HDTV Almanac - Strange Bedfellows?

[wjhunt]

But only to a certain extent. I rarely get to the theater myself. However, my wife is usually pretty up to date on the latest releases, so this will be significant to her. I've also talked to a number of people who are very aware of DVD release dates. This is a small sampling so maybe it won't have much impact. I saw recently though that Blockbuster had signed a deal (with Warner?) to have same day DVD release date availability in stores, online and streaming. I thought that was a pretty big deal. Made me wonder how many folks would switch for that reason alone.

[film11]

Let's not forget that the studios that have already been doing this have also eliminated all "extras" from rental copies. No disc that has commentaries, Director's Cuts, etc, will be available if you rent their films. Plus, the long wait times for new releases fron Netflix, etc. (sometimes months!) will now be even longer.

[Dale]

Jack Valenti, while still leading the MPAA, said before Congress that the willingness to pay for a motion picture is greatest during the promotional phase of the theatrical release. That is seldom stretched out longer than two-to three weeks. Valenti went on to say that when the publicity quiets down the demand for the movie plummets until it is "sold" as a rental or Pay Per View where pennies replace high demand driven box office dollars. The industry has had its problems in accepting an optimal strategy for harvesting this greater demand using a closer to the theatrical release window. There is a non-consumptive option that could be engaged with several of the delivery systems, though online seems to be the finest approach in the longest view. It was less than 7 years ago when all but Bit-Torrent said there was not enough bandwidth to deliver movies online. That has now given way and today I can download from several sources full HDTV formatted movies. What will be next thing enabled by still-higher bandwidth? I will leave that to your imagination but do want to venture my own guess: it will mean the one price fits all business model will give way to tier pricing which will reflect the higher level of technical consumption that true BD grade content will require along with a window closer to the theatrical window.

Dale Cripps