[Froide]

Judging by the action in FREE/BARGAIN — Media Deals (non-eBook/non-audiobook), it's easy to surmise many of us MobileReaders are Hollywood insiders - at least to the extent that we learned via email this week and didn't have to find out in the news like the hoi polloi did - about the following developments at Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA) and the new digital movie locker service Movies Anywhere, and about the limited-time-only free bonus movie bribes -er, incentives - to promptly register a Movies Anywhere account and link to it one's Vudu, iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Movies accounts.

Why the freebie incentives? And, why are tbey limited-time-only?

Some Hollywood studios are not yet participating in Movies Anywhere, most notably, Lionsgate and Paramount. However, the media pundits, industry analysts, and internal DMA and Movies Anywhere stakeholders believe those heavyhitter holdouts will climb aboard once Movies Anywhere membership reaches critical mass.

Here's what's afoot, as announced at DMA Support, Variety, and elsewhere:

Disney Movies Anywhere Support

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Disney Movies Anywhere is going away soon. Join MOVIES ANYWHERE and transfer your movies now.

Movies Anywhere makes the movie watching experience easier and better by offering one home for your favorite purchased movies from iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play and Vudu.

Stephanie Prange. (October 11, 2017). "Movies Anywhere App Launches With Joint Studio Backing". Variety.

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With the advent of Movies Anywhere, Disney Movies Anywhere will go away, and consumers will be able to join Movies Anywhere and transfer their movies into their new Movies Anywhere account,

Viewers can start streaming a movie on one device and finish it on another. Two viewers can watch the same title on different devices at one time, and up to four viewers can stream different content on different devices at the same time. Consumers can access their library on Amazon Fire devices, Android mobile and tablet devices, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, the Roku platform and popular web browsers.

To entice consumers to join Movies Anywhere, the service is offering up to five free digital movies. When consumers link to the first retailer on the service, they get free access to “Ghostbusters” (2016) and “Ice Age.” Linking to a second retailer gives consumers free access to “Big Hero 6,” “Jason Bourne” and “The Lego Movie.” The service plans a big marketing and advertising push including support from participating studios and digital retail partners. The tagline is “Your movies together at last.

Elsewhere