Disney considering raising Blu-ray prices?
by Richard Lawler 
posted Feb 3rd 2009 at 7:53PM
We predicted drastic measures in Blu-ray pricing, but Disney might be going the wrong way. CEO Robert Iger indicated on a conference call with analysts today that since the company's Blu-ray releases are packing all sorts of extra features like Digital Copy and BD-Live, it might be able to raise prices following a Q1 profit drop of 64%. The scariest part is that Disney's economic shortfalls were consistent with the overall home entertainment downturn, so it might not be the only studio with this reaction to shrinking profits, looking to squeeze an extra few bucks out of the customers willing to spend the most.
Filed under: Blu-ray
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
gr689 @ Feb 3rd 2009 7:59PM
what a dumb move. Will never happen!
dave @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:13PM
Wow! Good luck with that! By the time every other company out there has finished squeezing a few extra dollars out of us consumers, Disney and Co. may as well triple the price, because no one will have any money left to spend on entertainment.
SimbaDogg @ Feb 4th 2009 11:49AM
seriously, these morons are as dumb as the guys at wells fargo
Jeppe @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:16PM
The discs are already overpriced, and I *very* rarely watch the extra content - and *never* the Digital Copy. If they raise the prices, they ought to prepare for an even bigger Q2 drop!
3dpenguin @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:29PM
You guys do realize that the consideration in raising the price is less about the extras and more about the fact that Disney and every other company out there aren't seeing the profits from Blu-ray Sony and the rest of the founding BDA members had promised.
Rich @ Feb 4th 2009 1:26AM
Lack of profits from BluRay? Could be due to way overpriced hardware over the past couple years? Of course not. How about the fact that BR media is is simply NOT priced for mass market acceptance. if they want to move the software, it needs to priced at impulse buying levels @ retail. The people controlling BR are simply being greedy.
Elduro21 @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:38PM
way to go Disney that's really going to help a format that might never become a DVD replacement, how about $50-$60 for a movie,put the cherry on top of the cake, doom Blu-ray once and for all now!
dagamer34 @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:37PM
Thank God for Netflix! :)
Rob @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:48PM
"BD Live" benefits no one else but the studios. I don't care for it.
DigitalCopy. I didn't ask for that either.
Give me the movie with the best A/V possible and call it even. If it saves even more, sell it to me in a paper envelope. I can get cheap slim DVD cases to store it in.
imonit @ Feb 3rd 2009 9:22PM
If Disney was smart, they'd release a stripped down version (main movie, lossless audio) and lower the MSRP and then a "Limited Edition Super Duper Fun Packed" edition with all the (unwanted) bells and whistles and take advantage of those who love the extra disc and limited edition hoopla. Raise that by the same amount and maybe this would fly. Otherwise, their marketing group would be wise to listen to the public's outcry for cheaper media instead of putting a nail in their own coffin.
squiggleslash @ Feb 4th 2009 8:31AM
You're being too specific with the "lossless audio" comment. The reality is what you're saying is that Disney should release a "Version of everyone" version, and a "Premium version".
And that, actually, is exactly what Disney is saying it intends to do. A moderately priced DVD version, and a premium Blu-ray version, for those who can't live without 1080p.
I'm not saying it's a good thing, and I wish if the studios had planned to do this in the long term, they'd have come up with a cheap HD format so the difference between "standard" and "premium" wasn't so extreme, but you can at least see where Disney is heading with this. Shake down those who have money to spend on relatively expensive new players, and produce something at a more reasonable price for those who aren't.
Ordeith @ Feb 4th 2009 1:01PM
I vote for the cheaper to implement HD DVD for the masses. Blu-Ray for the Laserdisc crowd.
squiggleslash @ Feb 4th 2009 1:59PM
Ordeith: what would be the point in that? There's no quality difference between the two, and if anything, HD DVD was the more capable format.
What I meant was this: Early on in the "HD wars" there were a number of proposals to use red-laser discs with a low-bitrate codec like H.264 or MPEG-4 ASP. The first format out of the DVD Forum was just an extension to DVD, proposed by Warner Brothers, that essentially went in that direction, but was never taken anywhere because many on the DVD Forum felt the replacement to DVD should take into account the changing world and the fact that online content was going to be important in the future.
Had that been supported early on, then the "HD version" of DVD (not to be confused with HD DVD) could have been VHS to Blu-ray's (or HD DVD's) Laserdisc, with commodity DVD+HD players coming out six years ago. But alas, that's not possible any more.
Jon @ Feb 3rd 2009 9:24PM
BLURAY LIVE IS WORTHLESS
WebDev511 @ Feb 3rd 2009 9:33PM
It's just Disney proving that they are stupid.
Rental anyone? I suppose BB an Netflix might be inclined to pass that extra cost on to us in the form of a "Disney" fee.
Is anyone surprised?
Charles @ Feb 3rd 2009 9:36PM
Please kill Digital Copy once and for all.
JBDragon @ Feb 3rd 2009 10:41PM
Who in the hell uses Digital Copy? I say TOSS IT. Instead where is Managed Copy? You know being able to RIP the Blu-Ray Movie onto your Media Server? It's Part of the Blu-Ray (also HD DVD) Specs.
Why is it when whoever is not making enough money, it's raise Prices(TAXES!!!)??? When will they ever learn. What it does it make me and most others buy and spend even less. I have no problem buying fewer Blu-Ray movies. It's a Luxury Item anyway. It's one of the first things I can easily cut back on.
squiggleslash @ Feb 4th 2009 11:56AM
Blu-ray's "support" for managed copy was late (meaning manufacturers can't rely upon it being supported on every disc) and unlike HD DVD there was no actual high level infrastructure standardized that could make use of the feature. HD DVD had the Advanced Content system which standardized an entire framework for online/offline/disc based content, whereas Blu-ray really doesn't.
So the reality is that MC is dead on Blu-ray. It was added as an afterthought, players will never be able to support it, the two major OS manufacturers aren't interested in implementing it given they have competing systems, and it really only existed so that a casual glance of Blu-ray and HD DVD's specs wouldn't look so uneven, just as with Profile 2.0
I really wish now that they're not bitter rivals, the BDA could actually adopt some of the good stuff from HD DVD so it's not lost completely.
Thomas @ Feb 4th 2009 4:06PM
Yes.. Kill Digital Copy and save production cost.
And if they do not use "managed copy" there is always AnyDVD HD.
chuckdaly @ Feb 4th 2009 7:40PM
Sounds similar to what the music industry did. Sales slide, so they raised the price of CDs, now look at CD sales. If the BDA doesn't step in, digital downloads might take over much sooner than expected.
RG @ Feb 4th 2009 1:10AM
I've cut way back on buying Blu-ray because they're already overpriced. I will wait till there $10-$15. Until then, I can rent three BR discs for three nights for $5 and get lots of BR-lovin.
Slappy Wag @ Feb 3rd 2009 10:39PM
Robert Iger needs a lesson in supply and demand. Clearly he is TEH FAIL!
lucyfan62 @ Feb 3rd 2009 10:48PM
I can do without the Digital Copy if it helps lower the price. I don't get the whole Digital Copy thing anyway. If I buy a movie on Blu-ray, I don't need to watch a tiny version of it on my iPod!
Synergy @ Feb 4th 2009 9:39PM
Hmm, lets see. I was sitting on a bus yesterday thinking it would have been nice to be able to watch a movie on an iPhone while waiting for traffic to clear in a snow storm.
ack154 @ Feb 3rd 2009 11:02PM
Dear Disney,
Take away the digital copy and BD Live junk and lower the price. Your profits will thank you.
Sincerely,
The Internet
PS: Increasing the price of anything Blu-ray is an absolutely retarded action.
steveo @ Feb 3rd 2009 11:22PM
"Blu Ray prices wil drop like a rock once HD DVD
is dead and mass market adoption begins."
- lots of people who look pretty stupid about now...
Mitch @ Feb 4th 2009 12:10AM
Infinity...Is that you in disguise?
maty @ Feb 4th 2009 5:56AM
Not as stupid as I look for buying into HD DVD all that time ago.
Evan @ Feb 4th 2009 9:11AM
steveo, still bitter about HD DVD?
Mike @ Feb 4th 2009 12:09PM
Maybe HD DVD can come back?
This is poor planning... Just drop digital downloads.
daaper @ Feb 4th 2009 3:07PM
I don't see how you know this won't happen. The HD-DVD thing has happened, but we're far from mass market adoption...
mntwister @ Feb 4th 2009 12:24AM
What a bad move that would be. I hope it never happens. I don't believe it will. Why, when the prices of the players are coming down, would you raise software prices in a terrible econmomy with a format you are trying so hard to push (Disney has been one of the format's best backers)? What are they going to charge, 49.95 for Beauty and the Beast because it has bdlive?
Nothing like cutting your own throat.
Aaron P @ Feb 4th 2009 12:28AM
Wow, I didn't think I could dislike Disney more, I was wrong.
glenn s @ Feb 4th 2009 12:42AM
Sheer genius. In a Wile E Coyote sort of way.
Dear Disney,
Look down. (Fall).
Jonsson @ Feb 4th 2009 3:38AM
Well it wouldn't be the first stupid thing those pencil pushers at Disney have been doing a dumb move but this must be one of the most stupid I've seen in a long time.
First they push all that additional crap on me that I do not want in the first place and then they tell me I have to pay for it. WTF?
Disney, just get rid of the additional junk and give me the film and lower the prices.
Martin @ Feb 4th 2009 6:58AM
Oh, in a bad economy, people don't buy our expensive product...hmmm, let's raise the prices!
Sounds like a great idea!
Billy Gun @ Feb 4th 2009 7:45AM
ahhahahha LOL
zargon @ Feb 4th 2009 7:02AM
The only power that Disney has over me and the reason why I would pay their raised prices is their stupid (but smart) practice of returning movies to the vault. A lot of Disney's older movies are classic, at least to me, and I try to buy them all. They have that hold over me because I don't want to wait x amount of years before I am able to buy the movie again.
Stupid Disney!
Galley @ Feb 4th 2009 7:26AM
I've got many Disney BDs, and have never paid more than $19.99.
Jeff @ Feb 4th 2009 7:56AM
I own a grand total of 1 Blu-Ray discs. MKV + A-110 is they way !
Thomas @ Feb 4th 2009 4:06PM
I think it is a right to convert a movie to whatever format you want - including .MKV if you want to utilize a Popcorn Hour A110.
But I also think you should pay for the movies you watch and not just download unauthorized copy'es if that is the case.
James T @ Feb 4th 2009 8:34AM
Who knew Disney made coffin nails? I guess my kids won't be seeing any Disney movies on blu-ray. And if other join in a possible increase, I will be looking to sell off everything blu-ray and just go straight to download.
Aaron Smith @ Feb 4th 2009 9:35AM
If I'm gonna spend that much on a disc I'll buy a video game, thank you very much. That'll give me a lot more hours of entertainment per $ spent.
3dpenguin @ Feb 4th 2009 11:15AM
Even at $19-20 a movie games at $60 are still a better deal on hours to dollars spent.
Joel @ Feb 4th 2009 5:23PM
It's sad really that disney could be that greedy. I own a home theater installation business, that recommends blu-ray everytime. The single most inhibiting point i encounter when talking about blu-ray is the high price of the movies. 9 times outta 10. This will only alienate more people, than it will do for sales. I think all blu-ray movies should have 2 editions, one with all the bd-live stuff, extras, and all that, then 1 edition with only the movie and the lossless audio tracks. I have not purchased a dvd for many years, but i have stopped almost completely buying new blu-ray movies. The prices needs to start at 17.99-19-99 before they will gain any major footholds.
Rich @ Feb 4th 2009 2:06PM
The studios should follow the DVD model. Essentially release a cheaper, movie only BR with perhaps deleted scenes, then a more expensive, ultimate super duper edition that has all the BR Live crap no one wants.
BluRay will forever be a niche product until the software prices hit the impulse buy level around $20-25 at B&M locations...where most people still buy their movies.
kcmurphy88 @ Feb 4th 2009 1:54PM
Does this mean they'll put less than 20 minutes of advertisements and previews in front of each movie now? I spend a minute or two hitting page up with their stuff as it is, why would I pay more for it?
Jonsson @ Feb 4th 2009 2:30PM
You may be right on that one. Sounds more likely.
I still feels it's a wee bit of propaganda/sales talk though. No studios (except possibly Chinese ones) would support this format. So their only market could then be China.
So if they want to make a profit out of this it would be on the home market. Not very likely that they would make much more profit out of that.
Jonsson @ Feb 4th 2009 2:36PM
I have no clue what this post is doing in this thread. I made it to another thread (where it also showed up)
???
Darwin @ Feb 4th 2009 2:51PM
How about we send them all our Digital Copy disc? Let them know we don't care about those and most of us buy the Blu-ray for HD content and lossless audio.