And here we have yet another example of how Hollywood just doesn’t get it.
Time Warner is considering charging rental companies Netflix and Redbox more to purchase rental copies of DVDs. That could be coupled with a longer window between which users of both services could rent the films.
Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes made the announcement today on a company earnings conference call. He also said the studio will begin offering premium video on demand films in the second quarter of 2011 in an attempt to boost revenues.
He also specified that such releases to homes will come 60 days after their theatrical release, a sign that the company wants to protect its theatrical release window at least to some degree. Most major studios have looked at premium VOD offers with a 30-60 day delay, although Viacom has said its Paramount Pictures studio will not offer premium VOD content to satisfy the needs of movie theater operators.
Bewkes didn’t disclose pricing or likely first titles, but sources said the company has been eyeing a $25-$30 price per movie. Fox has also been looking at a $30 price. (How much you want to bet it will be tied to the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One”?)
I will just wait for the rental window. I haven’t set foot in a theater in 3 1/2 years so they can keep pushing the rental windows out all they want. It won’t bother me.
And I’m not going to pay $30 to see a movie that I can wait a few months more for on Netflix.
Let’s see, I WAITED for the movie to come to home video. I WAITED for the movie to get to the top of my NetFlix Queue. I WAITED for it to be mailed to me. Do the movie companies just not understand that some of us have no problems waiting them out to avoid a $30.00 charge on a movie that probably isn’t as awesome as the pricetag?
All these corporate morons are going to do is drive more people toward piracy.
And people can’t understand why other people use bit torrent. Take a look at the prices and the all this stuff is handled. Oh well time for more podcasts. At least those are still free… For now.