Faced with a bleak future at its retail arm entertainment specialists HMV are adopting an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ attitude for their latest venture – hmvon-demand.

Soft launched today the on-demand film service has been developed in tandem with on-demand rental service FilmFlex and will include hit titles such as Cars and Harry Potter from all major Hollywood producers.

HMVs arrival coincides with a sector boom which has seen fierce competition between Amazon’s LoveFilm, Tesco’s BlinkBox and Google’s YouTube.

The retailer will mount a marketing campaign in January employing its in store network, online and advertising.

Mark Hodgkinson, marketing and e-commerce director at HMV, said: “With a growing number of consumers now incorporating video-on-demand into their viewing and purchasing habits, the time is right to include a digital service into our own offer.”