Amazon Backs Hollywood Film Streaming Format

Hollywood’s effort to sell digital copies of movies got a boost when Amazon, the largest online vendor, agreed to use the industry’s common system for storing and streaming films.

Amazon is working with an unnamed studio to offer movies in the UltraViolet format, Bill Carr, the Seattle-based company’s executive vice president for digital media, said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Amazon is the first major retailer to commit to using the platform. Amazon’s participation may speed adoption of Ultraviolet, the Hollywood-led initiative to allow consumers to purchase a title from any retailer, store it in a central online account and stream it to a variety of gadgets, from televisions to Blu- ray players to mobile devices like Amazon’s Kindle Fire.