Tesco acquires Blinkbox

Retailer Tesco has made a bold move into the digital space by acquiring a majority 80 per cent stake in video-on-demand service Blinkbox.

Blinkbox, which launched in April 2008, boasts around 2m UK visitors a month and has a catalogue including over 9,000 movies and many TV shows. It offers both streaming paid-for content and free ad-supported viewing.

The service is available on PC, Mac and PS3 and plans to launch on net connected TVs and tablet devices this year.

"Whether customers want to own the DVD, download a digital movie, stream a rental or all three, Tesco is committed to giving customers choice," Tesco CEO Richard Brasher stated.

"We want to allow them to decide how they access entertainment content and on which devices, whether it’s on PC, TV or tablet. The acquisition of blinkbox, together with a range of other services currently in development, means we can link physical purchase of a product to the building of digital collections in a new and seamless way.

"Working with the blinkbox team and our content partners, we will bring these compelling propositions to life for our customers."