TF1 launching premium VoD movie service

French commercial broadcaster TF1 is launching a new premium video-on-demand brand dedicated to movies not distributed theatrically in France called eCinema.

TF1 Video aims to provide an exclusive offering of films in line with the premium VoD concept it has already deployed for the distribution of US series with MYTF1VOD.

eCinema will launch on May 1 across the country’s major VoD portals with an offering of movies as close as possible to their threatrical release dates in their countries of origin. Movies will be offered in French or in their original language with French subtitles.

The initial line-up will include, from May, Julius Avery’s Son of a Gun, starring Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites and Lee Toland Krierger’s Adaline starring Blake Lively and Harrison Ford, with Joe Lynch’s Everly, with Salma Hayek, to follow in July.

Other movies on offer will include Momentum with Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman and James Purefoy, MI-5 with Kit Harrington and How to Make Love Like an Englishman with Pierce Brosnan, Jessica Alba and Salma Hayek.

Films will be offered in HD, and will be available at launch both in SD and HD from €6.99, with availability limited to 45 days. TF1 will also offer a download-to-own option from €12.99. Titles will be accompanied by DVD-like bonus features.

The service will be available via ISPs TV boxes as well as via PCs, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs and game consoles.

TF1 Video president Régis Ravanas said that eCinema would be complementary to the current system of distribution – which in France limits the VoD window to 36 months after the theatrical release of movies – and would provide an outlet for movies that do not currently gain a wide theatrical distribution.