Warner Bros. to Release Movies for Apple TV and On Demand Same Day as DVD

Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s chief executive, said that the company’s Warner Brothers studio will now release movies for video-on-demand systems on the same day they are released as DVDs.
Until now, people who wanted to watch movies on cable pay-per-view systems or rental download systems like Apple TV had to wait a few weeks after the same movie was released as a DVD. (And the DVD comes out, of course, four or five months after a film hits the theaters.)
Warner Brothers has been experimenting with the new approach for the last few months. It has found that DVD rentals only fell by 3 percent to 5 percent and sales of DVDs actually increased, perhaps because of the increased promotion and fewer used rental discs available for sale.
Mr. Bewkes boasted to investors that the shift from DVDs to digital distribution, on the “day and date” of DVD release, will be better for Warner Brothers because it will eliminate some of the costs of manufacturing and distributing discs.
“Taking a customer and moving that person over from rental-physical over moving them to VOD day-and-date is like a 60 to 70 percent margin instead of a 20 to 30,” Mr. Bewkes said. “So it’s about a three-to-one trade.”

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/warner-brothers-to-rent-movies-online-sooner/index.html?ref=technology

You're a few FRENCH FRIES SHORT OF A HAPPY MEAL, if you even assume Boo Ray will ever replace DVD. Boo hoo freakin' hoo.

DVD SALES ARE UP. DVD RENTALS ONLY SLIGHTLY DOWN. Aaaawwww.


[Post edited by tylerdurden on May 8, 2008]

Just more proof that the studios still aren't looking to Blu-Ray as the only possible future. And they are looking to invest a sizable amount of money into VoD. Which tells me they are still feeling their way into the next big thing and that Blu-Ray just may not pan out like Sony told everyone it would. It would be the same if HD DVD had won the format war. Studios can charge the same price (or more in this case) for a movie and there is no packaging or retailing to pay for. It increases the profit margins signifigently. That's business for ya. The studios/electronics corporations will tell you what you can have, not your fellow consumers. But we already knew that.

[Post edited by spoonard on May 10, 2008]

Yeah, but I have a feeling that it's more like DVD will be 'demoted' and Blu-ray will be released a week or two early in order to promote HDM and demonstrate to consumers that the studios are commited to focusing on Blu-ray going forward. In won't happen very soon probably, and not all at once, but here and there the BD versions will come out first and then it will be widespread. I hope I'm wrong, but that's the feeling I have about it. (which isn't worth much, IMO, given how wrong I was about HD DVD being here to stay).

I see there is still alot of HDDVD sour grapes in the fruit bowl. The article that Falcon posted said nothing about Blu-ray.

Quote:
DVD SALES ARE UP. DVD RENTALS ONLY SLIGHTLY DOWN.

DVD sales have been falling since 2005. It seems like you never got a Happy Meal at all.

Sorry, Tony. I figured it was ok to discuss Blu-ray here. Although the article never mentions Blu-ray by name, just the fact that the OP posted it in the HD DVD/Blu-ray forum implies that any tie-in discussion with the HDM formats is welcome.

Bruce Ames said -

Quote:
"...but here and there the BD versions will come out first and then it will be widespread. I hope I'm wrong, but that's the feeling I have about it."

Well, I hope you're right Bruce! ...as I would love to see BDs released before the same on DVD, and also to see many more BD titles available every week period. Each week I get an email or two of new home video releases, and most are all on DVD with just a few Blu-ray. So, I want this to change... my two cents (off topic, yeah yeah).

______________
-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on May 12, 2008]

To you BD fans who thought Warner was your savior.......their true colors are shining thru. They are only after the mighty dollar as any successful company is. They screwed HD DVD for a quick buck and when Digital Download takes over they will drop BD like a hot cake.