Credits roll for Amazon’s Lovefilm

AMAZON is ending its Lovefilm By Post DVD rental service due to “decreasing demand” as customers move towards streaming.

The move to close Lovefilm comes six years after Amazon took full control of the service in a deal that was seen at the time as an attempt to protect itself against the rise of streaming rival Netflix. Founded in 2002, Lovefilm had more than 1.4m subscribers by the time it was acquired by the internet giant, having grown through the acquisitions of services such as Screenselect and Video Island.

But customers have been increasingly drawn to streaming services and away from DVD or Blu-ray discs, with Amazon also launching its Amazon Prime Video service to compete with rivals such as Netflix. “We have very much enjoyed delivering the Lovefilm By Post service to our customers,” said an Amazon spokesman.

“However, we have seen a decreasing demand for DVD and Blu-ray rental as customers move to streaming. Due to this, we will be closing the Lovefilm By Post business on October 31 2017.

“We are committed to finding alternative roles for all Lovefilm employees within Amazon.”