The Walt Disney Company this week announced its plans for “KeyChest” – a new technology developed for consumers to purchase films or TV shows from various distributors (stored on remote servers), and then play them on multiple devices such as TVs, Blu-ray players, computers and cell phones.
The technology is designed to provide ease of access from assorted outlets while addressing issues of compatibility in moving content between devices in addition to the limited storage space of consumers.
KeyChest is not planned as a Disney-only venture. “The idea is to have all the movies consumers want to buy available in this way,” said Kelly Summers, vice president of digital distribution at Disney. “If it’s Disney only, there really isn’t much value here.”
Disney representatives explained that negotiations with content distributors, cable companies and telecommunications services have been ongoing, and discussions are going to “step up dramatically” at CES.
Disney expects KeyChest will roll out before the end of 2010.