Time Warner Considering Delays Longer Than 28 Days for New Releases

Businessweek reports that the Time Warner is considering delaying new releases longer than 28 days for Netflix and Redbox customers:

“So far the 28-day window has clearly been a success versus no delay,” Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said today on a conference call. “The question of whether we ought to go longer is very much under scrutiny. It may well be a good idea.”

If one studio goes to 45 or 60 day delays, I'm sure most of the others will follow in order to sell more DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

Thanks to FearNo1 for sending this in.

Comments

[Will Dearborn]

Head meet wall.

[Kory]

Wonder where this will stop. Perhaps they will stop allowing the rentals of their movies all together, since that will drive revenue for them up.

First it's 28 days, then 60, then 180, then you must buy the DVD if you want to watch it, no alternatives

[GCDB]

No thanks on the 40-60 days idea. I want new films asap.

[Brian]

I do not mind. Netflix carries so many titles, across a wide spectrum, that I am not ever holding my breath for the next Time Warner release to ship.

[Rolem]

Simple, boycott Warner movies, or just wait until Netflix has them. Gosh I hope your life isn't so empty that you can' t wait 1 or 2 or 6 months to see a freakin' movie.

[Brian]

If anything, Time Warner risks me completely forgetting about their titles if they push it out too far. Good for them.

[Kenny Johnson]

Honestly.. I don't care. If I want to own a movie I'll buy it. If I don't, I'll wait 30, 60, 90, 365, 900 days.. The delays aren't going to change my behavior.

[Keith]

I agree with Kenny, delays are not changing my behavior either. If I have to wait longer, oh well. However, if Warner wants to capitalize on my money they'll make rentals available sooner (I'm not going to buy it regardless so take what you can as soon as you can WB).

[Crow550]

It's gonna be Warners loss.

I have other titles to rent.

[Mike]

Go ahead, delay it longer. I can wait. However, at some point, I won't. And then...

Illegal downloads, here I come.

[Bulletproofheeb]

At some point they are going to cross the threshold where on one side it bothers some people but nets them money on sales and on the other so many people get fed up that it causes a spike in piracy. Let's sit back and watch.

[Rocketboy_X]

Who cares.. it's not like the move is going to go bad.

[John]

Why is it that the consumer is supposed to accept anything and then say "Thank you sir, may I have another?" no matter what a business decides to do? If we ever dare question the almighty corporation for even a second, commentators on sites like this practically accuse us of blasphemy. Attitudes like that is why consumer protection laws have been gutted in this country. It's almost a worship of capitalism.

Remember, capitalism is a tool we use because it's efficient, it isn't in and of itself a moral good. Corporations are not our gods to whom we owe homage.

And, as usual, I'd like to point out to the people who say that folks who complain have no life, that they themselves are taking the time to complain about people complaining -- so who really doesn't have the life in that equation, huh?

[Mongo]

I don't really care.
I care far more about Netflix's back catalog, which is slowly getting destroyed and not being replaced.
I expect at some point I'll go to the streaming only Netflix and switch over to ClassicFlix for DVDs.

[Del]

Big deal, if I did not see it at the overpriced movie theater the a few more days is not going to be any different. Besides most of the movies that come out today are crap.

[Prozac]

I thought the 28-day delay would be a pain but I it's no big deal. And if they delay it more I will just wait. If I need to see it, I will at the theaters or on demand. Usually I will wait it out.

[DanielT]

Torrents eliminate any delay.

[Anon]

I don't buy any movies because I rarely watch a movie more then one time. If the movie companies choose to do a longer delay I will just go to RedBox or my local mom and pop video store and say bye bye Netflix.

[Ben L]

"Big deal, if I did not see it at the overpriced movie theater the a few more days is not going to be any different. Besides most of the movies that come out today are crap."

Oh look, it's the tired old "I hate everything that's new that everyone else likes". Move along, nothing to see here.

[Rhayader]

Hey, way to encourage illegal downloading guys. That is, for the 5% of your movies that are good enough to even warrant concern about when to watch them.

[Gran]

This will probably work because in spite of what people are saying here, the delays have caused an increase in DVD sales. People just can't wait. Way to stick to your principles.

[Rigel]

Personally, my queue is over two years long, so it won't hurt much. I do understand that those with shorter queues will be frustrated, tho, and it does sound like things are in mid-slide down a slippery slope. On the plus side, by the time I get to watch delayed movies, they'll be cheap as dirt to buy on disc by then on the rare occasion that I like 'em enough.

[Geckotek]

I have thousands of dollars worth of DVDs sitting in shelves to my left and under my TV as well that I NEVER watch.

I learned my lesson years ago. I never buy movies anymore. Screw the studios, I'll wait longer...won't change the fact that I learned buying them isn't worth it.

[Phoenixfury]

The only thing that bothers me about this is that I don't buy movies unless I've either seen them at a movie theater, or rented them. That being said delaying movies available for rental only delays my desire to purchase them.

[Crow550]

I hope if Warner does this BS that Netflix demands more streaming titles then....

[Kodai]

how about a 5 year delay?

[Jon]

Streaming is for 13" black and white tvs ...

[Gir]

"So far the 28-day window has clearly been a success"

I'm having a hard time believing that.

[PS3 fanboi]

If those retards make the delay long enough, they'll only increase incidence of people downloading torrents... I personally can wait, but keep testing my patience, and I'll be downloading illegally as well.

[Andrew Lynch]

Go ahead Warner, flog that dead horse.

[Jon Davis]

f*** these guys...

[RowdyReptile]

It's funny because DVDs are still available in a relatively short time after their theatrical release. Splice (6/4), Karate Kid (6/11), Toy Story 3 (6/18) and Centurion (8/27) are the latest ones added to Netflix this week. That's just under 5 months after their theatrical debut, or only a few months after they left theaters.

[Robob]

With my queue almost maxed out,and new releases going at the bottom of it. A 28 day or longer wait will not effect me in any way. If I want to see a movie bad enough where I don't want to wait,I'll buy it.

[deadzone]

It's hilarious to watch these doofuses make one bad decision after another in an effort to save what is rapidly becoming obsolete.

The physical medium will not disappear completely but it most certainly is in decline and will continue to decline. It's a real shame they are so short-sighted in focusing mostly on the physical medium.

Sell your stuff and let the consumer guide you and show you what they want and how they want it.

[jv]

for all of you people who don't like streaming and that don't like to wait for the new releases go to blockbuster online i have and it is not that bad even though the wait time on some new movies are a bit long you still get them before streamflix!!!!

[ts]

I agree that most of this years movies weren't worth getting right away anyway. I used to time my mailers so I could get new releases mailed out on Mondays. Still do that to some extent, but not nearly as often as in years past. Quality movies are in decline currently. Splice would be just as crappy 30 days from now as it was this week. I have reduced my plan to receive fewer discs and pretty much use Neflix for the streaming service these days. I think that was the trade off for NF accepting this delayed release deal right? NF gets new release titles a month late, but more would be opened up in the streaming catalog? There's a lot of junk on the streaming side as well, but enough interesting stuff to keep you busy for months and months of viewing.

[S]

I've got a large backlog of titles in my queue, interspersed with 28-day titles. Couple that with streaming and I have plenty to keep me busy, I don't even notice the delays anymore.

If I am really dead-set on seeing a new title, I'll check out some trailers and reviews and see it in the theater. I prefer to make sure my $10 movie ticket is money well-spent, and I like to research the title before I see it on the big screen. If you play your cards right, delays are a non-issue.

That said, I am not too fond about another proposed delay. It makes me think it will drive a spike in piracy. If people want something, they will get it. There is no way movie studios are smarter than the entire free world combined.

The best solution would be to price newer titles low enough as to discourage piracy.

[Tim]

This is getting ridiculous. I don't mind waiting a little while for new releases, but how far is this going to go? And it's confusing to customers who just want to see the movie. They don't want to keep up with which studio owns the film and what their Netflix release deal is. I'm sure there are a lot of confused customers out there right now who don't understand why some movies are available from Netflix on day of release while others aren't available for 28 days, especially when other rental outlets have the movies.

[Tim]

@Crow550: If Netflix gets more streaming titles, expect them to be mostly more of the same ole OLD crap that they have been adding that no one has heard of or even cares about with perhaps a decent title or two in there that are shows someone might actually want to watch.

[Crow550]

Well it's Warners thing....Not Netflix....

Plus they said they are thinking about it.

If they do....Do it. Then boycott Warner Bros then.

I mean what else can ya do? You don't have to take there BS.