DVD lifespan speculation heats up today with lively discussion on the Wall Street Journal on Disney’s “Keychest” technology announcement, which puts a single price on access to a movie or show across multiple platforms. The technology addresses two thorny issues of digital movies: cross-device portability and storage capacity. Another variation on cloud computing, participating distribution services could access the Keychest database to verify which films a consumer purchased elsewhere. DVDs could also be tagged with a key. Bob Chapek, Disney’s prez of home entertainment, sums up the dream:

“Our vision for the future is that consumers won’t have to think about where they bought (a movie), how they bought it, or when they bought it.”

Some perceive Disney’s play - with Steve Jobs as their largest shareholder - to be direct competion to the DECE initiative, a consortium headed by the CTO of Sony Pictures that includes five major studios, with Disney and Apple notably absent. Two challenges ahead for Disney: studios would be giving control of access to a competitor, and the studios’ ability to dictate which services and devices participate could make the consumer’s head spin.