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The market for Web-based television shows and movies is becoming increasingly crowded.
DISH Network Corp., the satellite TV company that introduced a $10-per-month Blockbuster Movie Pass for its subscribers in September, is planning to expand an online movie service to non-customers, DISH CEO Joseph Clayton told Bloomberg in an interview.
That's not all the likes of Hulu and Netflix need to be worried about.
DISH has the technology to offer an online television service and has had discussions with TV networks to showcase what such an offering could look like, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with knowledge of the talks.
"There's not a lot of infrastructure you have to put in place for this," Clayton said. "The expense is the programming."
Englewood, Colo.-based DISH purchased the assets of bankrupt Blockbuster earlier this year before offering subscribers content by mail and movies that stream over the Internet to personal computers and televisions.
Blockbuster Movie Pass and a future online service offering customers access to TV shows could help DISH do a better job of retaining or growing its subscribers. The company lost 111,000 customers in the third quarter to end Sept. 30 with 13.945 million customers.
Marc Lumpkin, a spokesman with DISH, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the number of Blockbuster Movie Pass subscribers since the service became available on Oct. 1.
Verizon Communications is another communications company that is reportedly planning to launch a service that would allow customers to stream movies and TV shows over the Internet.
That would mean more competition for Hulu, Netflix and others that are in the business of letting people watch TV shows and films through Internet-connected televisions and game consoles and on wireless devices like tablet computers and smartphones.
