Disney Re-Ups Movie Distribution On Starz
Premium TV network Starz Entertainment has signed a new distribution deal with Disney, which gives it access to all of the studio’s movies through 2015. As the All Things Digital blog reports, since the deal includes digital distribution platforms, it would seem to secure Disney movies for Netflix, which has its own deal with Starz for streaming films. By All Things Digital
Netflix Subscriber Sues Over Four-Week Wait For Warner Movies
A Manhattan woman argues that a deal worked out between Netflix and Warner Home Video is an old-fashioned “scheme to restrain trade” and has to stop, according to the class-action lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court. By the New York Daily News
Some On Wall Street Wonder If Netflix Has Peaked
Some analysts didn’t know what to do with themselves on March 2 when the share price of the Web’s top movie rental service shot past their performance expectations. Sure, Netflix continues to return boffo earnings, but after the company’s share price hit $70, some brokers took a hard look at Netflix’s prospects for the future, according to a MarketWatch story. By CNET
Netflix CFO: DVD Rental Shipments to Increase 18% in 2010
Despite the hyped migration toward digital distribution, Netflix expects DVD rental shipments this year to increase 18%. Speaking at separate investor events Feb. 25 and March 1 in San Francisco, CFO Barry McCarthy said packaged-media rentals grew double digits in 2009, while there was 127% year-over-year growth in streaming of at least 15 minutes per month. By Home Media Magazine
Movie Download Revenues Totaled $291 Million In ’09: Report
Total revenues from download services such as iTunes and Amazon Video on Demand amounted to $291 million in 2009, falling short of research firm Screen Digest’s expectations for the year by some $69 million. paidContent cites a forthcoming report from the Screen Digest that blames the underperformance on a lack of effective marketing from studios.
As it stands, four movie download services — iTunes, the Zune (Xbox) Video Marketplace, Sony’s PlayStation Network, and Amazon VOD — account for 97 percent of the market. iTunes alone has an 80 percent share, Screen Digest says. But the download figures do not take into account streaming movie services from the likes of Netflix, which are increasingly taking root with consumers. By paidContent
Netflix Tops Blockbuster In Domestic Rental Revenue For The First Time
The online DVD rental pioneer generated more than $444 million in fourth-quarter (ended Dec. 31) revenue, which topped Blockbuster’s fourth-quarter (ended Jan. 3) movie-rental revenue of nearly $400 million. By Home Media Magazine
Wal-Mart And Vudu: Movie Streaming Service Ranks High In Studios’ New Distribution Heirarchy
Wal-Mart is getting back into the digital entertainment distribution business with its planned acquisition of the Vudu movie download and streaming service.
The deal, which is expected to close within the next few weeks, shores up the digital position of the country’s top DVD retailer, as studios mull reconfiguration of release windows to favor physical disc sales as well as a la carte video-on-demand transactions.
Vudu has trailed Netflix and Apple in Internet-based video on demand since its 2007 debut. But the company has licensing agreements with most major studios as well as independents, offering some 16,000 titles. Like Netflix’s service, owners of certain new TVs and Blu-ray players can access Vudu’s catalog directly from their TV screens. Like Apple, Vudu offers a-la-carte pricing for movie downloads and streams.
Vudu’s pricing structure helps to put the service higher up on studios’ newly emerging distribution hierarchy than Netflix and Redbox, both of which have agreed to rent new-release films from Warner Bros. four weeks after their DVD street dates. For example, Warner Home Video’s new release “The Informant!” is now available for rent or purchase on Vudu, but unavailable to Netflix subscribers until March 23.
Wal-Mart was unsuccessful in establishing its own movie download service three years ago. However, with consumers increasingly aware of direct-to-TV streaming, the market seems ripe for reentry.
It remains to be seen whether Vudu will continue as a separate business and brand – and to what extent Wal-Mart integrates the service with its DVD and Blu-ray merchandising operations.
Research: 32% Of Broadband-Enabled Netflix Subscribers Stream To Their TVs
Nearly two-thirds of Netflix users that also have a home broadband connection are now using the company’s ‘Watch Instantly’ streaming video service, according to TDG. While 33% of broadband-enabled Netflix subscribers view the service’s movie and TVshow streams exclusively on their PCs, 8% view the content exclusively on their TVs, and 24% use both their PCs and TVs.
The percentages, TDG says, establish Netflix as the “gold standard” of what the research firm calls “over-the-top” streaming video services to DVD players, game consoles, and other set-top consumer electronics. By TDG
Sony Launches First 3D-Ready Blu-ray Players
Sony’s newest Blu-ray disc players will be able to read Blu-ray 3D content with the release of a firmware update this summer. The new players can be controlled by an iPhone through a free “BD Remote” app, and feature a connectivity with Netflix and other online video services. The two player models are expected to be available in February for $200 and $250, with the more expensive model featuring built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. Via PR Newswire
Netflix Warns FCC Of Net Neutrality Loophole
In recent comments to the Federal Communications Commission, Netflix said the “managed services” portion of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s open-Internet rules could be a loophole for the biggest Internet service providers to gain unfair advantage for their own applications over those of competitors. “If left unchecked, the “managed services” category could engulf the Commission’s open Internet policies altogether. As such, the Commission must carefully circumscribe the network operators’ ability to exempt certain services from the openness rules by classifying them as managed services,” Netflix wrote in its filing. By The Washington Post
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