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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: VOD plan starts next week
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System Notices
Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi
Posts: 215
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted 04-15-2011 12:24 AM
DirecTV to unveil VOD plan next week
Source: variety.com
quote:
Exclusive: DirecTV will launch premium VOD service Home Premiere next week to coincide with the Easter and spring break holidays.
Despite threats from theater owners, satcaster has closed in on a list of films to launch from Warner Bros., Sony, Universal and Fox when video-on-demand venture is formally announced early next week.Comedies, including Sony's Adam Sandler laffer "Just Go With It," Fox Searchlight's "Cedar Rapids" and Warner Bros.' "Hall Pass" are the first to bow, along with U's thriller "The Adjustment Bureau."
Home Premiere will offer titles 60 days after they've bowed in theaters -- that's about a month before films typically become available on DVD, Blu-ray and day-and-date on traditional VOD. The pics will rent for $30 for 48 hours.
DirecTV and studios declined to comment on the launch plan.
Comcast and other cablers are expected to offer premium VOD options in certain cities, while DirecTV tests the waters with an exclusive nationwide rollout.
The introduction of premium VOD is clearly timed to the Easter holiday next weekend and spring break vacations when families are gathered.
The $30 price point has long been considered one that may appeal not necessarily to individuals but to groups that can't make it to a theater, hold viewing parties or are seeking to save on concessions.
After seeing a 21% uptick last year, studios have been eager to figure out new ways to grow the VOD rental biz, including more day-and-date releases with disc bows.
Before that, most films became available on VOD 45 days after a DVD hit store shelves. The final plans for the introduction of VOD are being made on the eve of an April 15 deadline exhib chain Regal Entertainment and Cinemark Holdings, the nation's No. 1 and No. 3 exhibitors, imposed on studios to provide a list of upcoming films that would be earmarked for premium VOD so that theaters could consider pulling trailers and other marketing materials.
The chains, along with AMC Entertainment, don't want to be used to promote films that will eventually be available at an earlier date to consumers who may opt to wait and watch a film at home rather than make a trip to the local megaplex.
On Thursday, the National Assn. of Theater Owners distanced itself from some exhibitors' threatened boycotts of films offered on premium VOD.
The org "does not and could not encourage its members to engage in any boycotts of any movies distributed by any company," the NATO statement said.
NATO, the world's largest exhibition trade organization with more than 30,000 screens in the U.S. alone repped by its members, responded to reports that the org sanctioned exhibs dropping WB's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" from their lineup on July 15, saying, "NATO cannot and will not make those decisions for (its members)."
In a statement released on June 16, 2010, NATO prexy-CEO John Fithian had said, "Individual theater companies must and will make decisions about release window changes in their own company's interest." The org said its position has not changed.
Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 04-21-2011 12:18 PM
Here you go. Read the last part. I'm surprised it's coming to light this fast...thought it would take a couple of months.
quote:
TVPredictions.com
DIRECTV Questions $30 VOD Plan; Surprised?
By Swanni
Washington, D.C. (April 21, 2011) -- DIRECTV today is scheduled to launch a VOD service that will charge $29.95 per viewing of movies made available 60 days after their theatrical release.
And the satcaster is already questioning whether it will work.
Derek Chang, a DIRECTV executive vice president, said yesterday that the satcaster may lower the $30 price -- and offer movies sooner than 60 days after their theatrical release if buy rates are low.
“We’re testing a price point and testing a window in the early days of this product, and we’ll see how it takes,” Chang, DIRECTV's's chief of content strategy and development, told Bloomberg News. "Down the road, if the window gets tweaked and changed, I think we all cross that bridge when we get to it.”
DIRECTV is scheduled to launch the 'Premium VOD' service today with the Adam Sandler comedy, Just Go With it, which was released in theaters on Feb. 11.
The 'Premium VOD' concept has been floated for months as studios explore ways to generate new revenue to counter declining sales of DVDs. But the idea is controversial because of its price -- and because movie theater owners say it could hurt their attendance if people know they can watch a movie at home just 60 days after its theatrical release. Normally, studios wait at least three months before offering theatrical films to home video.
However, rather than seek to appease theater owners, Chang's comments will likely heighten concerns that the studios and their TV provider partners are ultimately aiming to bypass the theater.
Chang told Bloomberg that theater owners are overreacting because films rarely perform well in theaters 60 days after their initial release. However, even if that's true, if DIRECTV decides to show films 30-45 days after the initial release, theater owners would have more reason to worry, particularly if DIRECTV lowered the $30 price.
Swanni Sez:
Commentary:
Okay, I said it last week. The studios' initial plan for 'Premium VOD' is just a teaser, purposely designed to generate a low buy rate to diminish concerns that it will hurt movie theater attendance. Seriously, $30 to watch a movie at home? Who is going to do that? No one -- and the studios and DIRECTV know it.
Chang's comments reveal that's there a more realistic plan in place behind the scenes. The studios eventually want to release box office hits on VOD on the same day they are available in the theater. They have calculated that, in the long run, this will generate more revenue than the current distribution model.
But to get to that point, they will have to work the program in slowly, to downplay media coverage of theater owner protests. Over the course of time, it won't seem like a big deal that a new film is released to VOD 30 days after its theatrical release. And then a bit later, it won't seem like a big deal when it's released on the same day of the theatrical debut.
And it won't seem like a big deal when the price of the VOD offering is just a bit higher than the theater price.
Theater owners, you have a right to be concerned. The studios are gunning for you and they are happy to take their time to get you.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 04-21-2011 01:33 PM
NATO apparently doesn't realize if the theaters disappear they disappear too.
I keep hearing how the movie studios are pushing this VOD thing to make up for declining DVD sales.
News flash: it is 100% the fault of the movie studios on why DVD sales have declined and continue to do so. They made it happen. All of the choices made in content, pricing, distribution and release timing were their own.
The Hollywood studios played along and let Redbox and Netflix ruin much of the video rental industry. They let stores like Wal-Mart reduce the profit window on disc sales down to a limited time. Their own greedy attempts at forcing viewers to buy rather than rent only made the problem worse. I don't rent movies on Blu-ray nearly as often as I used to since more and more are these "rental" specific discs with no features, forced trailers/commercials and not even any f**king chapter stops. Might as well wait for the movie to just show up on HBO. I'm buying movies on Blu-ray less often as well, part of that goes to not being able to test drive the full retail disc via video store rental. By the time the movie has showed up on HBO it's so old and played so often on cable I have little desire to buy the damned thing, even when the Blu-ray is priced at $10 or less! And this doesn't even get into the generally shitty, derivative quality of so many movies. Way to go Hollywood!
![[fu]](graemlins/fu.gif)
Studios did all of those things by thinking only of the short term fast buck. Short term gain, long term loss.
Basically the track record for Hollywood studios "creating more revenue" is not really very good. Extreme ticket price inflation through digital 3D and fake IMAX is padding any gains made lately. Reflecting on the long series of bad decisions how do these guys rationalize this VOD thing will be a good decision? What is their proof this plan will actually work?
It has to inspire laughter when studios think they're going to create more revenue with this plan. Do they think the American public has both unlimited leisure time and unlimited money? Have they considered how leisure time spent gaming, social networking and doing other things have negatively affected the movie industry? Have they considered how moving the movie business to TV only might make matters worse for them? When I'm in a movie theater the movie has my undivided attention. I'm far more likely to get distracted while watching at home, or watch only part of the movie or not even bother at all. I'm not pinned down in one spot at home like I am in the theater.
In the current environment of rising prices for food, fuel and other living expenses watching movies in theaters or at home is seen more and more as a luxury item that can be cut. Americans who have jobs may be working longer hours to make up for those living cost price hikes, leaving less time to watch movies. In past economic downturns the movie business has done well. Somehow I think the current situation is a bit different.
I don't think the studios' plan, particularly the eventual day and date scenario between theatrical and VOD release, is going to create any greater revenue for the movie industry. I think the opposite will happen. With day and date VOD the losses will happen in a terrible way these bean counters can't foresee from being ignorantly out of touch.
The brick and mortar video stores are dying and perhaps beyond being saved. I think Redbox won't survive either in the long run. I don't even know how the company can make a profit now. There is no bringing back the video stores once they disappear. Might as well try opening a video game arcade. That's one revenue source out of the way.
Movie theaters won't survive a day and date release scheme with VOD. Quite a few may fail with a 30 day window. Some will fail in a 60 day window (bargain, 2nd run). The theatrical side of the movie industry generates a lot of revenue, at least several billion dollars per year in the US alone. In 2010 more than $2 billion in sales came from tickets for 3D movies. Without the movie theaters much of that revenue will be GONE. Movie studios won't make up that lost revenue by doing more to hype VOD, movie streaming and disc sales.
Satellite providers like DirecTV and Dish Network have only so much bandwidth capacity on their "birds" in orbit. That means only so many movies can be pushed via their service.
ISPs like AT&T are rolling out bandwidth caps and overage fees in May that will make the practice of streaming movies considerably less appealing. If I had to watch a SD quality version of a movie just to stay safely under the bandwidth cap I wouldn't bother watching at all.
It may not apply to DVD so much, but many customers who buy movies on Blu-ray have already seen the movie in the theater. Without theaters there will be no more of those double dip sales. I don't "blind buy" many movies on Blu-ray at all. For the shelf space they consume the movies must be ones I know I'm going to watch at least several times or more. I might buy a game for my PS3 or some music "from the cloud," but I'm not going to do that with movies, particularly when the quality is inferior to Blu-ray.
In the end, the movie studios will be stuck marketing their wares to cable TV networks and PPV services from various cable/satellite providers. Retail disc-based sales will fall into the toilet without the marketing punch the theatrical release provides. The whole thing is like a series of dominoes. As they topple one by one (video stores, DVD sales, movies theaters, etc.) the movie studios won't realize until it is too late that they themselves will be the last domino to fall.
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Jonathan M. Crist
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 531
From: Hershey, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 04-22-2011 05:08 PM
According to Hollywood Attorney Ziffren the theatre owners should help sell the Home Premiere:
Ziffren Article
Kenneth Ziffren explains why VOD is better for everyone.
CinemaCon was buzzing with the news that four major studios have entered into an exclusive agreement with DirecTV to launch Home Premiere, which will bring films to the home about eight weeks after their theatrical release. Cable operators and telcos, among others, will soon follow in select markets.
The National Association of Theatre Owners blasted the move. But despite their remonstrations, none of this was surprising to any of the participants. The contours of the key negotiating issues were known last year (see my Nov. 10 column in THR), and all that was missing was a critical mass of studios willing to face the ire of theater owners.
As previously speculated, DirecTV will charge a household $29.99 to view a film in HD and turn over 80 percent of that “box office” to the studio. Statistics compiled by nonpartisan research firms reveal that more than 97 percent of a film’s theatrical gross is earned within the first eight weeks of release; in fact, check the April 1-3 box-office chart, and you’ll find that none of the films earning more than $1 million has lasted 56 days. Thus, the exercise should have only a limited impact on a film’s performance in theaters.
So what are the prospects for Home Premiere, and how might or should it evolve?
Let’s look first from the studio side. Only one major (Paramount) has declared it will not support the effort, at least not now. Its opposition is said to be based on piracy concerns, but a cynic might note that its ultimate parent company’s operating business is exhibiting films in New England, and opposing the effort has the convenient effect of currying the favor of theater circuits.
All of the studio executives with whom I’ve discussed this issue indicate that their support is largely predicated on a belief that there is no good commercial reason for withholding a film from the home for a four-month period. They also take a “no harm, no foul” position vis-a-vis the theaters on one hand and home video mass merchants on the other. So reaching the home with a film after two months makes sense.
Studios believe Home Premiere could work only if there is a continual flow of good product — especially family films or tentpoles — from producers, as opposed to trying to turn the proposition into a one-off or event mentality. The initial launch titles might not be blockbusters, but that’s because they are winter releases. As many as six to eight films a year from each of the major studios, and perhaps four to six from mini-majors, could be offered once things get going (in, say, two years).
None of the studio execs believes Home Premiere is a game-changer or that it will solve the major economic problem facing them today: the decline of the physical home video sell-through business, down substantially the past five years. But even with buy rates predicted at less than 1 percent, and with the necessary service upgrades limited to fewer than 10 million households today, Home Premiere can help if all goes well (more on that below).
Still, the NATO and theater circuit opposition continues unabated.
They rail against shortening the theatrical window, though statistics reveal that, on average, only 3 percent of the audience watches a film after it has been in theaters for eight weeks. Plus, the price for viewing is not likely to attract singles or couples, nor will the plan alter the theatrical experience.
Theater owners solicited the creative community to fight the studios but did not get any significant support. Then they obliquely threatened to charge the studios for trailer exhibition in theaters — as if trailers don’t also benefit them!
Now the biggest attack against the studios is leveled for their being “volume hungry” and having no price discipline. The argument is that studios have always collapsed or decreased pricing in the home video arena to attract more customers, and that eventually that will happen here.
Putting aside antitrust considerations (studios are not permitted to conspire to control pricing), one would think the shift from a high-priced sell-through VHS tape in the ’90s to a less expensive (but higher quality) DVD was a benefit to the industry, not a departure from sound business practices. And what about the fact that the major studios have essentially funded the theater chains’ digital-cinema installation, creating 3D opportunities for both studios and theaters?
The mystery to me is why the theaters are fighting so hard to preserve a full four-month window instead of joining forces. As we’re all aware, advertising and promotion in theaters (whether paid ads or trailers) has the highest CPM around, and a theater can readily set up a link or contract with online and traditional carriers to sell tickets to upcoming Home Premiere films. Why not share in the upside, even if limited, rather than be so intransigent?
Kenneth Ziffren is a senior partner at Ziffren Brittenham and an adjunct professor at UCLA Law School.
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