(no subject)

[somedaybitch]

In their latest experiment in making movies available over the Internet, several studios today (Monday) will be using such sites as Movielink and CinemaNow to provide top-drawer films on a download-to-own basis. They include Brokeback Mountain, King Kong and Pride and Prejudice. Today's Los Angeles Times observed that the downloaded films could cost as much as twice what the DVD versions do, can only play on a personal computer, and cannot be "burned" to disc. The newspaper commented, "As they experiment with offering online video on demand, studios are keeping prices high and restrictions tough so they don't alienate retailers, whose DVD sales still provide the vast majority of revenue."

i'm sorry, but what's the point?


emphasis mine. h/t to showbizdata.com's newsletter.

Comments

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

i'm sorry, but what's the point?

Good question, and one for which I have no answer. I know I'd rather buy a DVD (which can be played on a proper TV, lent to friends, doesn't eat up memory, etc) than waste time and money doing this. Perhaps the people masterminding this idea are not familiar with either DVDs or the internet????? They could be genius hermits recruited from a quasi-Amish community which spurns technology, brought to Hollywood in the vain hope that they will revitalize marketing.

Or not. Hey, I never said it was a good explanation.

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

exactly. why would i pay MORE for less? i can't burn it to disc, and thus save space on my hard drive, and it's gonna cost me twice as much as a dvd? that's just bloody idiotic.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

The logic is not like our earth logic, that's for sure. See, if it were significantly cheaper than a DVD, as befits its less convenient format, that might make sense. I mean, if I want to see a movie but don't necessarily want to own it, it might be more convenient for me to download it for, say, five bucks, than to go to a video store and rent a new releease for five bucks. That way you bypass the hassles of having to go out, the chance that they're out of the movie you want, etc. And then ditch it after I've watched it once or twice, so as to avoid clogging up my hard drive.

BUt then, most people who don't like the hassles of video stores already have an alternative in the form of Netflix and similar fixed-price services. And those they can watch on a big TV screen, while sitting in a comfy chair. Mind you, they can't guarantee that they'll get the movie they want exactly when they want it, so downloading might seem like a good idea if they really want to see a specific movie on a specific day. But if you're so eager to see the movie that you can't wait for it to come to the top of your Netflix queue, there's a good chance it's a movie you want to buy, as opposed to rent/download. So I can't really see it becoming anything more than a fringe service, even if it is cheaper than buying it (which it won't be).

I do think there's a legitimate future market for paid downloads, but I'm not convinced that theatrical movies are going to be part of that market. I mean, for me at any rate, the whole point of DVDs is getting to lie on the couch and watch it on the good TV and play with the extras, like the commentaries, deleted scenes, etc. I can see spending two bucks to download a missed episode of a TV show from iTunes, but when you start jacking up the price significantly beyond that of a cup of coffee, the convenience stops being worth it.

iTunes won't LET me download TV shows, because my computer has a Canadian IP address (sulk). Now, I get that networks and production companies may have distribution deals in which the show will be aired on later dates in other countries, but it still strikes me as irritating. And with BSG, for example, they have UK and Canadian distribution deals, but not with any other countries, so I don't see why they can't let downloads be purchased by non-Americans from, say, Hong Kong or New Zealand or some place else where they can't watch it on TV. Because a fair number of the people doing the illegal downloads are not in the US.

Ah, well, good thing I don't work in the entertainment industry. Mind you, I think even I might do a better job than whichever brain trust came up with the idea in your post! They really need to start test-marketing bright new ideas with teenagers and other early adopters before rolling them out for the general public. That'd weed out the bright ideas that are actually really quite stupid.

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

I do think there's a legitimate future market for paid downloads, but I'm not convinced that theatrical movies are going to be part of that market. I mean, for me at any rate, the whole point of DVDs is getting to lie on the couch and watch it on the good TV and play with the extras, like the commentaries, deleted scenes, etc. I can see spending two bucks to download a missed episode of a TV show from iTunes, but when you start jacking up the price significantly beyond that of a cup of coffee, the convenience stops being worth it.


exaaaactly.

i know that the IP thing is all tied to international distribution deals, licensing and such, and if they violate those then they get fined vast sums of money. but yes, essentially i agree. they are very behind the curve on what the market will support versus what they believe their current business models are.

people always take longer to catch up than technology.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

i know that the IP thing is all tied to international distribution deals, licensing and such, and if they violate those then they get fined vast sums of money. but yes, essentially i agree. they are very behind the curve on what the market will support versus what they believe their current business models are. people always take longer to catch up than technology.

Ah. Interesting. I hadn't realized about the fines.

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

they're legal smackdowns. it's that whole region thing. that's why they exist because it's all about the "overseas" distribution deals. like reasons why the UK will get something before, or after, Canada does. it's all tied to the distribution deals cut, and that stuff all exists to offset the deficit funding.

[arthurfrdent.livejournal.com]

it doesn't seem like they expend a single bit of brain power figuring out exactly how or why a consumer uses their product... nor do they seem to know the advances or limitations of technology... All they need do is write a proprietary software client for your computer [keeping it clean natch] that you install, that allows you to download an encrypted movie, pay for it and burn it to disc. Then you can use that disc where ever you need it. They could even put the flag in there that allow you only to burn it once...

The thing that really gets me is that they are so risk adverse that they won't go anywhere near the cutting edge. They could make this movie download thing THE NEXT BIG THING as iPods did, just by making it really cool, and with a fabu user interface, at a competative price. What makes 'pods popular is not that they are all things to everyone, but that they are good enough to overcome their minimal drawbacks, and there isn't much for the average consumer to have problems with.

They could come in for the big win with this, but they don't even see the win out there... :shrug: they's stupid...

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

*nods*