Cablevision Will Let You Watch Movies The Day Of Their Release, If You Buy The DVD

from the loopholes dept

Tue, Feb 5th 2008 7:48pm — Mike Masnick

We were surprised that even Apple was forced by the movie industry to delay the release of online movie downloads until a month after the DVD release. This seemed totally pointless and self-defeating by the movie industry (though, hardly the first time that's happened). However, it looks like Cablevision has discovered an interesting workaround to this "window" between releases: it's launching a video-on-demand (VOD) system that will let you watch movies the day they're released on DVD. The trick? You need to actually buy the DVD first, via Cablevision. Then, while you're waiting for the physical DVD to arrive in the mail, you're free to watch the movie via the VOD offering. Of course, this sounds something like what the original MP3.com used to do, allowing people to access MP3s of CDs they just bought, while they wait for the CD to arrive. And, as I'm sure many of you remember, the entertainment industry sued MP3.com and actually won that lawsuit. While there was some questionable reasoning in the decision, MP3.com was unable to appeal, due to some quirks of the legal system. Has it really taken 8-years for the entertainment industry to start to come around to this idea? Perhaps not. Apparently, only a very few titles are available on Cablevision's new service.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: dvds, video on demand
Companies: cablevision

12 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 5 Feb 2008 @ 10:04pm

God I love america
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2008 @ 12:37am

mp3.com would let you listen to a CD you already have, provided it was in their database, no? Remember: you had to 'beam' your CD to see if they recognize it, so you had to have the physical CD already. That's what I seem to remember.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mike (profile), 6 Feb 2008 @ 4:28am
  
  Re:
  mp3.com would let you listen to a CD you already have, provided it was in their database, no? Remember: you had to 'beam' your CD to see if they recognize it, so you had to have the physical CD already. That's what I seem to remember.
  
  There were two parts to MP3.com. One was the "beam it" offering that you describe, but the other was like this: buy a CD and get immediate access to the content as mp3s.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Same anonymous coward as in comment #2, 6 Feb 2008 @ 6:14am
    
    Re: Re:
    OK. I always thought they had been sued for the 'beam it' part, but I didn't know about the other part.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Known Coward, 6 Feb 2008 @ 4:33am

Cablevision and Downloads
US movie industry can go fly a kite. New movies are released on DVD and shown on cable TV while still in theatre in the Philippines.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jeffry Houser (profile), 6 Feb 2008 @ 5:27am

mp3.com sued their lawyer for malpractice?
I'm pretty sure mp3.com was sued for their 'beam' service, not the 'buy CDs, get mp3s immediately'. But, my memory is hazy.

I was under the impression that, after losing the lawsuit, mp3.com sued their legal counsel for malpractice. Does anyone know if that is true or what came of that?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ima Fish, 6 Feb 2008 @ 5:36am

Stupid and pointless idea
I don't get it. If you're going to buy it on the day of the release, what advantage do you have to watch it via Comcast? Buy it, take it home, then watch it. How simple is that?!

Heck, simply rent the movie from Netflix. They send out new releases on Monday, you'd get it the next day, and then you could watch it that night for a heck of a lot less.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- karthik, 31 May 2012 @ 10:18am
  
  Re: Stupid and pointless idea
  i want to see the movie on release day
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ronnie Roberts, 6 Feb 2008 @ 5:38am

If this wikipedia entry can be trusted...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3.com#My.MP3.com
... Judge Jed S. Rakoff, in the case UMG v. MP3.com, ruled in favor of the record labels against MP3.com and the service on the copyright law provision of "making mechanical copies for commercial use without permission from the copyright owner." Rather than fight on appeal, MP3.com settled with the major labels for more than $200 million and the service was discontinued. This decision turned out to be the beginning of the end of the original MP3.com as the firm, unaware of the impending dot-com bust, no longer had sufficient funds to weather the technology downturn. To add to their woes music publishers, spurred by the success of the record label suits, also sued MP3.com with their own claims of payment due.

It appears they simply ran out of money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2008 @ 6:40am

"US movie industry can go fly a kite. New movies are released on DVD and shown on cable TV while still in theatre in the Philippines."

Which is probably about 6 months after everyone else in the world has already seen the movie.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
squidoo.com/foreign_currency_trading, 6 Feb 2008 @ 9:26am

Cablevision Will Let You Watch Movies The Day Of T
In comparison to Verizon and the other Cable companies, I must say that Cablevision is one of the greatest and beloved companies in New York City with awesome customer service. I highly recommend any offers and products by them. When I had some little problem with my phone and Verizon kicked me out into the cold, it was Cablevision who invited me into their services, fed me, gave me some warm milk to drink and then offered me internet connection, cable TV and phone services, thereby saving me $200 monthly that I had squandered using Verizon for 10 yrs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Etch, 6 Feb 2008 @ 10:08am

I like that idea
I actually like that idea! I can purchase a movie, watch it immediately if I want to, or I can wait for the DVD version and watch it on my upconverting DVD player in HD!!

I can honestly see myself paying for that service! The problem I had with paying for online content was the lack of physical media, and the problem with buying content on physical media online is that it took forever to get to my doorstep, but that is a very nice option for all the people who still need to feel something physical that they can hold in their hands.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]