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Why rent tapes or DVDs from a video store when you can have every movie sent directly to your home in encrypted form as soon as it is available? All you have to do is pay to unscramble it. This is Disney’s latest idea, dubbed “Blockbuster in a box” (WO 2004/019602).

Disney plans to broadcast the digitally compressed movie to a set-top box in your home using terrestrial TV frequencies, slotting bursts of data into the gaps between normal TV pictures.

As they become available, new movies will be added to a subscriber’s on-screen movie menu. Paying for a…

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