Disney To Offer Their Own Video On Demand Service
from the who-needs-middlemen? dept
Disney sure is getting aggressive when it comes to new forms of movie distribution. Last week they got a lot of attention for selling self-destructing DVDs, and now they're going to offer their very own video-on-demand service that completely bypasses the local cable or satellite provider. Of course, you have to rent yet another set-top box for this to work. Does this mean if every movie studio goes this route, we're going to have a stack of about twenty set top boxes to put on our TV? Disney claims that they'll offer movies from other studios, but you have to wonder how prominently displayed they'll be. From the sound of it, this is really a modified DVR. It comes "pre-stocked" with 100 movies, and 10 new movies are "downloaded" to the box every week. Users have to pay both a rental fee on the box, itself, and then on each movie they want to watch. There are, of course, plenty of annoying restrictions on top of the fees. Once you start watching a movie, you have to watch the whole thing within a 24-hour period - or pay again. Fees haven't been decided, but they'll likely be about the same as it costs to rent a movie. This will seem too high to most consumers, since they know that Disney is saving money by offering movies this way. It will also be interesting to see how the various cable companies and other video-on-demand providers respond to this attempt to cut them out of the business.
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Important Question
If so, it might be worthwhile. If not, then forget it.
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MEXICO
Johnny Autiero
619 427 9460 office
619 210 5847 cell
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Parents revolt!
Our kids are becoming fat and de-socialized. We need to just send them outside to play, like our parents did to us.
We even got dirty, and there may have been germs out there (please don't tell child protective services-- my parents didn't mean it. honest).
Game consoles,internet,cable,Disney-on-demand didn't exist; and we were fine.
We're turning into a race of slow-moving, get-it-now, on-demand, instant-gratification bi-peds, losing their ability to interact and cope with our fellow beings.
Now, Disney wants to play the final death knell to what remaining semblance our kids have of human interaction, by providing another 100 reasons for them to withdraw from society. Oh, and let's not forget the fleecing of the parents. That fee structure is ridiculous, and nobody will pay it-- especially when a common cable bill is nearly $100/mo already.
I, like so many others, grew up on Disney stuff. I have a few favorites and my kids have a few favorites. We have them all on DVD. My wallet is now closed.
DIE! DIE! DIE moviebeam! (and take Cisco with you)
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