Fandango, in a push to drive up revenue from its FandangoNow video-on-demand service, is launching on Microsoft’s Xbox One and Xbox One S gaming consoles.
With its launch on Xbox One and recent expansion to other platforms including Android TV, FandangoNow today is available across an installed base of more than 100 million devices, according to Fandango president Paul Yanover. That’s more than double since Fandango, owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, acquired premium VOD service M-Go in January from Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation.
Fandango’s goal: to extend its movie-ticketing business to include home entertainment, catering to movie fans after films have left theaters. The rebranded FandangoNow provides more than 40,000 new-release and catalog movies and next-day TV shows for rent or purchase, competing with the likes of Apple’s iTunes, Amazon Video and Walmart’s Vudu.
To entice Xbox One owners to use FandangoNow, the company is offering users of the consoles who activate the service a 50% discount on their next purchase or rental. The FandangoNow app on Xbox One will support DTS-HD surround-sound audio.
“FandangoNow is a perfect fit for Xbox One users who are looking to get their total entertainment fix right on their console,” said Steve Guggenheimer, corporate VP and chief evangelist at Microsoft.
New movies coming to FandangoNow in November include “Suicide Squad,” “Sausage Party,” “Secret Life of Pets,” “Jason Bourne,” “Don’t Breathe,” “Kubo and the Two Strings” and “War Dogs.”
FandangoNow is also on the web at fandangonow.com, on iOS and Android mobile devices, on Roku and Google’s Chromecast streaming players, and on smart TVs from Samsung, LG and LeEco’s Vizio. Fandango is developing support for other platforms, as well, Yanover said: “We are totally agnostic – any television screen we can be on, we’re excited about.”
