Blockbuster Inc. hired former veteran Warner Bros. executive Jeffrey Calman to be vice president of studio relations and new media, a position created as it prepares to launch its movie downloading business.

While at Warner Bros., Mr. Calman, 58, was involved in the creation and development of Movielink, a video downloading joint venture among major movie studios that Blockbuster acquired last year.

The Dallas-based movie rental chain has been merging the operations of Movielink into its own Web site to launch video on demand from Blockbuster.com.

Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes said earlier this year that a summer launch was doable, but the company hasn't disclosed a date yet.

Competitor Netflix Inc. has a service with Tivo. Amazon.com has offered downloads since 2006. And more consumers are comfortable with the idea of downloading onto portable devices, thanks to Apple's iTunes.

Blockbuster acquired a major movie library with Movielink. Based in Santa Monica, Calif., it was created by a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Studios.

Mr. Calman was at Warner Bros. for 20 years, and his most recent position was as executive vice president, video on demand and electronic sell-through. His background is in content licensing and acquisition, digital content distribution and digital rights management.

He will lead Blockbuster's efforts to acquire digital content from Los Angeles.

During his tenure with Warner Bros., Mr. Calman was also senior vice president for domestic cable distribution in New York, where he negotiated distribution deals with pay-TV and cable networks. He left Warner Bros. in 2006 and has been running his own digital programming and distribution consulting firm. He worked with a variety of clients, including Genius Products Inc., the Weinstein Co. and ViewNow.

His experience will help Blockbuster as it evolves from its movie-rental store roots and tries to become a leading provider of digital content, said Joyce Woodward, Blockbuster senior vice president of film.