How Disney Gets Reuters To Build Fake Buzz About Destructing DVDs

from the say-what?!? dept

Ever since Disney first announced plans to sell self-destructing DVDs, lots of people have been explaining why it will never work. Besides numerous attempts (and failures) by others to offer disposable DVDs, Disney came up with the idea of pricing these DVDs at nearly double the cost to rent a regular movie. So, it was no surprise when reports came out that the discs were not selling, and stores were getting rid of them so they could use the shelf-space for something that might actually make them money. In a last ditch move, it looks like Disney is trying to drop the price (though, only a tiny bit, down to $6). However, what's more interesting is that the Reuters report on the subject claims that the lowering of prices is an attempt "to capitalize on exploding interest" in these DVDs. Exploding interest? Stores are throwing them out because they're not selling. Shouldn't a Reuters reporter look into the claim of "exploding interest". Instead, they seem to accept Disney's word for it. Of course, they should also be suspicious of the fact that they can't seem to find any store owner who will talk about the offering, and simply report that "Disney said" 7-Eleven was carrying the self-destructing DVDs. Notice they didn't even say "selling" because there's no evidence that any are actually selling. If Disney really wanted to show such "exploding interest", wouldn't they have convinced someone at 7-Eleven to cough up a nice quote to give the Reuters reporter? This is no more than a press release from Disney that Reuters accepted as fact.
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  • identicon
    LittleW0lf, 12 Mar 2004 @ 10:11pm

    7-Eleven Sells Them????

    We have a ton of 7-Elevens in the area, including one right down the street, and I've yet to see any DVDs in any of them, much less these defective DVDs. Has anyone seen them in a 7-Eleven? I'll have to ask the clerk tomorrow if they have any of these DVDs.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    rainblk, 13 Mar 2004 @ 6:07am

    Disposable DVD


    Funny thing is, if the discs were altered to allow them to be copied 2 to 3 times in a 48 hour period, they would probably sell like hot cakes. This would allow the studios to offer a whole catalog of older movies on an add hoc basis. If each DVD carried a unique serial number, consumers could prove they had purchased the film viewing rights, and so had legitimate copies, whether they left them on a hard drive,or burned them back to DVD.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    aNonMooseCowherd, 14 Mar 2004 @ 7:07pm

    Reuters

    Reuters isn't exactly known for the quality of its journalism, but this sounds pretty slimy even for them.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2004 @ 7:42pm

    Bad wording!

    If only it was an attempt to capitalize on interest in their exploding DVDs.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Bastard Sammy, 15 Mar 2004 @ 8:04am

    No Subject Given

    Seven eleven will indorse anything even quasi technical. Thing you need to remember is that this is the very same company that says running Windows servers SAVES them money over running Linux.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 16 Mar 2004 @ 12:27pm

      Re: No Subject Given


      If they can get no support for Linu then Windows servers def save them money over the long run.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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