Allthingsd is reporting that Warner Bros. has struck a deal with Netflix and Redbox to double the release window of their DVDs and Blu-Rays to almost two months, or 56 days. So, if you want to catch upcoming Warner Bros. films on disc, and you're a Netflix subscriber, you can expect to have to wait quite a while before you view them, at least compared to the time by which you could pick the disc up at Amazon or Best Buy. Warner Bros. claims the move is part of an effort to revive flagging home video sales, which have fallen precipitously over the past five years or so.
In 2010, Warner Bros. was one of the many studios that Netflix cut a deal with: in exchange for delaying the disc availability for 28 days, Netflix would gain access to more of the studios' back catalog for streaming purposes. Allthingsd says that there isn't any such benefits to the deal this time around:
Two years ago, Netflix was able to argue that by delaying access to DVDs, it was able to get its hands on more streaming content, and lower prices for the discs it did buy. This time around, though, Warner won’t be granting any additional digital rights to the studios. It will simply be offering them the ability to buy discs in bulk, at a significant discount to retail pricing, like they already do.
So, the real question here is: why agree to this deal at all if you're Netflix? I'm sure that that bulk discount is significant when you're talking about stocking tens of thousands of discs of every Warner Bros. release, but still, I can't imagine why Netflix wouldn't at least argue for more streaming rights on a deal like this. A month delay wasn't too bad, but two months to wait to watch a movie? That's when you start getting downright inconvenient.
In the end, Warner Bros. can decide who they want to sell discs in bulk to, and there's not much Netflix can do about it. Netflix always has the option to buy the discs retail and offer them for rental that way (as they were recently forced to do when HBO, a Time Warner subsidiary, announced that they'd stop selling discs directly to Netflix), even though it'd be massively expensive; theoretically their need to retain access to the streaming library that Warners is offering them is what is making them agree to this deal.
Since they caved here, don't be too surprised if the rest of Hollywood gangs up on Netflix and asks them for the same window within the next few months. I guess the question is, do you care? I've never particularly minded the 28-day window on Netflix, but when we're talking about two months...that's a chunk of time, there. It might have a slight effect on DVD sales, but I'm betting that a more likely outcome will simply be to increase piracy of movies. Does this affect your opinion of Netflix, or your opinion of the Hollywood studios?
I love waiting for things! It's my favorite!
It won't make me buy any more DVDs, I just can't afford it. If I really want to see a movie I missed in the theater before it's available from Netflix, I rent it on itunes. I'm not buying movies anymore in a hard format, period.
Why can't physical media just die already?
I am curious as to how many people who use Netflix primary for new releases. I find that I (and my friends and family) use it for stuff released in the past year or two (if not further back) but rarely use it for things that are a month or two old. Anyone else in the same boat?
I find it hard to believe that people who weren't planning on buying the movie the first month of release wouldn't be able to wait another month until its streaming and would just cave in and buy it.
Old media refusing to go to the retirement home and die !!!!!
I get why they have these deals because I sure don't by DVDs anymore because of Netflix but still adapt or die mofos
It's affecting my opinion of both Netflix and Hollywood. None of my friends and family, including myself, have ever been so desperate to see a movie that they'd go out and buy it instead of waiting for it to be available on Netflix. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a small bump in piracy to correspond with this arbitrary handcuffing. Why is it so important for Time Warner to sell discs? I'm sure the margins are better, but money is all the same irrespective of where it comes from.
I do not care. Most modern movies are garbage anyway. You think I'm going to be impatient to watch....I dunno, Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chip-wrecked? Fuck you, Warner Bros. I will gladly wait 2 months after a movie comes out at retail. DVD/Blu Ray releases come out so soon after a theatrical run these days anyway (like...two months on average anyway, ironically) that all this does to ME is remind of the normal days when you had to wait half a year for home video releases.
Netflix. Is. Better. Than. You.
I will stand by them through all this shit. $8/month for streaming is still, without a doubt, the best deal in entertainment. Fuck discs.
This is great news.
Rorie, do you know if this affects other movie rental stores (I work at Hastings).
Warner Brothers, you are like a giant fun-blocking robot, like, developed in a secret fucking government lab.
I already skipped seeing the movie in the theaters and waited 3-6 months for it to hit DVD, so waiting another two months doesn't bother me. It sure as hell isn't going to make me go out and buy those DVDs.
I dropped my disc service on Netflix at the end of December and it's really nice. I'm working on buying most of the movies that were in my queue at the time so it's not like I'll never see those movies. The people who only have the disc service will be mad but I don't really care.
@tmj said:
I use Netflix through-the-mail service primarily for new releases. I watch 99% of my blu-rays that way since BDs are still overpriced for casual viewing. So, this new deal between Netflix and WB affects me directly. I was okay with waiting a month but am miffed at having to wait two now, well for WB movies at least. However, it's just something I'll have to put up with since I refuse to buy any movie I haven't seen already. There are a number of crap movies in my library I purchased impulsively and I don't want any more.
The studios are doing all they can to create a new monopoly for their content. Between proposed authoritarian legislation and pricing rental businesses out of the market, they're trying to give the consumer just one option; buy it from us. I understand their reasoning, but I'd rather do without.
And, I choose the disc side of Netflix because my broadband isn't fast enough to stream HD content. If I want to watch a movie in 1080p, I need to see it on blu-ray. That is my only option as it is for many people because the US doesn't have great broadband coast-to-coast.
@tmj said:
I'm the same way. I only watch older movies, and if there is a new release I really want to see I'll likely catch it in the theater anyways. If I wasn't interested enough to go to the theater then waiting an extra two months won't bother me very much.
This doesn't make people buy more DVDs. It makes people pirate more movies.
I maybe buy one Blu-Ray a year. I learned my lesson with my DVD collection. I rarely watched a bookcase full of DVDs I purchased, and am definitely not doing that again. If I see commercials for a film that is coming out on DVD and it's not in the system on either Netflix or Redbox, I'm not wasting any more time and will just torrent it. I'm not playing their stupid "timed exclusive" game.
Like it or not, we are now fully into the digital age, and immediate gratification is a thing that is here and not going away anytime soon. I'm not going to go run and check whether or not a movie is available yet on Netflix, Redbox, iTunes, Flixster, Zune Marketplace, Amazon, Vudu, Hulu, CinemaNow, Playstation Network, Blockbuster, Crackle, and PooPoo (OK, that last one is made up) on whether or not some timed exclusive movie is available yet, and what devices I can play it on, and what quality it is, and for how long it is available, and how many times I can watch it.
The movie industry needs to stop dicking around with its customers and start embracing the digital momentum. They refuse to evolve with the digital revolution, and would rather individually invest in bastioning their remade/rebooted franchises so the hordes of People of Walmart are forced to plunk down $29.99 on a Blu-Ray of Transformers 4: Optimus Makes a Boom Boom or Tyler Perry Presents: Girrrrrrl, Please.
Louis CK's recent experiment shows the people are willing to pay for content that they value. When I see moves like this from companies like Warner Brothers, it shows me that not only do they further an adversarial relationship with their customers, but they are not truly confident in the quality of their product.
What a bunch of steamed cockles! I plan on buying Rises if it even remotely good (behind the scenes stuff is amazing). As for other WB shit, whatever... I have other means of watching it.