Universal will be breaking new ground on April 10th, 2006 when they start offering movie downloads-to-own in the United Kingdom.

Home Media Retailing reports that this move by Universal U.K. marks the "first-ever movie download-to-own service."

For this venture the studio has enlisted "Lovefilm.com, one of Europe's largest online movie-rental-by-mail services. Consumers would pay about $35 per new release ($17.50 for catalog), which includes a DVD and two copy-protected electronic copies for their home PC and portable device."

Some of the 35 titles being offered at launch are King Kong, The Bourne Supremacy and Love Actually.