LoveFilm

File:Lovefilm env front.jpg

Front of a LOVEFiLM envelope

File:Lovefilm env back.jpg

Back of a LOVEFiLM envelope

LOVEFiLM is a British DVD rental company which provides online DVD rentals, console game rental and film downloads in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia. It operates the LOVEFiLM.com website, as well as providing the actual website and delivery infrastructure for an array of branded services in partnership with other British companies. LOVEFiLM has grown through ten merger and acquisitions of other online DVD rental companies, such as ScreenSelect and Webflix.

The original LOVEFiLM.com business was called DVDsOnTap, which renamed as LOVEFiLM.com after being taken over by Arts Alliance, a family-owned private equity firm, in late 2003. The business claimed to reach 50,000 subscribers in December 2004, and 100,000 in March 2005, a month in which it shipped almost 700,000 rentals. The step-change for the business was merging with the larger ScreenSelect (which had over 200,000 members) in April 2006. The company then adopted the LOVEFiLM.com name in all its key markets. The latest claims are over 500,000 members, over 65,000 titles, and over 2m rentals per month. LOVEFiLM faces competition in the UK from traditional high street rental, the online operations of Blockbuster, Amazon.co.uk and many smaller operators, as well as from the broader home entertainment and movie market, including DVD retailers, and the likes of Sky Movies and the emerging BT Vision.

The company has been a pioneer in the area of legal movie download services, offering feature films, shorts and TV series in a range of legal download formats. It was the first company worldwide to offer a major blockbuster film for legal download to own when it released King Kong for download on the day of DVD release in April 2006. The company claims its UK service offers more downloadable films than any of its competitors including BT Vision, Sky Movies, and Apple.

Pricing plans and associated rental services

LOVEFiLM's own service provides "Unlimited" (£9.95-£14.99) pricing plans[1], ranging from 1-3 DVDs out at a time (a 4-disc plan at £19.95 has been offered in the past). There are also "Combination" plans which allow the rental of both DVDs and video game discs at higher prices. In 2007 LOVEFiLM has launched lower priced capped packages for 2 or 4 discs a month from £3.99 as well as Pay as you go options.

Each of the "powered by" services will typically have plans similar to LOVEFiLM's (although some may only have a subset), and may have varying prices, different length free trials, etc. It is not known whether customers of the various companies are treated differently when it comes to choosing titles to be sent, etc. Customers are limited to a single free trial among the array of related LOVEFiLM-powered companies.

LOVEFiLM-associated rental companies

The following is a list of current partners and White label services operated by LOVEFiLM in the UK/Scandinavia.

• CD-WOW![2] - an online retailer. Offers Unlimited-3
• Sofa Cinema[3] - the Guardian newspaper sponsors this one, offering Unlimited-3 and Light-2.
• WHSmith Movies Direct[4] - from the WH Smith bookstore chain. Offers Unlimited-3 (£13.99) and Limited-1.
• Tesco DVD Rental[5] - Service for the Tesco supermarket chain website, offering 1-3 unlimited DVD rental plans.
• EasyCinema.com[6] - Service in conjunction with the Easy Group.
• Five Movie Club[7] - Britain's Five channel. Offers Unlimited-1,2,3.
• Odeon Direct[8] - Service in conjunction with the Odeon cinema chain.
• BraFilm.no[9] - Service for Norway, acquired by Video Island.

These are in addition to partnerships with TV4, Coop, Telia and Astoria in the Nordics and an exclusive partnership with Deutsche Post in Germany [10].

Defunct LOVEFiLM/Video Island-associated rental companies

• Sainsbury's DVD Rental - The Sainsbury's supermarket chain. Offered Unlimited 1-4 plans at lower prices than the regular LOVEFiLM levels. This was closed by Sainsbury's following a 'strategic review'.
• MSN DVD Rental - Service operated through Microsoft's MSN channel.
• ITV Movie Club - Service operated through the ITV website.
• mymovies - in association with the mymovies.net portal site.
• FilmFour DVD[11] - Film Four is a free-to-view movie channel which is available on Digital TV.

. Offers Unlimited-2.

• lastminute.com - offers Unlimited 1,3,4 and Lite 1,2,3.
• BraFilm.com - Service for Sweden, acquired by Video Island and now rebranded as LOVEFiLM.
• digitarian.dk - Pioneering Danish DVD by mail, acquired by LOVEFiLM.

In addition, companies such as Dixons, Virgin and Woolworths may provide special offers for the LOVEFiLM service.

"Throttling" and dispute of fair usage policy

Prior to the merger with Video Island, LOVEFILM came in for criticism from users over its claim to offer "unlimited" DVD rentals. Some users reportedly found the company used long delays at the shipping stage to reduce the number of films a month a customer can rent. The company was subject to a dispute by the Advertising Standards Authority over the use of the word "unlimited" in their advertising. It was revealed that they practiced throttling. This is where high-volume customers may experience a greater likelihood of (slower) shipments from alternate warehouses, and selections from lower in their rental list. They are also less likely to receive replacement shipments on the same day a disc is received. The company itself claimed that this "fair usage" policy means all customers get a similar service.

The merger with Video Island was completed in October 2006, at which point LOVEFiLM's original technology platform was replaced with ScreenSelect's, and ScreenSelect's brand was replaced by LOVEFiLM. Policies, prices, packaging and processes were harmonised between ScreenSelect and LOVEFiLM. No complaints of 'throttling' since that point have been upheld.

External links

• LOVEFiLM.com
• Corporate website
• Hacking LOVEFiLM (Website devoted to LOVEFiLM news and customers reviews)
• Critique of LoveFilm's DVD rental service (this site may in fact be related to the link below; both offer a very positive review and a link to starting the trial with LOVEFiLM)
• LoveFilm.com Review (note this site also has links to buying the service itself, and so may well be biased to providing a favourable review)
• LoveFilm Customer Reviews (large number of negative reviews)