New AMC “Theatres On Demand” service becomes another store for renting and also buying movies on streaming devices with a similar catalog to the existing stores such as Amazon Video, the iTunes and Walmart’s Vudu. So, AMC Theatres is okay as it’s not going to movies but provided the users rent from its own streaming service instead.
It means still you have to wait for the movies, the only difference-maker, according to the theater chain, is its “AMC Stubs loyalty program” that is having 20 million members.
AMC told the “New York Times” that it will also email those members to promote the new streaming releases, and also those who rent from” AMC Theaters Video On Demand” will get the reward points that they can also use toward theater snacks, or membership upgrades.
The company’s strategy, overall sounds similar to that of “Redbox”, which has tried to offset the DVD’s decline, just by streaming the movies on demand and sticking them to its existing loyalty program.
The rival streaming devices such as Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV already have their own rental stores built in, and AMC may also run into the same problem, so it is also convincing the users to download another app for essentially the same content, but let alone rent them in the first place, in the age of subscription services such as Netflix could be an uphill battle.
