It’s no secret that Hollywood is looking for new ways to distribute content in the 21st century, as their battle against piracy often seems endless and unwinnable.
Movies on demand has been popular for many cable subscribers for a while now, but almost always, customers have had to wait until the film came out officially on DVD or later to do so.
But now WB, Sony, Universal and Fox are all banding together for a new service that allows customers to see movies two months after they’re released in theaters, a shorter wait time than the usual three. The catch? You’ll pay $30 a month for the privilege. From Variety:
DirecTV will exclusively launch Home Premiere nationally to its nearly 20 million customers, while cablers like Comcast will introduce the service in certain cities for an undisclosed period of time, sometime around the end of April.
The first films that are expected to launch include Warner Bros.’ actioner “Unknown” and Sony’s Adam Sandler comedy “Just Go With It,” sources close to the new service say. However, the titles could change as the rollout gets closer.
The first thing I thought of when I heard this announcement was “huh, now DVD quality rips will be on torrent sites a month sooner than usual.”
Is $360 a year worth it to watch titles a month earlier than you would have otherwise? That seems a bit steep to me, and I would think if you were so eager to catch a particular movie as soon as you could, you probably would have seen it in theaters.
What say you? Is premium VOD going to help or hurt?
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