Time Warner Cable just pitched the major Hollywood studios a new idea: “home theatre on demand”. It would allow people at home to watch movies just 30 days after they’re released in the cinemas for $US20-$US30.
This 30-day home distribution method cuts the general four-month movie-to-DVD wait time significantly, which means that cinemas will have more competition earlier in a film’s run. (It should be noted, however, that no studio has signed any new deals just yet.)
Such would be extremely bad for cinema owners, as their share of ticket sales grow significantly as a film remains in theatres. It’d also be a kick in the nuts to services like Netflix, who’ve catered to studios’ absurd requests in order to gain a pittance of access.
I’m not saying the idea of streaming new releases to homes is a bad idea – it’s progress, to some extent – but the 30-day window just feels silly, especially priced at $US20-$US30. It won’t thwart torrenters, who’ve probably watched the film by day 3. And it won’t necessarily serve families on a budget, who probably already passed on the theatre release due to price, and with a little more patience can buy a rewatchable DVD/Blu-ray.
So as a product, I don’t really understand the appeal. And as a business model, it doesn’t seem to make much sense either.
With all the screens on which we can watch movies, it’s necessary for Hollywood to eye up different avenues for distribution. But they should tread carefully, as cinemas – who rely on them for nearly 100 per centd of their content – have proven profitable for films for decades as part of a contrived but successful system. If studios are going to upset such a balance, that’s their right. But they’d better have an equally enticing, equally evolved, equally aggressive digital distribution plan in place – not a toe-testing, uninteresting one like this. [WSJ]
Shane
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 10:35 AMI don’t get these people. The old model is dying, get it. My wife and I have thought about going to the movies a couple of times this month, but can’t be bothered driving all the way to the cinema’s, standing around with a bunch of people we would otherwise not socialize with, put up with the crappy seating (actually it’s gotten better, but we have a better lounge), the mess and put up with more people…I’m looking you at phone person!!
It’s simply easier to pull up something on the media center. We get to watch it at our leisure (without all the extra ads (although I like the trailers, but there’s a solution to that as well)). We get to talk, laugh, rewind, pause and even stop and come back to it later should we choose. It’s cheaper and fits our life style better.
It’s also a lot of fun having the extended family over for a movie night with the kids, the oldies get to talk and the kids get to watch some movies of their choice…and we generally eat better anyway
I like the idea of MOD – but it should be available within the first week of the release and for that amount, I should be able to keep the release for at least until it becomes available on DVD/BD, otherwise, cut the price!! Especially when you add in the cost of the download…
(I can see studio’s going for this model and when they get lack luster results saying that they were right, people don’t want MOD’s…except piracy continues to grow…hmmmm)
Rather then lowering the price, I should be given the option to get discounts on their physical media range as well, so I choose to actually purchase the movie, I get it at a discounted price OR I get another movie from there range at a discounted price. Or, they can offer me MOD as an early purchase option. Ie, I can pre-order the physical media and get access to the MOD version in the mean time…!?
I won’t download cinema recorded versions simply because of the generally crappy quality (yes I’m picky), but I would consider a DVD/BD rip and I’m prepared to wait.
I also think MOD would improve the chances of me buying the actually disk when it finally comes out rather then grabbing a ripped copy to check and never been bothered to get my own.
Nice idea, but the studios continue to shoot them selves in the foot and only prove that they are seriously out of touch and out of date. They will continue to suffer at the hands of the pirates until they make a choice to change there ways…
tim
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 5:35 PMhang on – is this US$20-30 per movie? OMFGBBQWHAT!?!?! Are they even slightly serious? Go ahead, release, and watch your fail grow exponentially. I mean, how long can they stay this out of touch with consumers without going broke?