking year in which it saw 81% growth in ticketing dollars, and added 1,600 screens to its platform, expanding that total beyond 27,000.

"With the addition of M-GO, we'll be able to accelerate the ticketing momentum achieved in a record-breaking 2015 by creating compelling new digital products that serve consumers throughout the movie lifecycle," said Fandango president Paul Yanover, in a statement. "We're excited to start working with our studio and exhibition partners to bundle theatrical tickets and home entertainment products in the form of 'super tickets,' gifts with purchase, and other promotional offers."

Vubiquity said it is revealing and demonstrating new products and services at this week’s INTX show in in Chicago focused on areas such as live streaming, digital distribution and electronic sell-through.

On the linear side, its LiveVU service is powered by powered by Vubiquity’s AnyVU Cloud platform, enabling service providers to quickly launch a live linear streaming service that includes content acquisition, content encoding and packaging, CDN delivery and a digital storefront.

Also on show is the company’s Bandwidth Optimization platform that uses reduced bitrate encoding to compress data and make more storage available, thereby enabling service providers to expand their offerings. The company said its Bandwidth Optimization platform facilitates 38% more storage and allows service providers to deliver 62% more on demand assets to their customers, leading to increased revenues. Bandwidth Optimization transcodes high-quality source files into lower bitrate profiles encoded at a rate of 9.25Mbps, while maintaining high-quality standards of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Visual Quality Metrics (VQM), and Structural Similarity (SSIM).

With respect to digital distribution, Vubiquity said its existing service provider portfolio consists of 550 distributors across 37 countries in 15 languages, noting that, beginning in the third quarter of 2015, the company will boost this portfolio and distribute content to additional service providers including OTT distributors.

Vubiquity is also showing an EST solution for that works with existing VOD set-ups and includes pre-licensed movies and TV shows for in- and out-of-home viewing on mainstream devices, set-top-box integrations, white-labeled storefronts, and device apps iOS  and Android devices, as well as PCs and Macs.

“At this year’s INTX, we wanted to really highlight all of the content capabilities we have been developing over the past year,” Darcy Antonellis, CEO of Vubiquity said, in a statement . “With new technologies and disruption comes many new challenges, and we have been diligently working to best support our partners and customers with new solutions.”

Comcast has rolled out another wave of updates for its IP-capable X1 platform, including a “simplified” menu for movies and TV shows for sale or for rent that focuses on the high-definition version of those titles.

“We’ve heard from our customers that when it comes to renting or purchasing movies, they prefer watching in HD, so we’ve updated entity pages to display HD Rent and Buy prices first,” Peter Nush, VP, product management for Comcast Cable, explained last week in this blog post.

While those rent and buy options will default to HD, customers can still select the standard-definition version, which typically costs less than its hi-def counterpart. 

X1 has also made some updates to pages for TV show seasons designed to make episode pricing more understandable, as "Buy" and "Purchased" season descriptions have been added to the episode guide to more clearly show which seasons are free, available to buy, or already purchased. Seasons that include all episodes for free are now marked as "On Demand."

Comcast has also added scrolling text for all program titles offered via the X1’s mini guide and mini search features, giving viewers a way to read the full program title via those options.

Among other additions, Comcast has also enabled its recently launched “talking guide” for the blind and visually impaired to include support for new areas such as the X1’s Mini Guide, Channel Info and Channel Collections areas.

In the X1’s “Comcast Labs” section, which gives users early access to some features and apps that are still in development, the MSO has added a layer of personalization via a “recent searches” element. X1 subs can try it out by accessing it via the Comcast Labs “Settings” page.

“With this feature activated, whenever you select a search result, that result will be remembered, so you can quickly find it again without having to search all over again,” Nush noted. “We are evaluating this feature to determine how useful it is, and may make it a default feature in the future based on your feedback.” 

Target Ticket, the multiscreen electronic sell-through service launched in the fall of 2013, will shut down on March 7, 2015, the retailer announced on its Web site.

In the message, spotted Tuesday by GigaOm, Target said it “has made the decision to end the services offered on Target Ticket and will be focusing efforts on other entertainment offerings.”

After March 7, movies and TV shows purchased at Target Ticket will no longer be accessible on the devices such as smartphones, tablets, Web browsers, Xbox 360 consoles, and connected TV models from Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Philips, and Funai that currently support the Target Ticket app.

But not all is lost. Target said it has arranged for CinemaNow to provide access to movies and TV shows bought through Target Ticket at no additional cost starting March 7. Target Ticket customers who bought titles with rights that won’t transfer to the CinemaNow service will receive CinemaNow credits equivalent to the price those customers paid for non-transferable content.  

When Target Ticket shuts down in March, customers will need only plug-in their Target Ticket credentials to gain access to their digital libraries, but their Target Ticket payment information will not be transferred to CinemaNow. Today (February 10) is the last day Target Ticket customers can rent titles from the service.

Target Ticket launched nationwide on Sept. 13, 2013, kicking off with a library of about 30,000 movies and TV shows alongside support for UltraViolet, a studio-backed digital locker system.

Target Ticket apparently could not keep pace with or differentiate itself from a highly competitive EST market that includes Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Verizon FiOS, Google, Xbox Video, M-GO and the Walmart-owned VUDU service. 

Comcast has highlighted another batch of updates and enhancements to its IP-capable X1 platform, led off by a Movie Bundles option that ties into the MSO’s electronic sell-through (EST) service for set-tops and mobile devices.

Launched this month and mentioned last year as an EST feature that was in-the-works, Movie Bundles groups multiple movies together that are offered for sale for one price. Film series such as Despicable Me, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are some of the examples outlined in this blog post from Peter Nush, Comcast Cable’s executive director, product management.

“We know our customers often add all films in a series to their personal libraries, and this feature makes the process for finding and owning these favorite titles much simpler,” he wrote. 

Among other new features, Common Sense Media ratings are now always visible on the X1 guide, and no longer an element that needs to be set up manually through the X1 Preferences. Comcast launched Common Sense Media ratings on X1 last fall, adding information designed to help parents determine what content is appropriate for different age groups.

On the sports programming front, Comcast has also updated the “Last 9” view (which shows the last nine linear channels, VOD titles or DVR recordings a customer last viewed) to include the “sports subtitle” – a listing of the two teams that are playing each other, making it easier for customers to navigate back and forth between multiple games.

Update: X1 has also added Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) indicators on all the programs listed in the standard guide view as well as the "mini info" view. .

Those X1 enhancements follow last month’s batch, which included a “Browse By Sport” row that provides viewers with a quick look at upcoming live programming arranged by sport.

Comcast has deployed more than 5 million X1 boxes. The company might provide more updated X1 figures when it reports fourth quarter and full year 2014 results on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

Comcast said it has added Paramount Pictures to its content partners for the Xfinity On Demand digital store, the cable operator's multi-screen electronic sell-through product.

The addition allows Comcast to sell titles from Paramount, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Wolf of Wall Street, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Anchorman 2, World War Z and Star Trek: Into Darkness, and enable Comcast to offer some Paramount fare prior to their respective DVD windows.

Comcast, which now offers “thousands” of titles through the EST product, has similar deals with Twentieth Century Fox, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, and MGM, as well as A24, Relativity, Starz, and Vertical Entertainment.

The MSO hasn’t released EST sales figures, but in a blog post, Nancy Spears, Comcast’s VP of digital media distribution and monetization, noted that 42% of Comcast customers who own a movie or TV show via operator’s EST offering own more than one title. On average, they own at least two movies and/or four or five TV episodes, she added.

Comcast launched its EST platform late last year,  allowing customers to purchase and playback movies and TV shows via the set-top and PC browsers. Comcast has also developed apps (for playback—streaming and downloading) for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

Comcast competes in a heated EST market that also includes iTunes, M-GO, Target Ticket, Google Play, VUDU, Amazon Instant Video, and Verizon FiOS, among others. 

Getting a jump on Black Friday, Comcast announced that it will offer steep discounts on a batch of movies it sells through the Xfinity TV Store, its multiscreen  electronic sell-through service, from November 27-28.

During that period, Comcast is offering several titles, including Lone Survivor and Mr. Peabody & Sherman for $5.99 each. Others set aside for the sale include The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (regularly $19.99 in HD), and Divergent and The Lego Movie, which both currently sell for $20.99 in HD.

The MSO’s latest EST promo comes about a year after Comcast  launched the Xfinity TV Store, which allows customers to purchase and playback movies and TV shows via the set-top and PC browsers.  Comcast has also developed apps (for playback—streaming and downloading) for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

In the EST market, Comcast competes with several providers, including iTunes, M-GO, Target Ticket, Google Play, VUDU, Amazon Instant Video, and Verizon FiOS, among others. 

Adding a key content offering to its lineup of apps, Roku has launched Google Play Movies & TV to its Channel Store in the U.S., Ireland and Canada. 

Google Play Movies & TV, also offered on Google’s own TV-connected Chromecast and new Android TV-powered Nexus Player (as well as via apps for Android and iOS tablets and smartphones), offers a mix of new movie releases, some before their DVR and Blu-ray windows, as well as TV shows for purchase and rental.

Google’s service competes with electronic sell-through services such as iTunes, VUDU, Amazon, as well as EST products from Comcast and Verizon Communications. .

Roku said the new offering is available on “current generation” players, meaning those introduced after June 2011 (Roku 3, Roku 2, Roku 1, Roku Streaming Sticks, Roku LT, Roku 2 HD, Roku 2 XD,  Roku 2 XS, and Roku HD). Support for Roku’s platform for connected TVs will be “coming soon.” Roku has shipped more than 10 million devices in the U.S., but hasn’t revealed international sales figures.

Roku, which adds Google Play Movies & TV to a roster of more than 1,600 channels/apps, is also supporting the “Gift from Google” section that’s currently offering a free HD copy of X-Men to users who sign up for  a Google Play account.

Comcast has notched a deal to offer titles from MGM Television through the Xfinity On Demand digital store, the multiscreen electronic-sell through (EST) service the MSO launched last November.

MGM’s debut on the service will start with the 2014 flick RoboCop on May 20. Under the deal, Comcast gains the ability to sell other titles from the MGM library, including Bull Durham, Carrie (2013), Capote, Fargo, Skyfall, Hoosiers, The Princess Bride and the Rocky franchise.

Comcast has previously notched EST deals with Twentieth Century Fox, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, and corporate cousin NBCUniversal.

Comcast’s digital store allows customers to buy movies and TV shows via the Web and the set-top box. Those titles can also be played back on tablets and smartphones via the MSO’s Xfinity On Demand Purchases app.

Comcast has not announced sales figures for its EST offering, but in a recent interview for a feature on cable’s pursuit of the EST market, Matt Strauss, Comcast Cable’s SVP and GM, video services, said that the “vast majority” of transactions made on the service are coming not from the Web, but from the remote control.

At last check, Comcast’s digital video store offered more than 565 movies and 26 TV series, including season one of Netflix original House of Cards.

“Our Xfinity TV customers now have access to hundreds of movies and shows they can own digitally and enjoy anywhere, on any device,” said Michael Schreiber, SVP of content acquisition at Comcast, in a statement. “Our digital store was a hit with customers from day one, and we expect continued success with the addition of the incredible film and television content from MGM.”

“MGM is thrilled to join the Comcast store and to offer its premiere content, including our newest film releases and television series, to Xfinity customers,” added Damien Marin, SVP, domestic pay TV & worldwide digital media. “Through Xfinity, Comcast provides an incredible platform for subscribers to enjoy MGM’s latest releases including RoboCop, Carrie and Vikings as well as beloved movies such as Rocky and The Silence of the Lambs. We are delighted to be part of this service and look forward to delivering more content to Comcast customers.”