HMV is to launch a new online video-streaming platform offering 3,000 films in a move that will see it compete directly with Netflix.

The films will be available to view on a purchase or rental basis, at prices similar to those offered by current online rental or purchase providers such as Apple.

Paul McGowan, chief executive of HMV's owner Hilco Capital, said the service would be launched in the fourth quarter of this year, or possibly January of next year.

£5.5m (€6.4m) will be invested in the new offering, which sees the company pivot away from physical CD and DVD sales towards digital offerings.

McGowan said it would be available on virtually all smart devices, as well as smart TVs, laptops and desktops.

"It's looking pretty good already, we now have heads of terms with all of the major Hollywood studios, plus all of the international guys as well," McGowan said.

He said it would initially launch in Ireland, the UK and Canada. McGowan is also set to travel to China at the end of the month to talk about launching the product there as well.

The move represents HMV's effort to transform itself for survival in the digital era. Sales of physical CDs and films have been decimated with the arrival of online services like Netflix and Spotify. Blockbuster, the former video rental giant, is probably the most high-profile casualty of the shift to digital.

Hilco closed down Xtra-Vision in Ireland earlier this year after integrating a HMV presence into some Xtra-Vision stores.

Now four of HMV's five remaining stores on the island of Ireland are set to close over the next few months, with offers in place for sales to other retailers, McGowan said

The Belfast store, the largest HMV store in the world, will remain open. The four Republic of Ireland stores, employing 45 people (35 part-time) will shut.

HMV's retail history stretches back to 1921, when its first store was opened on Oxford Street in London by Edward Elgar, the celebrated composer of Pomp and Circumstance.

The launch of the CD and later the DVD fuelled strong growth in the 1980s and 1990s but the move to digital saw the company collapse into administration in 2013.

That saw Hilco - which specialises in investing in distressed companies - take control. Other companies it has invested in include ceramics company Denby and flooring product manufacturer Kraus Group.

Article by Independent