DVD Unlimited was a DVD-by-mail service based in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It was a wholly owned unit of

SKY Network Television Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite television, satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a ...

. It competed directly with

Movieshack Movieshack was an online DVD rental company in New Zealand. Based in Auckland, it was launched on 28 June 2004 and introduced commercial online DVD rentals to New Zealand. The company was founded (anecdotally, from a bedroom) by brothers James ...

and Fatso. DVD Unlimited was originally based in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, and was created in late 2003 by Don and Sandy Webster, a couple who ran a traditional video store there. Due to health reasons preventing the normal operation of the video store, the couple created an online store modeled after Netflix. DVD Unlimited was subsequently purchased by SKY TV for an undisclosed sum and promptly formed an alliance with both

Blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...

(New Zealand) and the

Telecom New Zealand Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company providing fixed-line telephone services, a mobile phone network, internet access services, and (through its Spark Digital division) ICT services to businesses. It was know ...

XtraMSN Yahoo!Xtra was a New Zealand web portal that existed under that name from 2007 to 2011. It was a joint venture between Yahoo!7 and Telecom New Zealand (now Spark). Yahoo!7 held a 51 percent stake in the company and Telecom NZ held 49 percent. Be ...

portal. In June, 2008 the company announced a merger with former competitors Fatso and

. Screen Enterprises Limited was formed by merging the businesses of DVD Unlimited, Fatso and Movie Shack. According to the 2008 Sky TV annual report, the three firms were all struggling with the business model that has "yet to be accepted in New Zealand". SKY owns 51% of Screen Enterprises Limited and as such all subscribers are consolidated into SKY’s results. The company completed the switch-over of its services in November 2008, when it switched its members to the new service which now operates under the Fatso name.

References

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External links

DVD Unlimited
Online retailers of New Zealand Video rental services Retail companies established in 2003 Internet properties established in 2003