January 30, 1998 (TOKYO) -- Cultural Convenience Club Co., Ltd.'s DVD software rental business, which started on Dec. 19, is enjoying an expanding business on the strength of new movie titles.

CCC operates Tsutaya rental video chain stores.

DVD software titles are rented at two Tsutaya stores, in Tokyo's Shinjuku and Sangenjaya areas. A total of 55 Warner Bros. titles are available, and 20 MGM titles were added in January.

The most popular title as of Jan. 14 for both stores was the movie, Batman and Robin. The Shinjuku store rented it 35 times and the Sangenjaya store 59 times.

Although this rental business is new, CCC is convinced of its overall viability.

DVD software sales at the Shinjuku store expanded quickly, which strengthened CCC's confidence in the co-existence of DVD rentals and sales, said Hiroki Tonomura, chief merchandising officer of CCC's product merchandising department.

DVD players are rented with the software, and each store has 60 such players for rental. "The stores constantly rented out all of the players during the initial two weeks," Tonomura said.

Tonomura said that the DVD business also had an effect on store sales. "Some customers bought DVD titles because they liked those that they rented," Tonomura noted.

Following the results, eight more Tsutaya stores will rent DVDs by the end of March. The company is now developing store locations, searching for sites that draw a lot of customer traffic.

The problem of the scant number of rental software titles is being addressed, with two companies in addition to Warner Home Video offering such titles.

Tonomura said other software makers are responding positively, and that more DVD movie titles will be available after February.

Related story : Tsutaya's DVD Rental Biz Off to Good Start

(Nikkei Multimedia)