GOODBYE, $60 MOVIE RENTALS; WE HARDLY KNEW YE

Bowing to pressure from theater owners, Universal has scrapped plans for a test of Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) that would have made its upcoming Tower Heist available for a $60 rental fee in two markets, Atlanta and Portland OR, three weeks after it hit theaters. Two large exhibitors, Cinemark and National Amusements had threatened […]

ANALYST URGES STUDIOS TO ACCELERATE PREMIUM VIDEO-ON-DEMAND

Movie studios, which in the past have engaged in half-hearted tests of premium video-on-demand (PVOD), ought instead to embrace it as both a potential driver of profits and a hedge against piracy, BTIG media analyst Richard Greenfield wrote in a note to clients on Friday. PVOD allows viewers at home to rent movies from cable […]

THEATER OWNER BALKS AT $60 VIDEO-ON-DEMAND

It’s hard to imagine that any theater chain would feel threatened by Universal Pictures’ announcement on Wednesday that it plans to release the Eddie Murphy-Ben Stiller comedy Tower Heist on “Premium Video-on-Demand” two weeks after it hits theaters in two test markets, Portland, OR and Atlanta, for $60. But the Cinemark chain wasted no time […]

NATO ASKS: IS ANYONE PAYING $30 FOR PREMIUM VOD?

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) wants to know whether consumers have been willing to spend the $30 or so being charged to rent movies via so-called premium video-on-demand. In a statement released today (Wednesday), NATO asked the studios that are participating in the VOD experiment — they’re releasing some films 60 days after […]

PREMIUM VIDEO ON DEMAND COMING ON THURSDAY

Despite angry opposition by theater owners and several prominent directors, DirecTV plans to launch its premium video-on-demand service on Thursday, offering movies from Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. that are still in theaters. Each of the movies will cost $29.99 for 48 hours. The service, which will only be available in homes […]

DISNEY TESTING PREMIUM VOD IN PORTUGAL

Disney has gone to Portugal to test so-called premium video-on-demand, offering its hit Tangled on a cable system six weeks after its theatrical debut in that country. The test was conducted in Portugal presumably because the cable company that offered the film and Disney’s theatrical distributor are corporate siblings. In the U.S., some film chains […]

DIRECTV TO CUT SOME LOW-RATED NETWORKS

Seeming to take a cue from customers who have long complained about having to purchase packages of networks that include many in which they have little or no interest, satellite provider DirecTV is now planning to drop some of its least popular channels as a cost-cutting move. In a presentation to investors in New York […]

$50 TO WATCH A NEW MOVIE AT HOME?

Will people who have installed home theaters be willing to pay as much as $50 to watch a movie 30 days after its theatrical release — while it is still playing in theaters? According to Reuters, some studios are close to deals that would test those viewers’ willingness to do so. They’re also going to […]