Distressed video rental company Movie Gallery has just completed the sale of its MovieBeam service to Valuable Group India. This video over IP service was shut-down in late 2007 as Movie Gallery experienced continued financial troubles.

Movie Gallery, which also owns Hollywood Video, is the 2nd largest video rental company in the United States with a physical store presence, behind #1 co. Blockbuster Video. Movie Gallery recently emerged from Bankruptcy and is now working to restructure the company and return to profitability.


Valuable Group has laid out preliminary plans for the newly acquired MovieBeam service. “Films will be delivered in high-definition, and viewers will get access to library films as well as the latest releases on a first-day, first-show basis. We have earmarked an investment of $100 million over the next two years for the relaunch of this service in North America, U.K. and other overseas markets.”

This is good news for MovieBeam hardware owners as they can now look forward to the possibility of reviving their currently worthless set-top boxes. Unfortunately, no one knows if the new service pricing or content will be attractive to previous MovieBeam customers.

The soon to be launched Valuable Group service may have a tough time competing with the Netflix Instant Viewing service, which offers a $100 set-top box and free on demand content viewing for their subscribers.