Movie rental retailer Blockbuster has signed a deal with Motorola to being “thousands” of titles to select models of the US vendor’s devices. Motorola handset owners will be able to download movies direct from Blockbuster’s OnDemand service. Specific details were not released, including when the service will be available or how much it will cost. The mobile play expands on Blockbuster’s OnDemand movie downloading service offered through set-top boxes for TVs.

The move is the first time Blockbuster has entered the mobile space, and has been viewed by industry analysts as the company’s attempt to halt sliding sales as revenue from its retail locations declines due to the popularity of online movie rental sites. Previous reports suggested the company was in talks with Microsoft to bring its content to handsets using the Windows Mobile platform. Competition in the mobile movie space is strong; earlier this year Samsung launched its own movie store in the UK and Germany, Apple’s iTunes store offers movie rentals, whilst US operators AT&T and Verizon have also entered the mobile video space.