Warner Buys Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes

Both sites were picked up by Warner Home Entertainment for an undisclosed sum.

Movie studios know that the internet is the future, but have historically had some issues trying to tie their content in with social networks and digital distribution. Warner hopes to bridge the gap with the acquisition of two fairly major movie websites - Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster.

"We’ll use the Flixster initiative to dramatically enhance the ownership benefits of digital movies," says CEO Jeff Bewkes. Just how Warner will be doing that is unclear at the moment, both Bewkes and company president Kevin Tsujihara stressed a focus on digital ownership.

Bewkes also commented on Netflix, saying that he believes subscription VOD services have a role to play, and that role is providing customers with back-catalog content. "In that sense you can add to the ecosystem," he says, "and that's good for everybody and performs a useful function."

Source: Home Media Magazine