A unique new service called MovieBeam launched on Tuesday. Several things about this unique new service intrique me. The first is the Hi-Def movie content. Now today on Comcast VOD I can get HD movies on demand for the price of $5.99 and for a selection that is not very appealing. With the MovieBeam service I can get HD movie content from 2 of the 7 biggest studios and with the promise of more to come in the future. For consumers not having to worry about Blue Ray or HD-DVD anytime soon should be a relief. On top of that for movies I actually prefer the rental model for 90% of the titles I want to see. Movies are not like music where there is a high price for ownership so a model like this is very promising. The second thing that I find interesting is that MovieBeam is the day-and-date release with the DVD of a new movie. This means if I have the MovieBeam set-top box I can instantly have access to the latest new releases without having to leave the house. This set's up a potentially massive distribution model for not only now but the future. For the content industry I feel like the MovieBeam service is a real step forward in digital distribution of movies. With the MovieBeam service I get a huge library of motion picture content, with a growing number of HD new releases and all for between $1.99 and $4.99. The beauty of the service is the idea of Push VOD. Meaning that content is pushed to the hard drive so it is readily available on the hardware when the consumer wants it. In the case of MovieBeam there is always 100 movies on their box at any given time. Each week 10 new releases are pushed to the set-top box and ready for the consumer to rent.
However there is one scenario for the motion picture studios in the short-term that I think becomes very interesting with the MovieBeam service. The scenario I am going to mention would disrupt the studios current tier of distribution but this is the direction the content industry will have to go to stay competitive. With theatre sales going down the studios need to find new ways to capitilize on all the buzz of new releases. One way to do that is through the MovieBeam service rental model offering the movie for rent at a premium price the day it is released in theatres. I know for myself I would watch WAY more new releases if this were available. This particular scenario does not mess with the studios tier of distribution for ownership of content but it does with the rental model. This model should be very appealing to the studios because of the additional revenue it provides for new releases. It could be argued that this will hurt theatre sales but I do not think that would be the case. There is a large demographic that does not go to the movies for various reasons. However for that demographic that goes to the theatres to see movies they are not just going for the movie. There is a social experience and an entertainment experience associated with movies that can not be duplicated at home. The revenue scenarios are really endless in this model.
The bottom line is when it comes to digital distrubution of entertainment media, we are entering a very interesting time. A time when an ONDemand world of content is not too far off, where the line between producers and consumers is blurring. For the entertainment industry a whole lot of very large new revenue opportunities are about to come knocking. Let's just hope they open the door.
Comments