UltraViolet Streaming Service to Shut Down

The UltraViolet streaming service for digitally purchased films and television shows will shut down on Wednesday. UltraViolet was created by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem LLC, a consortium of Hollywood studios, retailers, consumer electronics manufacturers, systems integrators and others. Among its members are Warner Bros. Entertainment and Testronic Labs, both in Burbank, and NBCUniversal, in Universal City. According to a story in Variety, which broke the news of the shutdown in January, DECE President Wendy Aylsworth said that UltraViolet was closing as a response to the evolution of the market for online entertainment. UltraViolet was the entertainment industry’s first attempt at a “digital locker” that used the cloud to store digital copies of films and televisions shows purchased by consumers and allowed access at any time online and through mobile devices. Consumers will have to switch to a specific retailer, such as Walmart’s Vudu, in order to maintain their digital collections.