This seems expensive to me. What if you ended up not liking the movie? I suppose it's no worse than blowing money on a movie at the theater that ends up sucking.
They might fare better if they were able to provide everything for under $15.00. I guess you could skip going to movies and just buy this PPV/DVD combo. $20.00+ for two at the movies or $17.00 at home and you get a copy of the movie.
Comcast proposes video on demand with a DVD follow-up
Posted by Dan Bell on 11 October 2005 - 05:16 - Source: Video Business
Would you pay your cable provider 17 dollars to watch a movie in your home in a pay per view form? What if it was not released on normal PPV yet and wont be for over a month? Still not convinced? What if after you watched it, as part of the deal, you received the DVD a few days later in the mail for your permanent collection? Yeah, not bad. This is the proposal from Comcast cable provider that is being pitched to the studios right now. They want a piece of the DVD rental pie and they just might have something to offer. The PPV paradigm is already a half billion dollar a year operation for Comcast, but with this new twist, they are hoping to turn it into a killer application.
The only snafu in the entire idea is the fact that only 40% of Comcast cable subscribers have the required digital box at this point in time. But still, that is 40% of 21 million customers which is not too bad. DirecTV and Dish, are you listening?
Sensing that the financially troubled Blockbuster is ripe for plucking, Comcast is sounding out the Hollywood studios on the following proposition: A Comcast customer with a digital box will see a menu listing for, say, The 40-Year-Old Virgin as much as six weeks in advance of its scheduled appearance on pay-per-view.
For a fee of about $17, the subscriber could call up the movie for one immediate video-on-demand showing. Two days later, the DVD of Virgin shows up in the mailbox for the subscriber's permanent collection.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment hasn't announced an exact DVD release date for Virgin, but it'll probably hit Blockbuster within four months of its Aug. 19 theatrical premiere.
If the Virgin DVD gets to the stores in mid-December, Comcast's PPV run would most likely begin in late-January/early February. Russ Crupnick, media analyst with the NPD Group, a marketing/research company, dubs this strategy "instant rental with ownership."
Look out Blockbuster! If the cable companies can cut deals for providing movies in this instant fashion, with a physical backup coming in the mail, it would be enough for me to hit the PPV button for the very first time. How about you?
I'm not sure if I'm sold on this strictly from what the article says. I would think it would make more sense to let the PPV viewer watch the movie with the normal fee (say $4) and then at the end pop up a box saying "Buy this movie for $13?". It kinda defeats the purpose of renting movies if you can't try before you buy, but the model I describe would seriously cut into the Blockbusters of the world if the rental fee could go towards the purchase of a new DVD.
My other concern would be what kind of DVD do you get. Do you get the retail copy of the DVD with all the special features, etc. or do you get a lame customized Comcast DVD with the feature only?
Xunil Tlatoani - Gnome Arch Lich (Retired)
Keepers of the Elements
Tlatoani - Gnome Warlock
Light of Dawn (Lightbringer Server)
Sounds pretty reasonable to me. I usually end up buying anything I want to check out anyway. It's easier than returning something I rent, and I don't use Netflix because... well, we had a disagreement several years back and I'm not welcome to use their service anymore.
So anyway, with the digital On Demand from comcast and being able to see it in HD whenever you want and then to receive the DVD not long after? That's a great idea! Way better than browsing amazon for dvd's I want them to ship to me when I could just be sitting on the couch, actually watch the movie immediately, and then get it in about the same time for about the same price as ordering from amazon.
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Sylvus wrote:
So anyway, with the digital On Demand from comcast and being able to see it in HD whenever you want and then to receive the DVD not long after? That's a great idea! Way better than browsing amazon for dvd's I want them to ship to me when I could just be sitting on the couch, actually watch the movie immediately, and then get it in about the same time for about the same price as ordering from amazon.
Adding to the positive side of things, you could also TiVo the HD movie (if you had an HD-Tivo) while watching it so you'd have the HD version to watch again until your DVD arrived. Unfortunately, the DVD quality will be lower than your TiVo'd HD version but that will hopefully change soon...I'd guess HD DVD's would cost more at least in the beginning though.
As an example, I have all the HBO-HD channel Entourage and Rome episodes on my HD-Tivo still and will keep them until I can buy the boxed sets.
