LONDON Hollywood studios, seeking a way to foil piracy and looking toward life beyond the DVD, are turning Europe into a proving ground for new methods of digital movie distribution. Within several weeks, new services from Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers will offer Internet movie downloads at the same time that major blockbusters enter retail stores in DVD form, the first time studios will make "virtual" movies available so quickly. Universal Pictures International detailed plans Thursday for a "download to own" service in Britain in partnership with LoveFilm, an online video rental company. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, meanwhile, Warner Brothers plans a download service in partnership with a subsidiary of the German media company Bertelsmann. [More]