Key Points
- Movies Anywhere allowed eligible digital film purchases to be streamed across a number of apps, including Prime Video, iTunes and YouTube.
- Last Friday, Google pulled their support for Movies Anywhere, without further explanation.
- The decision comes as Google and Movies Anywhere owner Disney are at odds over a separate business deal involving the distribution of ABC, ESPN and other channels on YouTube TV.
Google has ended its participation in Movies Anywhere, a cross-platform partnership that allowed users to stream certain movies across different services.
For years, film fans have been able to watch eligible productions from the Walt Disney Company, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros Entertainment and Sony Pictures on apps like Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Apple’s iTunes, Comcast’s Fandango, Vudu and other apps, simply by linking their accounts to Movies Anywhere.
The digital film locker allowed customers who purchased eligible shows and movies on one platform to watch them across other participating apps, without having to purchase the same content multiple times. It also allowed those who bought movies on physical media like DVD and Blu-Ray to access digital versions of those films by entering a code on the Movies Anywhere website, then download or stream those films from participating apps without cost.
Disney has owned Movies Anywhere since it originally launched in 2014, and the company’s name was part of its branding until 2017. The service operated more like a joint venture across different film studios; in reality, other studios and apps simply participated in the initiative.
Now, that partnership is down one participant, with Google pulling its support for the platform on October 31, according to a message spotted by The Desk. The decision means those who purchased movies on YouTube or through the Google Play Store can no longer stream those films on Prime Video, iTunes, Vudu or other apps that still support the initiative. The same is true for movies purchased on other platforms — those films are no longer accessible via YouTube.
It wasn’t clear why Google decided to end its support for Movies Anywhere, but the timing coincides with the expiration of the tech giant’s distribution contract with Disney to carry its live broadcast channels and cable networks on streaming service YouTube TV. Since last Friday, channels like ABC, ESPN, FX, Disney Channel, National Geographic and Freeform have been unavailable to YouTube TV’s 10 million subscribers.
The Movies Anywhere partnership and the YouTube TV contract were separate business arrangements, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Google’s current feud with Disney didn’t factor into the decision.
