Keychest is a video-on-demand (VOD) service currently under development by The Walt Disney Company, with a goal of providing digital media to customers through any internet-enabled device. It was announced October 21, 2009, but currently, there is no release date set.[1]
It may end up competing for service with the "UltraViolet" system from the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem group that was announced nearly a year before Keychest.[1]
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A server allows streaming access to the content, using a similar cloud computing concept to Google Apps and Zoho Office. Purchasing content, either online or through physical media, creates a unique key stored in a digital rights locker that unlocks the ability to stream the content to any electronic device capable of playing it. Because the actual content remains on the servers as opposed to being downloaded and played locally, the manufacturers retain control of access to the files.[2]
The technology has been praised for its potential to improve consumer convenience,[3] but has attracted criticism for enabling further use of digital rights management.[4]
There are a number of potential obstacles to implementation. Studios, retailers and service providers will be the ultimate deciding factor when it comes to pricing the extra flexibility KeyChest promises to provide which could ultimately mean higher prices for features that some people may not specifically be interested in. In addition, attracting studios seems to be a challenging endeavour for Disney even though their approach says to be using more open standards than the competing UltraViolet system.[5] Which leaves the biggest obstacle being the competing UltraViolet system as a whole which has the support of all the other major Hollywood movie studios[6] with the only exception being Disney.