SIOUX FALLS, SD— LodgeNet Entertainment Corp., a provider of broadband, interactive television services to the hospitality industry, reported that it has secured digital distribution rights from all the major motion picture studios. The move is significant since it reportedly makes LodgeNet the only in-room entertainment provider to digitally distribute movies from all the major studios over a specialized satellite distribution network. Through the process, encrypted movies are up-linked to satellites and downloaded to hotels installed with the company’s digital interactive TV systems. This enables LodgeNet to update each hotel’s movie line-up as soon as distribution windows open, as opposed to waiting for monthly tape change-outs. Movies are stored on a digital content server (DCS), offering guests on-demand availability without the title limitations of tape-based systems. LodgeNet’s satellite/ DCS network currently distributes movies to more than 195,000 hotel rooms.
