On-Demand big in Warner's corner

FROM VARIETY: Studio aims to lure millions more to VOD

By John Dempsey of Variety -- Video Business, 7/28/2008

JULY 28 | FROM VARIETY: The numbers couldn't be more stark: Movie sales and rentals on DVD generated $23 billion last year in the U.S. compared with only $1 billion or so from pay-per-view.

But Warner Bros., enticed by lucrative revenue splits and the chance to boost the revenues of Time Warner Cable, is hell-bent on luring millions more to video on demand, either through their cable box or Internet services such as Apple's iTunes Store.

The studio, like its rivals, also wants to fend off piracy by making its movies easily accessible through legal means. To that end, Warners has compressed the PPV-VOD window on most of its movies, making them available the same day that each movie's DVD hits the retail stores.

Read the full story on Variety.com.

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