According to a report by Lara Sinclair in the Australian this morning, you could soon be downloading video on demand movies the same day as they are released on DVD. The information comes from Franchise Entertainment Group director Paul Uniacke, who says an unnamed studio is planning to offer On Demand movies from Foxtel, BigPond and TiVo on the same day as DVD releases by March next year.
At the moment, Apple currently offers movies from most studios the same day as the DVD release (and unless I’m mistaken, sometimes even earlier). But adding the release window to PayTV and TiVo is a good idea – I for one haven’t visited my local video store for almost two years. Hopefully all the studios will run with this idea – I don’t see how they would really lose any money this way.
Ian
December 8, 2008 at 2:33 PM
This is just about the end of the video store., The only protection that they have had is the ‘window’ that existed between DVD release and Pay TV then free to air. I guess it is just another sign of the times – but spare a thought for those people who own video stores, and will face even tougher tmes ahead.
Report PermalinkSimon Gilligan
December 8, 2008 at 9:15 PM
Ian .. thanks for the thought, I own a video store (applebox.com.au), but I also think it’s far from the end. It does create another downward pressure on DVD distribution that we as video store owners must recognise. But VOD is far from the simple proposition that it needs to be, to become a mass market offering. With all operators from iTunes to Bigpond movies offering different and proprietary VOD solutions, customers must spend good money on equipment that will lock them into a single operator. No such thing as any DVD from any supplier into any DVD player from any manufacturer. This is the simplicity that has created the DVD industry today. Add to that the broadband caps and simple value proposition of your local store (we do any 3 DVDs for $10, new releases included), and VOD is very much in the realm of early adopters. When will it cross the chasm into the mainstream? My take is that this will take much longer than people think. Of course not all local video stores are created equal, and your local may be truly horrible. But there is a big market of DVD renters out there (half a billion annually here in Aus), and with a little bit of innovation, I reckon the local video store will be with use for a long time to come!
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