YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – Sailors on long ship deployments will soon have access to movies well in advance of video rental and streaming customers in the United States, Navy officials announced Wednesday.

The Navy Motion Picture Service will distribute movies with embedded encryption and expiration dates, about 30 to 60 days before they are released on DVD or streamed to the general public, according to a Navy Installations Command news release.

The service has already distributed encrypted DVD players to all shore locations. Shipboard installation of the players has begun and should continue through December 2012, according to the news release.

The movies will also be made available to shore commands and families, the release stated.

Navy licensing agreements with film distributors include an “early window availability” for the movies they receive, service officials said.

From staff reports

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