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April 30, 2008

business

Warner Bros to release iTunes rentals same day as DVD, Blockbuster totally screwed

Posted Apr. 30, ’08, 5:35 PM PT by David Dahlquist
Category | Business

Warner--Bros-Interactive-Expands-in-Australia-1.jpgHear that sound? That’s Blockbuster’s coffin being slowly lowered into the ground as their sole customer incentive (DVD rentals before On-Demand availability) goes up in smoke, at least for Warner Bros. releases.

The prophetic Dan Moren noticed an odd trend about a month ago in which iTunes movie rentals released by Warner Bros. were becoming available for download significantly sooner than Apple’s stated 30-day policy. It looks like he was on to something, as Warner Bros. chief executive announced today that they will release movies for on-demand systems like Comcast’s and yes, Apple TV, on the same day they are released on DVD from here on out. Rejoice!

While the film industry at first seemed worried that online rentals would eat into DVD rentals, it seems that offering same-day releases on the internet only cuts into DVD rentals by 3-5 percent. Ironically, internet rentals also seem to increase DVD sales as well. My condolences to the brick and mortar rental industry. Looks like you guys are going the way of the record store.

[Via Gizmodo]


3 Comments

funkright said:

Honestly, don't count brick and morter rental chains out for the count. It will take a long time for the net to deliver a BLUERAY or true HD quality movie (with the extras that they have included). People will always love to have a physical copy onsight (or the ability to have the total version on file). They will evolve or die a slow death, but most will evolve.

April 30, 2008 7:10 PM
Troy said:

I agree with 'funkright', and would add this: One day (say in the next 5 years), DVD's (blu-ray or otherwise) will only be sought by DVD collectors, which is a sub-set of all movie watchers. Just like LP's, cassettes, and soon-to-be the audio-CD and their associated collectors. As bandwidth technologies evolve and it becomes both affordable and profitable to deliver the full HD experience for a movie rental via download, then the want for convenience will trump the want for having a disc in hand. At that point, you'll be able to elect to download the main feature as well as additional 'extras' that used to only be on the physical media. What will Blockbuster be doing by then? Depends if they get to buy Circuit City or not. So yes, some will evolve, and some will just go away... and others will be spawned anew.

May 1, 2008 7:34 AM
David Dahlquist said:

@funkright: The internet might not provide HD or Blue-ray quality videos yet, but it's only a matter of time, and then what will the brick and morters do?

"People will always love to have a physical copy onsight (or the ability to have the total version on file)" That sounds a lot like the argument for the audio CD back when MP3s were first popping up (as well as the argument that CDs offered superior quality to MP3s). And well, I don't know who actually buys those anymore. I see movies heading the same way in the not too near future.

May 1, 2008 10:00 AM

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