Watching new theatrical releases at home might cost you some bucks

Got yourself a crucial home theater setup? Do all the peripheral frustrations make venturing to the cinema a less than optimal experience? You may get to watch new (or reasonably new) releases in the comfort of your abode soon, but it’s gonna dip into your pocket.

The notion was mentioned a few months ago, when the MPAA and the FCC were exploring the possibilities of allowing recent movies “to be sent directly to American households over secure high definition transmission lines from their cable or satellite providers prior to their release on DVD or Blu-ray.”

Now according to this Reuters article, we’ve got a hypothetical price tag: “Under terms discussed so far, cable or satellite customers choosing to watch first-run movies at home would have to pay around $24.99 for a movie 60 days after its theatrical release, and up to $50 for a 30-day window. Those terms are not yet finalized but studios have held talks in recent months with pay-TV operators including DirecTV and Time Warner Cable, according to sources with knowledge of the talks. Two sources told Reuters at least one studio is pondering a trial run as early as this fall with a yet-to-be-decided film, to gauge audience reception for the novel concept.”

Fifty bucks (or “up to” that amount) seems like some steep scratch for a month-old movie, but I suppose it depends on your intolerance of humans and/or inability to wait the standard 4-6 month window for DVD and VOD (and the additional hold for Netflix rotation).