Three major retailers in the US are making moves into the movie download market in an attempt to avoid the costly impact of the market's migration onto the web.
Many record companies, supermarkets and music shops alike suffered irreparable damage as a result of the boom in mp3 downloads and as internet connections speed up around the world, downloads are likely to have a similar impact in the film world.
Wal Mart has already introduced its own video download service, Best Buy is reportedly in talks to start a similar one and Blockbuster chiefs were thinking about the idea earlier this year, according to the Associated Press (AP).
As the drop in US CD sales has increased every year since 2003, retailers have woken up to the popularity of downloads and are now attempting to redesign their websites before the downloading craze truly catches on.
Apple is currently the market leader in the field, having sold over 1.3 million movies in the first three months of trading, while Wal Mart sold 3,000 in its first month.
At present it takes most internet users a number of hours to download a film but as broadband connections get faster, so too should the downloading time.
