globeandmail.com : Studios support film sales on Web:
LOS ANGELES — Hollywood studios start selling digital versions of films such as Brokeback Mountain and King Kong on the Internet this week, the first time major movies will be available on-line to own.
The films can’t be burned onto a disc for viewing on a DVD player. But even so, the move is seen as a step toward full digital distribution of movies over the Internet.
Six studios said yesterday that sales will begin through the download website Movielink. The site is jointly owned by five of the seven major studios.
Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and MGM will offer some first-run and older titles on Movielink, a PC-only download service. New films will be priced similar to DVDs — between $20 and $30 (U.S.) — while older titles will sell for $10 to $20.
(Via globeandmail.com.)
What a bargain. You can spend more than you would on a DVD while they only give you a digital file with no cost for packaging and minimal delivery costs (bandwidth). And, you can’t burn the files to DVD, so you can only watch them on a TV set by hooking your computer up to your TV or entertainment system.
Reasons movie downloads in this structure will fail miserably:
- Over-priced
- Lack of control over product
- Windows-platform only (which means they get zero of my money… which they had a chance at with a more competent business model)
- Downloads will take longer than a quick trip to a store (which might be worth it if you weren’t paying more, or at best the same, than you would for a DVD)
- Negative backlash for putting forth such an incompetent plan
- Independents and smaller studios will begin to strike deals with iTunes and Google Video to get content out there cheaper and possibly sans-DRM
- Those who know how to hook their computers up to television are tech-savvy enough to understand the deeper issues and how the studios are actually being offensive to consumers through this model
- It’s possible they are not incompetent and actually want this plan to fail
So I ask you honestly: Does anyone, and I mean anyone, think this is a good idea?
No, I agree with you Alan, as I posted about this same issue. I think that they realize that the old ways of doing things are over, but really don’t know what to do about it.
This is so not consumer-friendly, that I also wonder, other than just coming up with something to say in response to consumer demand, why they even bothered to do it.
I mention that it is a step in the right direction, but it is like an idea quickly come up with, thrown around the room, and than announced without too much thought.
There does seem to be another underlying reason though, and that is that it will cut into their DVD sales, which is much more profitable at this time, than the current slapped together model.
Gary Bourgeault
April 4th, 2006
I think it’s stupid. Why would I pay that much money to download somthing I can buy for cheaper on DVD? I wonder if you can migrate the file to another drive. What if my hard drive fills up and I want free up some space, or back it up? I like the idea of the download, but I’m with you Gary, it seems like a spontaneous brain child of a board room white board.
Randy Bennett
April 6th, 2006
The RIAA and MPAA are so lawyered-up they can’t take a crap without contractual review. I smell attorneys all over this.
Zeke
April 6th, 2006
Sounds just amazingly stupid. I can’t believe that one person thought this was good idea, let alone a whole roomful of people.
Brian
April 7th, 2006