LoveFilm U.K. Signs Multi-Platform Streaming Deal with Warner Bros.

LONDON – The U.K. division of LoveFilm has signed a multi-year, multi-layer deal with Warner Bros. giving the Amazon-owned group streaming rights to titles including The Hangover, Gran Torino and Sex And The City 2.

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The pact will make all of Warner Bros.’ available streaming content to be exclusively available on LoveFilm from December this year.

It spans LoveFilm’s digital subscription, postal rental, download to own, pay-per-view services, as well as Warner Bros.’ branded SVOD service WarnerFilms.

Warner Bros. describes the subscription streaming part of the deal as an “exclusive second window subscription pay TV deal” which will ensure Warner Bros.’ recent and upcoming releases are viewable via LoveFilm’s LoveFilm Player.

It is available on PC or accessible via PlayStation3, iPad, web-enabled TV sets and Blu-ray players, and later this year Microsoft Xbox 360.

From 2012 Warner DVDs and Blu-rays will be available from LoveFilm by post 60 days after release, and via Warner Bros.’ branded SVOD channel, WarnerFilms.

WarnerFilms gives 24 hours-a-day on-demand access to 28 movies at any one time with seven new titles added every week.

Warner Bros. International Television Distribution president Jeffrey R. Schlesinger said: “The establishment of a second pay window with LoveFilm is an important evolution in the way films are made available for viewing in the U.K. in ever-more convenient ways. Importantly, the structure of the deal ensures that our films continue to retain their value to linear and non linear operators following this window and for the long term.”

The deal ramps up the battle in the U.K. between LoveFilm and Netflix, the online streaming operator launching here in 2012.

Netflix recently signed content deals with Miramax, MGM and Lionsgate, while in the past months LoveFilm has done deals with StudioCanal and Entertainment One.