Dendy has today announced, that after nearly four years of operation, their Video On Demand (VOD) service, Dendy Direct, will close as of May 14th.

The service launched back in May 2014, offering both Movies and TV Shows for sale or rent in SD and HD format. Dendy offered Direct with options for playback through Android and iOS apps, as well as through their web portal for playback on PCs.

In their announcement today, Dendy says that the Australian VOD landscape has changed over the course of their four years of operations, with several disruptors entering the market and changing ‘consumers attitudes and viewing behaviours’.

Dendy has said that the pressures of rapidly changing technology has led to the decision to shutter the service, allowing them to focus on their core business of ‘delivering quality cinema experiences to the Australian consumer’.

Dendy currently operates several cinema outlets in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane, with the Canberra outlet recently undergoing expansion to offer 15 screens making it the largest cinema in Canberra, allowing Dendy to offer more titles, more sessions and longer seasons of movies.

At this stage there’s no mention of the impending closure on the companies Facebook or Twitter social media profiles, nor on the Dendydirect.com.au website. You can still download the Dendydirect player from Google Play, and still login to their website and purchase and rent content.

There’s no mention of what will happen to content that has been purchased by Dendy Direct customers, and Dendy has not gotten back to us this afternoon. We’ll be following up with Dendy for more information on what users of the service can expect first thing tomorrow morning.

Update:
Dendy Direct has begun contacting customers to advise of the closure, sending out an email advising them the service will be closed as of May 14th. The email advises customers that they will ‘still be able to view any current or new purchases made prior to 14 May 2018. After that date, the Dendy Direct website, iOS app and Android app will be terminated and will no longer be operational’.

The email in full:

Did you purchase or rent movies or TV shows from Dendy Direct?

    RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

    5 Comments
    newest
    oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Mark

    Same Thing happen with JB Hifi Now streaming service . the aussie retailers cant compete with overseas majors.

    Phill Edwards

    Gosh, whoever would have predicted that!

    chris

    This is why I don’t buy from streaming services, you really don’t own it just the right to stream it whenever you want whilst they still operate.

    MorkaiAU

    Personally I don’t buy digital movies/shows at all. I pay for streaming platforms, and while it definitely annoys me when I know certain things have been on there and are removed, if I want to own something for the purposes of rewatching it time and time again, it’s a physical purchase all the way.

    Toby Munro

    Never even heard of it…