Another 28 days is the new measure of a pound of flesh. At least that’s what it seems like after the Warner Brothers and Netflix agreement that means all those movies in your (and my) queue that we are waiting for to release on DVD and Blu-ray are now going to be quarantined for 28 days from the disc release date before Netflix will ship them to us.
I wrote about this whole idea last fall when the negotiations were underway.
After reading the announcement (read article here), which only affects Netflix at this point, I understand the reason for this change, though I still think it is ultimately a bad idea for everyone, especially the viewing public (that being all of us who pay money for movies). Warner sets a prejudice. There is no doubt in my mind that other studios will follow, or that Blockbuster (if they are still around by then) will also be delaying rentals. The ultimate goal here is Redbox and other dollar box rentals. But maybe the Redbox kiosks are built like a 1950s refrigerator, which we, thanks to Indiana Jones, know can withstand a nuclear blast, so they may find a way to survive when their fare of current releases all of a sudden dries up for 4 weeks after disc release.
Netflix no doubt feels some heat from the box rentals too, which would explain their willingness to go along with the studios.
I am just not convinced that delaying rentals is really going to make all of us run out and purchase the DVDs and Blu-rays at release price the day they come out. First off, I certainly don’t buy a movie sight unseen. So unless I saw it in theatre and have been on pins and needles for 6 months or so, waiting for it to release on disc, I am not going to buy it until I see it. But wait, now I have to wait longer until Netflix will send it to me, so it will be longer before I go buy it. Maybe there will be another cool movie out by then. Any life insurance salesman could tell the studios that the last thing you want to do is make people wait to give you their money. They just might see things differently in the morning and decide to not spend the money.
On the other hand, I have received DVDs from Netflix on the day they were released, watched the movie, decided that it should go in my permanent collection and purchased it right away. I guess Warner Bros. doesn’t mind waiting longer for me to do that now.
And since this is all about the studios being concerned about their revenue stream (at least that’s what we’re told), why are we not seeing headlines that Warner and the other studios are leaning on Wal-Mart to do away with the $5 bins? After all, so many movies end up there eventually that many people (me included) at times make the decision to wait to purchase a movie on DVD until it shows up in the bin?
Claes
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