Universal, Fox and Summit close VOD-DVD release gap

by Darren Murph posted Feb 10th 2009 at 8:10AM

About two months after a Lionsgate executive spoke out about the phenomenon of day-and-date DVD / VOD releases, and merely days after we heard that digital distribution wasn't expected to overtake packaged media in the near term comes this. Universal, Fox and Summit have all pledged to close or eliminate entirely the gap between when a title is shipped on DVD and when it's available in on-demand form via iTunes or programming providers. At least with some titles, that is. The move is supposedly being made in order to take advantage of the growing thirst for instant gratification when it comes to films, and rather than getting left behind, these three are choosing to adapt to changing customer desires. Not surprisingly, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is still sticking to a 30 day (or so) delay before it releases a title to VOD, but considering its Q4 figures, it might want to consider hopping on the bandwagon.

Filed under: Industry, Other formats, Cable, Internet

Tags: day-and-date, DVD, Fox, release, studio, studios, Summit, Universal, VOD

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

JimC @ Feb 10th 2009 9:18AM

Are these in HD? I won't even consider a SD rental or purchase. SD is the past...HD is the only thing I can stand to watch...

Neutral

Bozster @ Feb 10th 2009 10:46AM

Well maybe for you and me but 95% of consumers it's still the present. By the time anything Blu-ray goes mainstream on a larger level, VOD will go day and date in HD as well.

This is what everyone is talking about. People are switching to VOD because it's cheaper and more convenient. People really don't need super high quality HD as some of us do and industry will follow as we can see.

And it's not wonder, at Fox digital distribution and VOD grew from 25% to 50%

'Despite seeing DVD revenues drop 11% in the 2nd half of 2008, VOD and digital distribution are seeing solid growth at Fox Home Entertainment. He (News Corp. president and COO Peter Chernin) said VOD and digital revenue grew 25% and 50%, respectively, but paled in comparison to DVD. He said the studio was focused on producing quality content and maximizing revenue through multiple distribution channels, including Hulu.com."

and CNN just had an report too:

More US Consumers Drop Cable, DVDs As Content Moves Online:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200902090815DOWJONESDJONLINE000231_FORTUNE5.htm

It's really not hard to see where everything is going.

Neutral

Achilles @ Feb 10th 2009 10:50AM

I feel your pain.........

Neutral

JimC @ Feb 10th 2009 11:01AM

Boz,

I do rent HD from my PS3 or DirecTV but I will still not rent any SD versions. VOD is fine in HD for rentals that I do not want to own or haven't seen yet to even know if I want to own it. But for movies I want to own, download doesn't cut it and won't in the near future either. Only way I would accept download is if it matches current Blu-ray specs and can be burnt to a transportable media (i.e. Blu-ray or other medium). Until then, downloads are for rentals only...

Neutral

Bozster @ Feb 10th 2009 8:53PM

Jim,

I don't disagree. VOD, digital downloads in general will replace anything but purchases fairly soon IMO. Maybe 2-3 years. It will be a longer time before we actually have a viable purchasing system because obviously DRM stuff is all over the place.

I can't recommend anyone at this point to purchase stuff to own. I'm very hesitant with iTunes too as it's not so much the quality that bothers me as it is tying myself to one platform. Rentals are fine as everyone agrees, purchases less so.

I am really optimistic that DECE was formed to actaully fix this issue but I'm not seeing any aggresive approaches yet. Maybe the point for them is exactly that. To push rentals and TV show purchases with VOD and purchases to still keep as long as they can on discs.

The only thing I see with that approach is IMO that there's a lot more people actually realizing they don't need discs and they just want to rent, and having big catalogs at your disposal is seemingly better choice for one time viewing then purchasing the disc. I guess it's still early to tell.

In the meantime, WB head of home entertainment says that VOD is not eating into DVD sales, so it's a good thing because it will allow them to grow it in parallel with discs until the time is ripe and conditions are met to switch fully to digital.

My source:
"Although some content producers worry that day-and-date releases will hurt DVD sales, Bewkes says trials Warner Bros. has conducted since 2007 have proved otherwise.

"So far the results of moving to day-and-date have not cannibalized sell-through of physical DVDs," Bewkes said Wednesday.

Warner Bros. began testing day-and-date releases for movies in 2007, and in the first quarter of last year, it released six movies for DVD and VoD distribution on the same day, including The Brave One and Michael Clayton.

Most of the movies Warner Bros. releases on DVD in 2009 will be released on the same day for video-on-demand (VoD) distribution, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes said today.

"I think most of the studio titles will be released day-and-date in the U.S. this year," Bewkes told analysts this morning on Time Warner’s fourth-quarter earnings call."

Neutral

ian @ Feb 10th 2009 7:28PM

seems like day & date VOD, BD/DVD is the only way to go with shrinking disc #s and consumer interest in downloads. Especially for direct to video titles that no one's heard of . Sony will get it soon, they have to...

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