BETWEEN THE LINES

October 23, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Netflix chief Reed Hastings said during the retailer's quarterly conference call yesterday that he thinks there may be economic opportunity for his company in stocking new release DVDs more cheaply by waiting four weeks or so after their general release to get them. In other words, Netflix may be willing to embrace the delayed window that Redbox is fighting tooth-and-nail. As long as the studios make it worth Netflix's while.

There's certainly news in Netflix's possible acceptance of a window.  But the idea that it signals a broad move by studios to delay packaged media rental across the board until after sell-through window--as was reported in some quarters today--is overblown.

Warner has made clear its intention to renegotiate its Netflix deal on terms more favorable to the studio or impose a window on Netflix i...Read More

October 22, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Research concern SNL Kagan predicts in a new study that packaged media "sell-through revenue will drop 13% to $12.86 billion in 2009 as VOD technologies begin to erode market share."

Through the first three quarters of the year, sell-through is running down about 16%, so if it ended the year off 13%, that would mean an improvement in the fourth quarter. Many industry execs think that the improvement is going to happen.

The SNL Kagan study, "Economics of Motion Pictures," is not so much about home entertainment, however, as the total profit picture for major studio films. The study analyzes all films released on more than 1,000 screens from 2004 to 2008, and finds that films with the largest budgets actually do generally return the biggest profit. 

For ...Read More

October 16, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made its high-def debut as the No. 1 Blu-ray in its first week of release. And for a moment, we thought the Blu-ray was perched atop the Top DVD Sellers chart, too.

Confused? So were we.

As a reminder, Disney made a strategic marketing decision to release Snow White, one of its crown jewels, on Blu-ray a full seven weeks before a new DVD version. Blu-ray streeted Oct. 6. Standard DVD is coming N...Read More

Industries: High-Def, Software, Studios/Suppliers

October 12, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

UPDATE: 10/16-- Redbox president Mitch Lowe stopped by for a meet-and-greet on a trip to LA this week and we asked him straight out if the kiosk company has a deal to buy in bulk from Wal-Mart. His answer was not quite as blunt. He did acknowledge that Redbox has at least tacit agreements to buy product from some large retailers, who "put aside" stock for Redbox. In some instances though, he insisted Redbox shops with the general public. There are thousands of Redbox employees picking Universal product up from various retailers on street date, he said. 
He positioned it as not that big a deal for those employees to add Fox and Warner titles to their orders. In some cases, buying at retail is less costly than buying through distribution, he said, but there are added costs for labor and transportation.



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Industries: Retail

October 8, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Hastings chief John Marmaduke makes one of the most clear and well-reasoned arguments against Redbox and $1 per night DVD rentals that I've seen, in a blog post on The Wrap. Marmaduke writes in response to the forum The Wrap gave Redbox's Mitch Lowe earlier in the week.

The crux of the matter, from Marmaduke:  "... if new releases would be available for $1 rental, consumers would be encouraged to forgo watching a movie in the theaters and instead wait a few months. Consumers would be discouraged from renting from bricks-and-mortar video stores -- putting these stores out of business and reducing access to the thousands of movies that can't fit into a kiosk. Consumers wou...Read More