Three months later than originally planned, the e-commerce company Cdiscount lauches today its Free VOD offer, financed by advertisements. The films are downloadable for free and viewable an unlimited number of times during 15 days, after which the file becomes unreadable.

For this launch, 4 titles are offered:
A VERY BRITISH GANGSTER, released in theatres in France on 07/18/2007
SCREAM 3, released in theatres in France on 04/19/2000
RAINING STONES, released in theatres in France on 10/06/1993
LA VERITABLE HISTOIRE DU PETIT CHAPERON ROUGE, released in theatres in France on  01/25/2006.

The number of downloads is actually limited to 30.000, which is an important figure on the rental market, but a poor one on the TV market.

These films are offered during 7 days. Interestingly, the renewal occurs on Wednesdays, traditional opening day in theatres in France.

The first movie is therefore released on AVOD 16 months after its theatrical release, during the window traditionally reserved for Pay TV channels. This choice of chronology is quite surprising, since TV channels are one of the main revenue sources for rightholders, and it is doubtful that any TV channel accepted to buy the movie with a parallel AVOD exploitation.

This offer will certainly feed the media chronology debate in general, and the place of AVOD - Free VOD in particular.