You probably popped some popcorn and saw this one coming: Disney (NYSE:DIS) is the latest movie studio to offer its films for download. The video downloading trend may still be in its infancy, but it's notable that all of the studios are getting in on the act.

Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment will offer its films through the movie download service CinemaNow, which already has agreements with Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Lions Gate (NYSE:LGF). Newer Disney titles will be available for $20, while older movies in its catalog will be available at a more affordable $10 per film. Films will be available for download the same day they're released on DVD. One missing feature is the ability for customers to burn the downloaded movies to DVDs. (Another missing link: movies from Pixar, which Disney snapped up earlier this year.)

Apparently, Disney chose CinemaNow because of its ability to download content onto portable devices, but it's not the only game in town. (The arrangement is also non-exclusive, meaning Disney will be able to distribute through other services as well). Rival Movielink happens to be owned by several of the major movie studios, and recently announced plans to distribute films from General Electric's (NYSE:GE) NBC Universal, Time Warner's (NYSE:TWX) Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Viacom's (NYSE:VIA) Paramount, and News Corp.'s (NYSE:NWS) Twentieth Century Fox. (Warner Bros. also recently said it will play nice with file-sharing site BitTorrent.)

News of Disney downloads is hardly a shock, since digital video seems to be on the upswing. The going prices may still be a bit too high for most consumers to get excited about purchasing movies this way, but interest in digital video delivery's instant gratification has been made apparent by Apple's video offerings on iTunes, the success of sites like YouTube, and, of course, Google's foray into video.

Disney's deal with CinemaNow is just another example of the changing face of digital entertainment -- and another sign that despite some of the risks and fears posed by digital piracy, none of the major media companies wants to be left behind as consumers increasingly clamor for entertainment on demand.

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Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.