Best Buy Adds Download Store With Sonic Partnership

Written by Ryan Lawler

Friday, June 5. 2009 at 04:30 PM EDT 1 comment

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Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. is getting into the online video business, with the launch of digital downloads on BestBuy.com.

Best Buy's new online video store comes through a partnership with Sonic Solutions (Nasdaq: SNIC) that will to make thousands of titles available for rent or purchase online through its Roxio CinemaNow download service. The deal gives Best Buy a quick on-ramp into selling digital content, as sales of physical media decline.

For Sonic Solutions, the deal should substantially increase the visibility of its CinemaNow service, which the company acquired last November. Since that purchase, Sonic has formed a number of partnerships to widen distribution of content in its online video store.

Sonic had previously landed distribution deals to make CinemaNow content available on TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) DVRs and network-connected Blu-ray disc players from LG Electronics Inc. (London: LGLD; Korea: 6657.KS) . The company is also partnering with Blockbuster to enable CinemaNow downloads through a Blockbuster-branded set-top box.

Sonic claims to have relationships with more than 250 content providers, and boasts more than 14,000 titles available through the CinemaNow store.

While the Sonic partnership will give Best Buy a digital storefront, the company will also promote CinemaNow-enabled devices, like the LG Blu-ray players that are now available for sale.