Warner Bros Entertainment and arvatomobile have joined forces to launch in2movies, the first German-languagedownload-to-own platform, for TV series and feature films, simultaneously withtheir release on DVD.

The user canchoose from such blockbusters as Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, TheMatrix or The Last Samurai through classicssuch as Gone With The Wind to TV series like Babylon 5, ER and Friends. Theplatform's launch in Germany onApril 12 was accompanied by the special offer of Harry Potter And ThePhilosopher's Stone free of charge until Easter Monday (April17).

Christof Wesp,in2movies marketing director and acting managing director, described the'innovative distribution channel' as offering the film industry'an alternative sales channel. in2movies is the first legaldownload-to-own platform [in Germany] and will also appeal to consumers whocurrently download illegally.'

He suggested thatthe Hamburg-based service was a response to findings in the German Federal FilmBoard's 2005 Piracy/Burner Study, which showed that 73% of users who downloadedunlicensed films showed an interest in paid film downloads.

"From the verystart, in2movies has a large, attractive selection to choose from, with over300 films and TV episodes,' Wilfried Geike, senior vice president andmanaging director of Warner Bros Entertainment, explained, adding that therange of films on offer would constantly grow.

New films,special offers and catalogue titles will be available on in2movies parallel tothe DVD release and, in addition to the extension of the range of films and TVseries, the technical platform will also be continuously updated and improved.

In the future,in2movies will also collaborate with partners such as DVD retailers, internetproviders and other web sites enabling these partners to set up their ownplatforms for films and TV series in "powered-by" models.