Movies.com

[Sarangel]

Here's the link (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/nationworld/orl-bizvideo06090601sep06.story?coll=orl%2Dbusiness%2D headlines) Disney and Fox have signed a deal to provide video on demand (like the 7 other studios that have inked deals for VOD in recent weeks), with the hope that they can generate an extra revenue stream in the future. They're calling the venture Movies.com, and it will have exclusive rights to Disney non-animated features as well as the Fox library.

Sarangel

[YoHo]

This prompts three thoughts.
One, Another Voice, Now I don't have to hear your new Wave VOD moonpie hooey anymore, see even Disney is doing it. (its still a stupid Idea.) As a Person with an intimate understanding of the one of the most widely deployed Cable modems in the US. I have to wonder if any existing or soon to market broadband product could remain stable enough for two or so hours to deliver such a movie. Not to mention network bandwidth constraints.

Two, One wonders at the News Corp/Disney relationship in relation to the recent Fox Family Purchase. Could it be that This is part of the same deal? After all, if television programing makes its way to movies.com. Fox still reaps the power Ranger Rewards.

Three, As with any Fox Movie deal, one has to ask about the crown Jewels. What does George Lucas think? and when can we expect Star Wars? If one looks at the Demographics of current broadband users and crosses it with the Star Wars Fanboy population you get $$$$$$$. Movies.com with Georges babies could be very very lucrative indeed. And of course it wouldn't hurt if Disney pitched in the Animation, but somehow, I think they don't want to share those profits.

[Another Voice]

Disney and Fox teamed up because all of the other majors (Sony, Universal, Paramount, MGM, and others) went in with the MovieFly project and Disney doesn’t want to cut the pie into that many slices. Disney was rushed into its announcement to avoid embarrassing questions from Wall Street. And no, animated films are NOT included on the service.

As for the technology – that’s not the issue. The recording industry was started using wax cylinders on a hand crank. The sound quality from Edison’s machine makes today’s streaming video seem like IMAX. As with any bootstrap industry, the technology has to be just good enough to start to develop the market. That market will finance the development of better technology, which will increase the market, forcing improvements in technology, and so on. Unlike most of the “e-revolution” hoopla (which was basically technology in search of a market), the concept of home-distribution video is driving the process.

The only question left is if anyone’s willing to pay $1.95 to watch this week’s episode of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’?