Sears and Kmart launches Alphaline Entertainment

Alphaline Entertainment, a service that was rolled out due to a collaboration between Kmart and Sears alongside Sonic Solutions, will sell downloadable movies online. Sonic’s RoxioNow has long been the tool used to power the online movie rental service for Best Buy and Blockbuster, and Sonic is going to put that experience to good use by trying to open up new markets with Alphaline. Movies will be rented out movies for $3.99, while you have to fork out nearly 5 times that amount to purchase a new movie. To make matters more competitive, those who prefer the virtual format of the movie can download them the same day said movie is released on DVD and Blu-ray disc. This multi-phase rollout will include making the service available from a wide range of connected devices and ensuring compatibility with studio-supported digital programs. The information superhighway looks set to experience even more clogging up of its data pipes if this were to take off in a big way…