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Target whines to major studios about online movie sales
If you can't beat 'em, complain about 'em. That seems to be the mantra of Wal-Mart, and now Target, both mega-retailers who seem to have given up the fight with video download retailers before it begins. The latter of the pair has come public with its objections to movie price schemes, calling them less expensive than DVDs, and busting out the vague threat that Target "would reconsider its investment in the DVD business" if the pricing didn't level out. Somehow, we can't quite muster much sympathy for the whiny retailer, given the fact that the online prices are hardly bargains, the resolution is lower, the special features are non-existent, and the market is still teensy tiny. Walt Disney Co. has apparently pointed most of this out to Target already, and since they've gone ahead with their open letter to the industry, we suppose it didn't do much good. Still, we've got a good feeling about market pressures pushing through full-blown online movie sales at decent prices within, oh, let's say the next decade or two, no matter how much "investment reconsidering" Target does in the meantime.
Apple and Wal-Mart to bury the hatchet over movie downloads?
According to a recent article in Variety, Apple is in early talks with Wal-Mart over a way to get iTunes downloads to finally play nice with the commercial giant. Apple wants to team up with Wal-Mart to get access to the retailer's massive title selection, while Wal-Mart is attempting to gain a foothold (or at least a revenue stream) in the downloadable movie sector; at this point, though, it's unclear how these tense negotiations will affect Wal-Mart's plans to roll its own digital video options. The Hollywood publication also reported that 40 percent of studio DVD sales go through Wal-Mart, which means that both movie studios and the gargantuan retailer need to quickly figure out how to adapt to this whole internet thing (we hear it's getting big nowadays).
Wal-Mart prepping a download store, too?
We've heard rumblings for a while -- and Wal-Mart's purported intense opposition to the iTunes Movie Store might've had something to do with it as well -- but now the rumors are coming hot and heavy in regards to a movie download store from the retail giant. First off, we have a new job listing from Wal-Mart in regards to a business manager for a digital video division who can sort out "pricing strategies to maximize market share." And then there's a report by CNN Money citing "sources" that say Wal-Mart is hoping to launch in the coming months, and is currently debating pricing structures. (If only they had a business manager who could sort out "pricing strategies to maximize market share.") Wal-Mart is also supposedly considering in-store kiosks, and a deal to allow for a free digital version of a movie with the purchase of a physical DVD, or at least for a few dollars more. Wal-Mart of course wouldn't confirm or deny these report, but dropped some big juicy hints such as: "Our customers want to watch movies and they want to be able to make the choice when and how they want to view them." Right now it looks like a natural move for Wal-Mart, and we sure wouldn't complain if they manage to drive prices down -- as seems to be their way -- but we'll let them and that business manager figure things out for now while we head over to iTunes for a bit of The Princess Diaries.[Via Techcrunch]Read - Wal-Mart sets stage for digital actionRead - Wal-Mart moves on digital movie downloads
CinemaNow claims 94% of download-to-burn DVDs work
Somehow we had a feeling CinemaNow wouldn't take the news sitting down with regard to the claims espoused by an anonymous engineer who claims their new pseudo-DRMed download-to-burn DVD service is horribly, fatally flawed, and won't play but in any but the most robust standalone DVD boxes. CinemaNow shot back stating that the service has been "well received by our customers and studios alike," (ah, isn't that the trick?) and that tests had the burned DVDs working on "94 percent of DVD players." Which tests and using what DVD players we don't know, but somehow we don't expect to have that data readily divulged. Guess there's only one way to find out though, right? Download a marginally overpriced flick for about ten bucks, get yourself a spindle of DVD-Rs, and go to town. And while you're at it, howsabout letting us know how it worked out for ya by shouting it out in the comments, yeah?
Apple and movie studios negotiating iTunes Movie Store
This won't come as a surprise to anyone, though there's nothing wrong with vindicating the obvious every now and then: Variety (and Forbes, etc.) reports that Apple is currently negotiating with the Movie Studio Folk over establishing a movie store, presumably within iTunes. If you'll remember, Apple started selling Disney's kiddie hit "High School Musical" a few months back for $9.99, reinforcing the notion that Apple's looking to dish out movies at that optimum $10 price point. Not surprising, of course, is the fact that, according to the report, the Movie Men want to out-music-industry the music industry by pushing for variable pricing, which Steve Jobs is adamantly opposed. MacRumors and MacDailyNews dive deeper into the article (or you could, I suppose, read it yourself).My only hope? We get better than the crappy 320x240 resolution videos currently in the iTMS.
Netflix back on track for 2006 online downloads
We have a pretty good idea why it's taking Netflix so long to put the net flicks in, um, Netflix, but it's good to hear they're still working toward internet distributed content. According to a BusinessWeek profile of the company, despite the fact that 'flix boss Reed Hastings "doesn't buy the idea that Web movie downloads will wipe Netflix out," they'll still be launching downloadable content by year's end. We all know their limitations are more Hollywood-political than technical by this point -- this is 2006, remember? -- which is why we're hoping that with their own entertainment group buying exclusive rights to movies left and right, even if they can't sway the studios like CinemaNow or MovieLink, they'll still be able to play the game. Now the real question is will it be fair and flexible DRM, or will it be the typical ridiculous, arcane walled-garden experience we're seeing now? well, with any luck we'll be finding out in 2006.[Via Zatz Not Funny]
