In my view, these types of policies are basically suicidal for movie studios.. Ultimately making DVD/Blu-Ray Disc somewhat similar to antique pieces like Floppy Disks.. If they really want to increase Disc based sales then studios should reduce price and also offer more features or options to customers.
One of the feature which I would really like to have it is to own the content rather than discs itself. Content's format and resolution may keep on changing but when I go and buy movie I should be granted license to own the content and possibly guarantee to own or upgrade to better version of resolution or type of delivery. Also, some kind of guarantee against disk breakage or scratches on it.. Add some or all of these features and you will get confidence of customers back in buying and owning discs and hopefully add few more years or decades to Disc business..
These type of patch working and further harassing customers is not going to help studios.. I can bet that even with this measure, next year there is going to be decline in disc business...
Here is the news clip from our local Mercury News:
Studio to announce change to 2-month interval at CES
By Michael Liedtke
Associated Press
Prepare to have your patience tested if you prefer to rent DVDs rather than buy them. In a precedent other major movie studios are likely to follow, Warner Bros. is poised to announce that its latest DVD releases won’t be made available to rental outlets until nearly two months after the discs can be bought in stores and websites. A person familiar with the matter explained the new rules to The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the changes won’t be announced until Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The new restriction will double a 28-day delay on DVD rentals that Warner Bros. reached with Netflix’s video subscription service two years ago. After that breakthrough, several other movie studios adopted similar moratoriums, although many DVD releases still remain available to rent on the same day they go on sale in stores.
Sales plunge
The increased wait for DVD rentals exposes the competitive tensions that are shaking up home entertainment. In the past seven years, movie studios have seen U.S. sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs fall by a third — from $10.3 billion to roughly $7 billion. Netflix’s growing popularity in the past decade helped put a major dent in one of the movie studios’ biggest moneymakers — because its service enables people to watch as many mail-delivered discs as they want for a flat monthly fee.
DVD rentals didn’t hurt studios much before Netflix existed because the market was dominated by Blockbuster. That chain charged consumers for every title taken off their shelves and shared revenue with the studios.
To make matters worse for studios, Redbox’s concept of renting DVDs — from kiosks set up in thousands of stores — gave movie lovers another cheap and convenient way to avoid buying the discs. Coinstar’s Redbox had been renting the DVDs for just $1 a day until recently raising the price to $1.20.
Redbox resists
Netflix conceded to Warner Bros.’ demands for the 56-day rental delay to ensure that it can still buy the discs at a discount. Netflix expects to suffer a loss this year, largely because its own U.S. price increases backfired in 2011 and triggered far more customer cancellations than management anticipated.
It doesn’t appear Redbox is going to bend to Warner Bros.’ will. “The current agreement Coinstar has with Warner Bros. is to receive movie titles 28 days after their release,” Coinstar spokeswoman Marci Maule said in a written statement. “No revised agreements are in place.”
Redbox could conceivably rent Warner Bros. DVDs on its own timetable by buying thousands of discs from stores, although that hardball tactic would drive up its expenses.
In a late October conference call with analysts, Coinstar CEO Paul Davis raised the possibility of finding “workarounds” if Warner Bros. or other movie studios tried to impose further delays on DVD rentals.
Netflix’s cooperation with Warner Bros. and Coinstar’s resistance underscore the different priorities of the two services.
In many ways, Netflix is just keeping its DVD-bymail service on life support and leaving it up to each customer to decide when to pull the plug. Meanwhile, the company is pouring most of its money and energy into building up its service that delivers movies, TV shows and a growing amount of original programming to TVs and other devices with high-speed Internet connections.
Streaming future
Investors also see Internet video as the key to Netflix’s future, although they became less confident about the company’s decisionmaking after last year’s U.S. price increases drove away hordes of customers. The backlash caused Netflix’s stock to drop by more than 60 percent during calendar 2011.
The shares have gotten off to a hot start this year, rising 25 percent during the first trading days on positive news about subscribers’ Internet video viewership and takeover speculation. The stock rose $6.99 Friday to finish the week at $86.29, its highest closing price in nearly two months.
In contrast, DVD rentals remain Redbox’s financial lifeblood, although it, too, is looking to expand into Internet video streaming. For now, Redbox probably can’t afford the potential customer alienation that would come with additional delays in the availability of new DVD releases. But having to pay more for DVDs will squeeze profit margins. Either way, it might not bode well for Coinstar’s stock. Coinstar shares shed $2.39, or 5.5 percent, to close Friday at $40.98.
The increased wait for DVD rentals exposes the competitive tensions that are shaking up home entertainment. In the past seven years, movie studios have seen U.S. sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs fall by a third — from$10.3 billion to roughly $7 billion.
One of the feature which I would really like to have it is to own the content rather than discs itself. Content's format and resolution may keep on changing but when I go and buy movie I should be granted license to own the content and possibly guarantee to own or upgrade to better version of resolution or type of delivery. Also, some kind of guarantee against disk breakage or scratches on it.. Add some or all of these features and you will get confidence of customers back in buying and owning discs and hopefully add few more years or decades to Disc business..
These type of patch working and further harassing customers is not going to help studios.. I can bet that even with this measure, next year there is going to be decline in disc business...
Here is the news clip from our local Mercury News:
Warner doubles DVD rental wait time
Studio to announce change to 2-month interval at CES
By Michael Liedtke
Associated Press
Prepare to have your patience tested if you prefer to rent DVDs rather than buy them. In a precedent other major movie studios are likely to follow, Warner Bros. is poised to announce that its latest DVD releases won’t be made available to rental outlets until nearly two months after the discs can be bought in stores and websites. A person familiar with the matter explained the new rules to The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the changes won’t be announced until Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The new restriction will double a 28-day delay on DVD rentals that Warner Bros. reached with Netflix’s video subscription service two years ago. After that breakthrough, several other movie studios adopted similar moratoriums, although many DVD releases still remain available to rent on the same day they go on sale in stores.
Sales plunge
The increased wait for DVD rentals exposes the competitive tensions that are shaking up home entertainment. In the past seven years, movie studios have seen U.S. sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs fall by a third — from $10.3 billion to roughly $7 billion. Netflix’s growing popularity in the past decade helped put a major dent in one of the movie studios’ biggest moneymakers — because its service enables people to watch as many mail-delivered discs as they want for a flat monthly fee.
DVD rentals didn’t hurt studios much before Netflix existed because the market was dominated by Blockbuster. That chain charged consumers for every title taken off their shelves and shared revenue with the studios.
To make matters worse for studios, Redbox’s concept of renting DVDs — from kiosks set up in thousands of stores — gave movie lovers another cheap and convenient way to avoid buying the discs. Coinstar’s Redbox had been renting the DVDs for just $1 a day until recently raising the price to $1.20.
Redbox resists
Netflix conceded to Warner Bros.’ demands for the 56-day rental delay to ensure that it can still buy the discs at a discount. Netflix expects to suffer a loss this year, largely because its own U.S. price increases backfired in 2011 and triggered far more customer cancellations than management anticipated.
It doesn’t appear Redbox is going to bend to Warner Bros.’ will. “The current agreement Coinstar has with Warner Bros. is to receive movie titles 28 days after their release,” Coinstar spokeswoman Marci Maule said in a written statement. “No revised agreements are in place.”
Redbox could conceivably rent Warner Bros. DVDs on its own timetable by buying thousands of discs from stores, although that hardball tactic would drive up its expenses.
In a late October conference call with analysts, Coinstar CEO Paul Davis raised the possibility of finding “workarounds” if Warner Bros. or other movie studios tried to impose further delays on DVD rentals.
Netflix’s cooperation with Warner Bros. and Coinstar’s resistance underscore the different priorities of the two services.
In many ways, Netflix is just keeping its DVD-bymail service on life support and leaving it up to each customer to decide when to pull the plug. Meanwhile, the company is pouring most of its money and energy into building up its service that delivers movies, TV shows and a growing amount of original programming to TVs and other devices with high-speed Internet connections.
Streaming future
Investors also see Internet video as the key to Netflix’s future, although they became less confident about the company’s decisionmaking after last year’s U.S. price increases drove away hordes of customers. The backlash caused Netflix’s stock to drop by more than 60 percent during calendar 2011.
The shares have gotten off to a hot start this year, rising 25 percent during the first trading days on positive news about subscribers’ Internet video viewership and takeover speculation. The stock rose $6.99 Friday to finish the week at $86.29, its highest closing price in nearly two months.
In contrast, DVD rentals remain Redbox’s financial lifeblood, although it, too, is looking to expand into Internet video streaming. For now, Redbox probably can’t afford the potential customer alienation that would come with additional delays in the availability of new DVD releases. But having to pay more for DVDs will squeeze profit margins. Either way, it might not bode well for Coinstar’s stock. Coinstar shares shed $2.39, or 5.5 percent, to close Friday at $40.98.
The increased wait for DVD rentals exposes the competitive tensions that are shaking up home entertainment. In the past seven years, movie studios have seen U.S. sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs fall by a third — from$10.3 billion to roughly $7 billion.
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