Disney Keychest to Redefine Software Ownership By Mark Fleischmann October 22, 2009 — The meaning of a/v software ownership may be about to change. What if instead of owning a disc or limited video-on-demand rights, you could instead own permanent access rights across several platforms?

That's the idea behind Disney's Keychest. The idea is in development and close to fruition. It would let you pay a single price for a movie or TV show and then access it from the web, your iPhone, on-demand cable service, and probably other ways. Disney is already demoing it to other major studios.

Keychest is a form of cloud computing. Buy a movie from a store and your other accounts, such as your cell number or cable VOD service, would make the title available for streaming (not downloading).

The idea comes along at an interesting time, with the DVD format waning and the growth of Blu-ray and paid downloading not quite replacing it.

In addition, there's a similar initiative called DECE (Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem) under development by Sony Pictures, five other studios, Comcast, and Intel. Who else may be in the Disney Keychest camp is unclear though there is speculation that Disney's biggest shareholder, Steve Jobs, may be interested in Keychest. That would probably make iTunes a major Keychest retailer.

See The Wall Street Journal. Pic: OceangramStore.com.