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Would You Pay $30 to Watch Movies Right After They Leave Movie Theaters on Your TV? Cable Operators and Studios Are Mulling Option

Sep 27, 2010  •  Post A Comment

Will consumers pay as much as $30 to watch films at home soon after they leave the movie thaters? Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney are in discussions with the largest cable operators to offer consumers that option, reports Bloomberg News.

The studios are talking with In Demand, a partnership with Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Cox Communications, the story says, citing an interview with In Demand Chief Executive Bob Benya.

Disney is likely to test consumer demand for such a service by using a single film, although the company hasn’t decided on pricing or the window between the film’s release and its cable release, the story says.

Disney declined to comment on the plan, the story says. Disney is also talking about streaming films on devices such as Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation 3, the article says.

According to the article, "Sony Corp. tested the market with users of its Bravia TV by offering the Will Smith movie “Hancock” in 2008 and the animated film “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” in 2009 for $24.95. The Tokyo-based owner of Sony Pictures hasn’t announced plans for another movie through its TV sets.Time Warner Inc. Chief Financial Officer John Martin told the Goldman Sachs conference in New York last week that the company’s Warner Bros. studio expects to begin tests on the service later this year. He said he expected the offering to be priced at $20 to $30 per viewing."

TVWeek remembers a time, about a decade ago or longer, when John Malone, then running the nation’s largest cable operator, Tele-Communications, Inc., floated the idea of charging cable subscribers $30-$50 to see a movie, but that was to see them before they were released in theaters, while the current plan is a big charge to see movies after they leave theaters.

24 Comments

  1. No.

  2. NO WAY!

  3. What…do they think I’m made of money?

  4. They want us to PAY for movies rather than visit places like Piratebay.
    But instead of them offering fair pricing, they try to price gouge us.
    NO.
    I would never pay $20-30 for a movie. I barely go to the theater anymore because the prices have gotten way too high.
    Why pay that much when there are services like Netflix for much cheaper??

  5. Are they kidding me? I wouldn’t pay that much to see it in the theater, much less to see it on a smaller screen after it’s already been released! No way!!

  6. Nope, nope, and nope. I’ll wait for the blu-ray, pay $20 and watch it as many times as I like.

  7. Maybe. Every time I take my wife to the movies, it costs $18 for the tickets and $9 for the popcorn and a shared drink. Add in a babysitter and mileage and you have an expensive trip to the theater. Last time we sat near an elderly couple who talk out loud as if they were in their own living room. (This was AFTER we moved to get away from someone kicking our seat.)

  8. This is for the Twitter elitist crowd who will pay that amount. The average family that drives a Ford and eats dinner at home will wait for it to be on Netflix.

  9. Arkadaslar bu filmleri indirmedenin bir yolu varmi acaba?

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