Why wait 56 days

[BBStoreMgr112233]

Here is the only philosophy you need.

If there isn't more money in revenue sharing as opposed to requiring rental places to just buy the titles outright, why is there a company called Rentrak?

Obviously Rentrak, which has been around for years, makes more sharing revenue with rental establishments than the money it costs them to buy the dvd's. If it didn't, they wouldn't be in business.

If the studios pulled their head from their arse, they would realize this too. If they were smart, they would go to Rentrak customers and establish a direct supply to these same establishments and cut Rentrak out all together.

Furthermore, the studios should leverage these rental share agreements to force establishments to do a couple things for them. First, and it was this way with Blockbuster for years, you force the rental stores to take your "B" movies and put them out for rent (generating revenue for a title that you are struggling to make money on and titles nobody is going to buy).

Secondly, the studios should force these rental stores to carry and sell your aging product (product 1-20 years old or even older), which would generate additional revenue for product that for the most part is dead. Studios could require prominent location of this product, specific price points, etc and rotate this product in and out of stores throughout the year.

Lastly, the only thing the studios are doing right now is screwing themselves. Other posts on here are correct in that the only thing the studio is really doing is minimizing the presence and exposure of their product because rental stores will only lower their buys in order to insure a profit. They are killing word of mouth advertising (which is probably the most effective advertising for studios) because fewer people are seeing their product and therefore fewer people are talking about it and creating that buzz.

If studios really wanted a "window" to increase their profits there are a couple ways they could do that. First they can use the increasing digital world and offer it for a premium rate prior to release. Being it is digital and there is not a hard copy, rental establishments can't rent it and they have gone around the first doctrine law. They could offer it either through On-Demand services for a premium rate like $9.99, through their own websites (TV's today are being made with the ability to watch it on your TV rather than your computer), or even direct sale to the consumer (limiting the number of copies sold per transaction) through their website or over the phone.

One final point.... Studios have killed themselves releasing movies so quickly on DVD after theatrical release. It use to be 6 months or longer before you could expect to find a movie for sale or rent and a year or longer before you'd find it on a premium cable channel. These days it isn't even sometimes 3 months. Forcing the public to wait builds that anticipation and that desire to get it immediately when it becomes available. If they went back to waiting longer before releasing it on DVD from the time it exits the theater, these windows might be more effective (not to mention that it might increase their box office revenue since customers know they will be waiting a while for the DVD release). Your average movie watcher (the ones who come in once a month) is often surprised that something is already out on DVD. It is only the avid ones (the once or more a week customers) who are asking you for release dates or if you have available yet that movie that just came out in theaters.

[djblade]

Yeah, people prefer to watch a movie at their homes rather than go to the movies because it's expensive at the theater. I believe it was proven the quicker you release the movie, the more money you will make. You would maximize the profits because the hype is up! Think about it....today, things die faster now with technology booming. People will just won't care about it anymore after 6 months. For example: Apple's products come out faster or computers or cell phones. Always something better. Time is money lol

[orbitdvd]

DJ is right. Every window has collapsed except for the theatrical window, and the studios are too chickenshit to do anything about it. Every time there's a news article about dvds or pay per view coming out around the same time as a theatrical release, the head of the theater association comes down on them like a ton of bricks. They threaten to ban the studio's movies. It happened to the CEO of Disney when he suggested selling dvds in theater lobbies, and last year when Universal wanted to test market VOD for Tower Heist three weeks after opening weekend.

The truth is with ticket prices rising, shitty kids talking and texting and other distractions people rather watch a movie at home. Billions of dollars are being lost during that four month window.