Thursday, March 2, 2006
$25 to watch an HD movie at home
I think media companies have a new approach to fight piracy -- pretend to be so incredibly stupid that people will feel guilty about stealing from them. That is the only thing that can explain Peter Chernin's, News Corp's COO, comments about their upcoming service offering.
"News Corp. is betting that people will pay $25-$30 to watch Fox films at home in high-definition quality via cable and satellite TV 60 days after their theatrical release."
I hope they're not betting a lot, because they are going to lose. This is right up there with Circuit City's Divx DVD player idea. It even makes the upcoming $30-40 price point for Blu-Ray and HD DVD seem reasonable.
According to Chernin, consumers who have spent a lot of money on a home theater will be "desperate consumers" for this type of offering.
Well, speaking as someone who has spent a lot of money on home theater equipment, I will never pay $25 to rent any movie. I don't care if it is HD.
I might pay $25 per month to stream movies from a service provider like Netflix; however, I am not going to pay for rentals ala carte.
I think media companies have a new approach to fight piracy -- pretend to be so incredibly stupid that people will feel guilty about stealing from them. That is the only thing that can explain Peter Chernin's, News Corp's COO, comments about their upcoming service offering.
"News Corp. is betting that people will pay $25-$30 to watch Fox films at home in high-definition quality via cable and satellite TV 60 days after their theatrical release."
I hope they're not betting a lot, because they are going to lose. This is right up there with Circuit City's Divx DVD player idea. It even makes the upcoming $30-40 price point for Blu-Ray and HD DVD seem reasonable.
According to Chernin, consumers who have spent a lot of money on a home theater will be "desperate consumers" for this type of offering.
Well, speaking as someone who has spent a lot of money on home theater equipment, I will never pay $25 to rent any movie. I don't care if it is HD.
I might pay $25 per month to stream movies from a service provider like Netflix; however, I am not going to pay for rentals ala carte.
¶ 4:34 PM 
About Shawn Morton
Married father of 4, social media strategist at Nationwide, consumer electronics enthusiast, hair metal aficionado.
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