Facing sluggish DVD sales and a surge in lower-margin disc rentals, some Hollywood studios are reportedly considering offering new movies via Internet-enabled high-definition televisions prior to the DVD/Blu-ray Disc release.

BusinessWeek Aug. 30 reported that Sony Electronics has approached studios about delivering new-release movies at premium prices via the Internet on its Web-enabled Sony Bravia HDTVs weeks before their DVD/Blu-ray street date. The Japanese consumer electronics giant, which also owns Sony Pictures and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, tested the concept last year with the Will Smith-starrer Hancock, which was offered to Bravia owners from Oct. 28 to Nov. 10 for $9.99 (for 24 hours) — 11 days before the title’s release on DVD, Blu-ray and cable VOD.

The publication reported that consumer reaction to the Hancock exclusive, which included the Blu-ray edition, was mixed. The story attributed the muted response to the dearth of Web-enabled Bravia HDTVs in U.S. homes at the time — an amount that has now grown to about 500,000 units.

In addition to establishing a new premium release window, the report, citing sources familiar with the concept, said Sony also underscored the delivery channel’s so-called “closed system” that prevented piracy.


Independent analyst Rob Enderle said earlier access to premium content could circumvent piracy since access typically trumps price. But he said charging much more than twice standard VOD pricing would curtail consumer demand.

“People do like and will pay for exclusivity so this could actually work,” Enderle said.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/sony-pictures/studios-reportedly-eyeing-pre-dvd-home-theatrical-window-16950

Companies across the consumer electronics landscape, from Amazon (AMZN) to TiVo (TIVO), are scurrying to deliver movies to TV via the Internet, some more successfully than others. But Sony (SNE) may be poised to do them one better. The Japanese electronics giant, which also owns a major Hollywood studio, has quietly been making the rounds among other film companies to sound them about showing their movies on TV after they appear in movie theaters but before they can be seen on DVD or online, BusinessWeek has learned. If the idea catches on, it would establish a new market for studios, who are facing declining DVD sales and an uncertain box office.

The Sony proposal, which would establish what the industry is calling a "home-theatrical window," would be hugely controversial, which is one reason Sony is moving slowly and still calling its talks an effort to expand the Hancock experiment, according to those who have been involved in the discussions. Allowing folks to view a movie before it can be sold or rented as a DVD would alter Hollywood's carefully calibrated series of "windows" that allow the industry to separate the time between a movie's theatrical release and its release as a DVD or on pay-TV channels like HBO (TWX). Separating those windows has traditionally allowed studios to collect more money by showing the same film to customers multiple times.

The notion of a home-theatrical window has been talked about in Hollywood for years but has never progressed for many of those reasons. What's changed now is the increasingly difficult economics of the industry. The DVD business is cratering—the $14.5 billion market for purchased DVDs is expected to fall to $13.3 billion this year, says Adams—and Blu-ray technology has yet to pick up the slack. Folks can just as easily rent DVDs for $1 from video-vending machines such as the controversial Redbox, a unit of Coinstar (CSTR). Redbox recently sued three studios that refuse to distribute their DVDs to them as early as they are made available to retailers such as Blockbuster that rent them out at higher prices.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/aug2009/db20090830_267810.htm

So the question is: would you pay $5 to see it 30 days before you could rent it for $1 out of a RB...$4...$3
They took the cash from RB and now they want to do an end run...ouch.
Is this the opening for a pre Bd release before dvd? Interesting.

They already are trying pre-BD releases. With any physical media, Redbox can pick up copies and rent at whatever price they want. It would only accelerate the decline of BDs value.

I have said it many times... Redbox has changed the game. That is why studios are experimenting with different windows. They need to boost ARPU and/or cut costs of distribution.

If all this happens Amazon and YouTube will be in the prime position in the market.

Vudu's only shot will be with people that want a higher res stream. Netflix will be in the same position stuck with older movie titles like premium cable channels plus TV episodes.

It's all fair game now. Whatever provides the highest revenue stream at the lowest cost.

They already are trying pre-BD releases. With any physical media, Redbox can pick up copies and rent at whatever price they want. It would only accelerate the decline of BDs value.

I have said it many times... Redbox has changed the game. That is why studios are experimenting with different windows. They need to boost ARPU and/or cut costs of distribution.
You don't follow...in this scenerio, BDs will be available at the same time as DL with dvd to follow 30 days later. RB could get the disc but it will certainly mess with the $1 rental price point.

You don't follow...in this scenerio, BDs will be available at the same time as DL with dvd to follow 30 days later. RB could get the disc but it will certainly mess with the $1 rental price point.

I totally follow. Redbox can obtain BD discs and price them however they like, including pricing them at $1. With the delay in DVD availability, they may be able to rent them for a longer period and/or sell them for a slightly higher used price.

Either way, the studios again screw themselves specifically by accelerating the deceleration of BD value. When all is said and done, the studios don't give a crap about Blu-ray. They care about being able to charge more for their titles. If Blu-ray drops down to DVD pricing too soon, while still costing more to master, author and produce (while the overall physical media market continues to contract), then they will be royally screwed and scrambling to find a market where they have more pricing and cost control.

It's all fair game now. Whatever provides the highest revenue stream at the lowest cost.


That's why I say Amazon and YouTube.

That's why I say Amazon and YouTube.

The consumer will ultimately decide. They will have to deliver convenience and value to succeed. Some of the recent price drops are a step in the right direction.

Gaining traction
Once nearly unthinkable to cineastes, watching features streamed to personal computers is gaining traction. A growing number of major filmmakers are allowing their work to premiere on video on demand (VOD). The debut offering of Sundance Selects, a documentary-and-world-cinema VOD service, is Spike Lee's "Passing Strange: The Movie," presenting the musical that premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
Day and date
Companies such as Magnolia Pictures and IFC Entertainment (both available locally on Comcast) have sacrificed cows as sacred as release windows, which is the time between a film's theatrical run and its premiere on VOD or DVD. IFC offers many films "day and date" - that is, the day they are released in cinemas, they are also available to homes via pay-per-view. Magnolia offers some on VOD before their theatrical runs.
"It's a model we developed because we were having, quite frankly, a tough go of it economically," says Jonathan Sehring, president of IFC Entertainment. He realized the traditional wide release and promotion model didn't make sense for most independent and foreign films, especially in markets less diverse than the Bay Area. "There's an audience in every city in the country for these movies that doesn't have to be enough to sell out a screen in Columbus, Ohio."
One of the first major filmmakers to explore such options was Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh, whose "Bubble" was released by Magnolia in 2006 simultaneously in theaters, on VOD and on DVD.
"I've been a fan of taking advantage of the various models available because of the new technology, to reach people you might not normally, especially because the cost of releasing movies just keeps going up," Soderbergh says. "I think there's a real desire for someone to come up with a unified-field theory of distribution, and I don't think it's possible."
But not everyone is on board. In response to the multi-platform release of "Bubble," John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, known as NATO, told USA Today that such distribution was "the biggest threat to the viability of the cinema industry today."
Sehring and Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles are unfazed by the NATO blockade against their films:
"Most major chains would never have played this type of movie anyway," says Sehring. "If anything, I think day-and-date helps generate awareness of a film. I can say that pretty confidently because we've had our best year ever, the first six months of 2009. And that's at the box office."
Ted Mundorff, chief executive officer of Landmark Theatres, a top art-house chain (and sister company of Magnolia) whose cinemas include San Francisco's Embarcadero Center, agrees.
"(IFC's) 'Che' and 'In the Loop' have gotten a lot of exposure from VOD advertising. I think their box office has benefited from those releases," he says, but adds, "Push the clock forward, and let's say 100 films a week are released on the day-and-date basis, and those films will become diluted box-office-wise."
Adjusting balances
Magnolia adjusts the balances of venues and release windows for each film, including some pre-theatrical VOD runs, and uses a tiered pricing plan that drops as the movie ages.
"It used to be a struggle to convince producers and filmmakers about this program, but now people realize that, OK, the old methods weren't working," says Bowles. "We're getting films offered to us that we'd never have been in play for a year ago." He cites the forthcoming "Ong Bak 2," "The Burning Plain" with Charlize Theron and "Red Cliff," John Woo's Chinese epic.
Among filmmakers, Swanberg is a believer in mixed VOD and theatrical releases.
"I definitely think they have (increased my audience). IFC released 'Hannah Takes the Stairs' theatrically in 12 cities and I assumed, naively, that would be how most people saw the movie, but the large majority saw it on VOD. So our two films since then, we've anchored the releases on the VOD side."
Even rental-and-streaming services such as Netflix in Los Gatos Netflix have a role to play (see chart). Meanwhile, indies may still enjoy the occasional event release.
Franny Armstrong, writer-director of the new climate-change documentary "The Age of Stupid," will extend the satellite-linked cinema network of NCM Fathom from 450 U.S. theaters (including the Bay Area's Regal Cinemas) to 35 countries for the film's Sept. 21 global premiere, featuring a panel that includes former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, and live music by Radiohead's Thom Yorke.
Very green
"It's very green," she says. "You don't make film prints. You hire satellite trucks and you can have a live event in cinemas all over the country. It's very low carbon."
Armstrong funded her film by selling shares to groups and individuals (shares are still available); she says owning the rights to her previous film, "McLibel," enabled the filmmaking team and its investors to reach people they wouldn't have otherwise.
"There's a cable channel called Link TV, and I think it was $500 they could give us," she says, laughing, of a deal most distributors would have nixed. "But they got 3 million viewers." {sbox}
Passing Strange: The Movie is now on Comcast on Demand; it opens at the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Friday.
Notable alternative distributors
Gigantic Digital streams first-run independent films to PCs for $2.99 for three days of unlimited viewing. Among their current offerings is "Motherland," a documentary following six women, most from Northern California, whose collective journey to recover from the loss of children leads them to South Africa. The company also accepts filmmaker submissions (go to giganticdigital.com). IFC Entertainment releases a movie simultaneously in theaters and on video on demand (VOD) twice a month through IFC in Theatres. Hirokazu Kore-Eda's "Still Walking" came out Aug. 28; forthcoming features include "Paris" with Juliette Binoche. Separately, their Festival Direct platform will make more than 60 movies available on VOD this year, including Joe Swanberg's "Alexander the Last."
Magnolia Pictures releases one film a month, often after a VOD run. "World's Greatest Dad" with Robin Williams went to cinemas Aug. 21; "The Burning Plain," directed by Guillermo Arriaga and starring Charlize Theron, will be in theaters Sept. 18 (it is already on VOD).
Netflix does not generally pursue exclusive content but will accept some out-of-distribution films for direct submission on their site. However, Steve Swasey, Netflix vice president of corporate communications, says, "If you don't have a distributor, if you don't have a studio ... we have filmmakers doing that quite often." But he cautions, "We don't take just anything; we have to have some critical appeal in that."
NCM Fathom employs satellites to beam live events such as concerts, operas from Lincoln Center in New York, spoken-word performances and movie-related special events to networked theaters. "Our goal is to make the local movie theater the local community event center," says NCM Fathom Vice President Dan Diamond. "Recently we had Warren Buffett doing a live town hall across the country around the documentary, 'I.O.U.S.A.' "
Michael Ordoña is a freelance writer. E-mail him at pinkletters@sf chronicle.com.
This article appeared on page Q - 22 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/04/PKAD19DH93.DTL#ixzz0QHEkhJJ3

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/2/2009 12:28:42 PM EDT
Movie studios are pushing the FCC to make a decision on granting them a waiver that would allow them to deliver HD movies to cable subscribers in advance of their DVD release, a move that concerns independent producers and fair use activists.
In June 2008, the Motion Pictures Association of America asked the FCC to waive its prohibition on selectable output controls to allow them to selectively block the copying of HD movies via cable set-top
boxes. They say in order to move up the multichannel video HD window while still protecting the DVD window, the need to be able to prevent their being copied.
Representatives of the MPAA met with FCC staffers last week to urge them to grant the waiver, saying it would "enable millions of Americans to obtain access in their homes to high-value content that MPAA member studios intend to distribute."
One of MPAA's initial arguments was that the waiver could help speed the DTV transition by increasing the demand for HDTV, but the FCC has already missed that boat.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which supported the FCC ban on selectable output controls, also supports the waiver. The trade group has pointed out that the FCC itself predicted that banning the select control of digital-content output might need to be waived for new services that would benefit the public.
Fair use fans Public Knowledge and other public-interest groups early on asked the FCC to deny the waiver, saying it would "frustrate consumer expectations regarding their home-theater equipment and will give movie studios unprecedented and undesirable control over the design and use of home electronics equipment."
Also opposed is the Independent Film & Television Alliance, which said not long after the waiver request was made that allowing the major studios to "remotely shut off a particular output on a program-by-program basis" would harm program diversity by diminishing access to independent films like those of their members. Theater owners are also concerned that the studios are shortening their distribution windows and migrating their movies to other distribution platforms -- like cable and satellite--that they can more easily control.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/339249-Movie_Studios_Want_Decision_From_FCC_on_HD_Movies_on_Cable_W aiver.php