Ultraviolet Cloud Movie Locker Announces They Are Shutting Down

Ultraviolet, who not long ago was one of the most ubiquitous cloud-locker services for digital [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Ultraviolet, who not long ago was one of the most ubiquitous cloud-locker services for digital movies, will close its doors this summer.

The notification, which went out today, gives users six months to get their affairs in order before the site stops working on July 31.

Ultraviolet itself was never a retailer, per se, but rather a storefront put together by a consortium called The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, jointly operated by movie studios and distributors who would encourage fans to redeem their "free with purchase" digital copies on Ultraviolet.

As more studios have begun exploring their own stand-alone options, and retail giant Walmart invested heavily in Vudu, Ultraviolet's market clout has more or less vanished. The 2017 introduction of Movies Anywhere, a service built out of Disney's own digital redemption site and supported by the studio (which never provided UltraViolet codes), was more or less the death knell for UltraViolet as an industry standard.

Ultraviolet has been allowing users to link their digital libraries with other retailers and cloud apps, including Verizon FIOS, Fandango Now, and Vudu. A notice posted to their website encourages fans to take advantage of that function, saying that previously-redeemed Ultraviolet movies will continue to be available on linked services.

"You can continue to access your UltraViolet movies and TV shows through the retailer(s) linked to your UltraViolet Library," the site explains. "You can also continue to purchase new movies and TV shows and redeem digital codes by following the redemption instructions. Depending on the retailer, these new purchases and redemptions may or may not be added to your UltraViolet Library.
Linking your UltraViolet Library to additional retailers can maximize your access to your Library and help avoid potential disruption."

After the shutdown date, the site warns, users' UltraViolet libraries will automatically close. DVDs and Blu-rays with UltraViolet codes enclosed will be redeemable at cooperating retailers in most cases.

There are some weasel words in here: "most cases" might not be particularly encouraging to fans who have put a lot of stock into UltraViolet, and elsewhere the site suggests that "some retailers" will continue to support linked movies. It will likely be late this year or early next before fans get a real sense of what the post-UltraViolet marketplace looks like for digital movies.

Recently, Vudu experienced a sync problem and encouraged users to re-link their accounts to UltraViolet back in November.

"We are aware that some of you may be experiencing an issue where your UltraViolet titles acquired from other retailers are not being displayed in your Vudu and/or Movies Anywhere accounts," said an e-mail to users. "Rest assured that your movies are still in your collection. We have worked with UltraViolet to correct the error and your movies will be visible once you relink your UltraViolet locker to Vudu. Please keep in mind that it may take a little bit of time for everything to sync."

Ultraviolet currently has more than 30 million users, who collectively store more than 300 million movies and TV shows in their cloud libraries.

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