When will the cable blackouts end?

[Citizen Erased]

I just took a look at the 'Movie Request' forum, lots of old posts by me and many others asking for films that have been pulled from Vudu by the studios. Now while these windows are acknowledged as temporary, some of these titles have disappeared into a void many, many months ago and have yet to return (the eta is never given either).

Frankly I can only regard this as utter madness.

I don't know what cable pay-per-view channels the films I requested are on and frankly I don't care. The few I have access to on my cable box are of pretty bad quality. I wouldn't even think of paying them for a rental when I have a Vudu box connected to my TV. I'll just find something else from the HDX library (most likely from another studio).

I don't see the film studios charging into blockbuster video or the indie rental stores to demand a twenty year old James Bond movie is taken down from the shelfs in the vain hope that the customers will sign up to comcast. I find it really hard to comprehend that the various download services (Vudu, Apple, even that underspec'ed piece of crap that blockbuster are trying to give away) are having these embargoes applied.

Vudu needs to negotiate better terms to stop it's customers getting screwed and the studios need to stop turning away money. The margins on each download rental are reported to be ridiculously high after all? (not to mention the money saved on packing, replication, shipping and all the other logistics that exist for optical).

If it helps, feel free to bring any of the Hollywood brass my way, I'll be happy to wave dollar bills under their noses until they finally realize the point!

[Rusdude]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

Yeah, some movies have been gone for a long time. Bourne Ultimatum is MIA and Transformers too, I think.

Anyway, CNET explains it all pretty well in this article:
"TV has license to kill movies at iTunes, Netflix"
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10119509-93.html

[NA9D]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

It's more for the cable movie channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. where the embargos happen, etc.

Keep in mind that there's a solid revenue stream in place for the studios for TV based exlcusives or showings that FAR outstrips any revenue from the nascent digital download services. Look for some posts on here by Vino36 (I think that's his user name). He explains this well too.

[Citizen Erased]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

I see the two revenue streams as completely complimentary. I don't understand why they wouldn't keep the cable revenue flowing while also exploiting the download market. Exclusivity is not an issue. Like I said , I'm not getting HBO , I may even drop cable altogether if I start subscribing to the NHL online package.

[RonV]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

I see the two revenue streams as completely complimentary. I don't understand why they wouldn't keep the cable revenue flowing while also exploiting the download market. Exclusivity is not an issue. Like I said , I'm not getting HBO , I may even drop cable altogether if I start subscribing to the NHL online package.

They may be complimentary but the content may be licensed from different arms of the content owner. Sorta like the Coke marketing team is seperate from the Coke Zero marketing team.

[NA9D]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

The way the entertainment industry works is completely foreign to those of us who aren't in it and a lot of it just doesn't make sense.

Just this week I noticed a number of movies that are coming available to rent in January. These movies were on the box a year ago but aren't now but they'll be back soon.

[Citizen Erased]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

They may be complimentary but the content may be licensed from different arms of the content owner.

Exactly the impression I get! It looks like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. It also seems to me that a lot of these licensing terms are based on legacy models for cable set-top-box VOD.

Dedicated internet download set top boxes like Vudu need to be considered a new (and potentially very profitable) delivery method. Again Vudu (and Apple for that matter) need to push for better terms...

[Rusdude]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

If you read the CNET article that I linked, it's made clear that although studios would love to offer their content on every possible outlet, they don't want to tick off people who pay big bucks (i.e. cable channels who pony up for exclusivity) just to put their content in the medium which brings a fraction of revenue.

Imagine you sell physical goods and a big box retailer pays you $10 million/year in order to secure exclusive rights to sell your products. Would you break your lucrative deal with them just to get your product into a mom & pop store which can move 1,000 times less product?*

* -- numbers are completely made up and are only included to illustrate a point.

[RonV]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

Don't for get the money Best Buy and Walmart rake in on DVD Tuesday due to the additional traffic to their stores. They are also in bed with the content providers. The dependency chain from media distribution goes far and wide.

[FloatingDuck]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

Movie studios responding to their markets is important. Answering the needs of someone who provides a substantial majority of your income is important (read: cable companies).

The market is changing slowly. I, for one, used to subscribe to every single premium movie channel from my cable company. Last month I canceled them all - I now watch all my at-home movies using Vudu.

The most important reason: variety of on-demand movies.

Even with all of these premium channels there were too many "repeats" across channels, there were too many older "B" and "C" movies, too many movies I have seen a dozen or more times, and there is an increase in number of soap-opera series. For a while, STARZ seemed to be the only channel(s) which focused on unique and current movies, and now they too have their own soap operas. The number of "real" and unique movies I was able to choose from with all of these channels was vanishingly small and decreasing each year. Cable companies are becoming more and more like a cheap Las Vegas buffet... a lot of cheap food, heavy in carbs and fat - leaving you hungry for something more substantial.

Go ahead, step up to the challenge. Look at any single premium channel on cable. Tell me how many unique movies they show in a month... and how many "A" movies are in that list. Oh, yeah, let me know how many of those you have seen several times before...

FD

[HeadHodge]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

The market is changing slowly. I, for one, used to subscribe to every single premium movie channel from my cable company. Last month I canceled them all - I now watch all my at-home movies using Vudu.

I cancelled all my Directv premium channels as well, except for HBO so I could watch Bill Mauer make an a*s of himself.

[Citizen Erased]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

Movie studios responding to their markets is important. Answering the needs of someone who provides a substantial majority of your income is important (read: cable companies).

Here what I'm having trouble seeing. Does blocking a movie from Vudu or say Apple really help the cable companies sell more VOD or just hurt the studios by loosing a rental...

[Nded]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

Here what I'm having trouble seeing. Does blocking a movie from Vudu or say Apple really help the cable companies sell more VOD or just hurt the studios by loosing a rental...

I think it's more of a case where the cable company is willing to pay $X to have a movie in their line-up and will pay $X+$Y to have it be "exclusive" during the blackout window. Eventually the cable co. will figure out that the premium they are paying for exclusivity isn't buying them anything - they're just slow on the uptake.

As long as they are willing to pay $X+$Y the studios will take it as the proverbial "bird in the hand".

[aaronwt]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

I still have my premium channels. But I'm only paying $13 a month and I get all of them except for Cinemax. And the several dozen I have are all in HD on FIOS.

[Citizen Erased]

Re: When will the cable blackouts end?

I think it's more of a case where the cable company is willing to pay $X to have a movie in their line-up and will pay $X+$Y to have it be "exclusive" during the blackout window. Eventually the cable co. will figure out that the premium they are paying for exclusivity isn't buying them anything - they're just slow on the uptake.

Maybe Vudu need to start offering $Y too? Or sweeten the deal via increased margins or cross promotions.