05.29.2008 — VUDU really wants to make an impact on the custom market.

In another effort to strengthen its presence on the market, VUDU has named Mark Donnigan national dealer channel manager and released 1.5 software.

Donnigan will be in charge of building relationships with residential installers, hoping they'll integrate VUDU into all their entertainment installations.

Donnigan comes from Kaleidescape, a custom only media server company, where he was channel development manager. He worked with international partners to increase Kaleidescape's exposure in Middle Eastern and European markets.

Thus, the new role appears to be nothing new for Donnigan, who has more than 20 years of B2B and B2C sales management, technical consulting, training and marketing experience in the CE industry.

And VUDU already has its foot deep into the custom market, recently announcing partnerships with a number of home automation and control manufacturers.

One of VUDU's main partners is NetStreams. The two companies announced their integration at EHX Spring and have teamed to deliver multiroom video distribution solutions using the VUDU XL.

The update to VUDU 1.5 software will address several issues of VUDU's video rental setup to make it more enticing: users can now get discounted extended rentals on all movies.

The discounts are $2 off extended rentals of new HD movies and a $1 off regular movies.

An extended rental is available under the same terms as the original rental: you may store the movie for up to 30 days with 24 or 48 hours to view the movie.

One drawback is that you can only extend a movie once. That will surely change, too, judging by VUDU's determination to strengthen its position in the custom market.