IP Democracy: Movies-Over-The-Net: Not Ready for Prime-Time

The New York Times’ John Quain has this review piece today covering the leading online movie sites, from Vongo to CinemaNow to Movielink to the recently unveiled AOL movie download destination. Bottom-line: although downloading movies over the web seems like a good idea, the reality doesn’t yet match the promise.

Vongo, which is limited by Starz’ licensing agreements, has a limited selection, won’t let users purchase-to-own and shuts off viewing after the licensing window closes. Prices at CinemaNow and Movielink are steep and downloads can take forever.

Until recently the biggest problem plaguing movies-over-the-net has been the “last ten feet problem,” namely restrictions placed on the films that bar viewing them on anything other than a PC or mobile device. Most consumers want to burn DVDs and watch the downloaded films on TV sets. CinemaNow is one of a handful of services that now allow burning to TV-capable DVDs, but as Quain points out, that process is fraught with technical pot holes.

There are other problems too — limited selection, confusing options. But the real reason web-delivered movies remain a novelty is that it’s still cheaper (and easier) to rent DVDs.

Ultimately, what may hamper sales of downloadable movies may not be download times or trouble with DVD burning. The obstacle will be price. It is often more economical to rent DVD’s from local rental kiosks or mail-order outfits like Netflix (www.netflix.com). So for now the best way to solve the “last 10 feet” problem is still to get up off the couch.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on August 31, 2006 7:21 AM to IP Democracy