Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

This is so ridiculous, it is really pissing me off. Fuck Warner Bros.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/n...g-warner-dvds/

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

That does suck for you guys who use netflix.. I rent all my movies from the library and most of them I don't even have to wait a week for, seeing that I usually search for titles a month before release date and get on the waiting list before everyone else.

Obviously they won't get every title.. but most of the major releases you'll find.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

For the "click-lazy" (which is usually me):

Netflix bends over, agrees to delay renting Warner DVDs
By Nilay Patel posted Jan 6th 2010 6:10PM

Oh sigh. We'd been hearing that Warner Brothers would be pushing for month-long rental delays for mail-order services in order to boost sales, and it looks like Netflix has been pushed into submission: under an agreement announced today, Warner Brother DVDs and Blu-rays won't be available to Netflix subscribers for 28 days after they're released for sale. What's worse, Netflix says it expects to reach similar deals with the other major studios as time goes on. Why would Reed Hastings agree to a clear imposition on his company's rights under the first-sale doctrine? We're guessing this is the only way the studios would open up and allow more movies to hit Watch Instantly -- and the AP says Netflix is also getting a discount on the actual discs. Yeah, it's lame, but honestly we'd rather take more streaming content over new releases in the mail straight away, so let's hope all this wheeling and dealing pays off.



It won't have a significant impact on me since a.) I'm not necessarily the kind of guy who has to see the new movie as soon as it comes out, and b.) I don't use Netflix to rent new releases.

That said ... this sucks simply because the studios are again imposing their will at the expense of the consumer. It will be interesting to see what impact it does have on WB's sales (I am betting "none"). Personally, I have never purchased a movie just because I couldn't rent it "now" (to be fair, I have worked most of the last decade in a video store though) and I never will.

IMO, any window in any direction for any company is a detriment to the consumer -- whether it is a rental window (i.e., original home video business model), a specific store window (i.e., Blockbuster & Best Buy), or a sales window (the business model being pushed now) -- and ultimately is a self -defeating concept.

Rental windows encourage piracy. Exclusives encourage sideways purchasing (mom & pop video stores will buy from a retailer instead of a supplier or studio -- IMO, "m&ps" are better off doing this anyway). A sales window will not prompt consumers to purchase more unless the studio starts dumping marketing money into video releases the same way they do theatrical releases.

My near-decade of experience in video stores has proven to me that the average consumer is only aware of the newest releases due to their video store of choice. A while back, Blockbuster had signed some mid-range titles to an exclusive window ... one of these was "School for Scoundrels." I asked my local Family Video what impact this had on the title ... I was told a few customers asked about it due to the TV commercials that Blockbuster was running. Once they did get the title in stock, they bought 2 copies (retaliation). It took a while before those copies sat on the shelf, but when it was said and done, the copies did not "turn" as many times as they should have. Ultimately, it only hurt the studio since they saw diminished sales (this store would have normally stocked 10-20 copies) and, even worse, a lost interest in the product.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

I find it mildly amusing at the paradigm shift that has occurred over the past 20 years regarding rentals.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

Well I find it highly amusing that the term "rental window" has done a total 180.

Could you imagine something like this in the 80's?

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

Meh, what's the big deal? It's still new to me when it comes up 28 days later. Every film could be delayed a year as far as I'm concerned. The exact same number of new films are being made available every Tuesday.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

i've had netflix for around 6-7 years now and i don't really see this as a big deal. frankly i'm suprised more studios haven't been doing this already.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

My queue is like 350 long so I should be able to make due. It will be interesting to see what additional titles become available via streaming. I find that we are using those more and more.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

I subscribe to Netflix to get the latest releases on the day they are released. If I have to wait a month, Netflix becomes useless to me since the top 17 movies in my queue are very long wait or short wait and have been like that for months. So I'm not going to get the older movies I want AND I have to wait another month before I can get a new release? That's a good business model. Did Blockbuster take over NEtflix?

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

Same here, and I have Blockbuster online for TV show seasons and Blu Rays.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

If it means more is open for streaming from them I'm happy.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

If all studios start doing this, then I see an advantage going to the struggling Mom and Pops (assuming the other B&M big chains are similarly beat into submission). Isn't most of the advertising for new DVDs done when they are released? Something like a Harry Potter would be a big deal, I'd think.

It also isn't clear to me from the article... will there also be a delay for on-demand viewing?

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

Yeah, instead of getting unlucky and not getting the first batch of a new release that gets shipped out, I can stream it before I'd normally get it.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

Until streaming catches up in quality with Blu-Ray in terms of picture/sound, no thanks.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

HD streams of The Office and 30 Rock look pretty good. If I want blu-ray quality, I save that for stuff I want to buy, not rent.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

heck you usually have to wait a month or more anyway to get a new release from netflix on release day.."very long wait" status is becoming quite the norm lately

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

why lesser quality just because its a rental though..blu ray discs are still pricey and some releases still are not much better than dvd
so its nice to be able to rent them before buying to see how quality is etc...
I

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

I've had a lot of luck with getting new releases using this strategy:

Mail the movie that you have back on Saturday, often they will recieve it on Monday, and if you have a new release at the top of your queue, usually they will mail it on Monday, and then you have it on release day.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

The HD stream really isn't that horrible. I also don't rent blu-ray through them. I'll get the dvd and if I want to buy it, I'll get the blu-ray at a decent price.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

So now you'll have to wait an extra month in order to have a "very long wait" LOL.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

Shhhhh. The fewer people who truly know how the system works, the better. :)

I've been utilizing this strategy for quite a while now and I always manage to get the new releases I want in the mail every Tuesday. I've heard it also helps to add the movie to your queue as early as possible. I tend to add movies to my queue prior to their theatrical runs and remove them as I see them at the theater or lose interest in actually seeing them. Adding movies to your saved queue is supposed to be how they guage interest in certain titles which directly affects how many copies of the title get ordered by Netflix prior to a film's DVD release.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

I watch all my TV on HDDVR, so I have no need to stream TV. I watch all my movies on blu-ray, so i'd like to have the best sound/picture possible.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

Better this than the studios go back to the old "priced for rental" days of VHS, where most new releases were $80, and only select "blockbusters" were priced to sell on release date.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

No big deal at all. My Netflix usage is primarily catalog titles and streaming at this point. I like the comment about waiting an extra month for the "very long wait" status. So true.

Re: Now you get to wait for your Warner Bros. movies from Netflix...
 

For the last few months all of the WB new titles were not shipped to me on release day and went to very long wait right away. So nothing changes. It's just official now. The titles include The Hangover, The Final Destination, My Sister's Keeper, Terminator Salvation, Orphan, and a few others.