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.
