Paramount would probably rather keep the money. It's not like they are really losing out on a lot of sales, despite blu-ray's dominance the sales still amount to almost nothing.
Now the war is over wishfull thinkers please explain how blu will ever replace DVD.
- Thread starter quest55720
- Start date
Paramount would probably rather keep the money. It's not like they are really losing out on a lot of sales, despite blu-ray's dominance the sales still amount to almost nothing.
Is it against the contract if Paramount restock existing Blu-ray titles ? 
They must be sitting in a warehouse somewhere given the limited time exclusivity.
Their contract will run out end of this year right ? So they might as well start authoring new Blu-ray titles now and then make them available immediately after the contract expires.
As for Universal, they may be very far behind in the Blu-ray authoring learning curve. It would make sense for them to starting the process when Warner made their announcement.
So I'd say we should hear and get something near end of this year. If it's before that, then we only have Paramount's old titles.
They must be sitting in a warehouse somewhere given the limited time exclusivity.
Their contract will run out end of this year right ? So they might as well start authoring new Blu-ray titles now and then make them available immediately after the contract expires.
As for Universal, they may be very far behind in the Blu-ray authoring learning curve. It would make sense for them to starting the process when Warner made their announcement.
So I'd say we should hear and get something near end of this year. If it's before that, then we only have Paramount's old titles.
Last edited by a moderator:
Is it against the contract if Paramount restock existing Blu-ray titles ?
They must be sitting in a warehouse somewhere given the limited time exclusivity.
Their contract will run out end of this year right ? So they might as well start authoring new Blu-ray titles now and then make them available immediately after the contract expires.
As for Universal, they may be very far behind Blu-ray authoring learning curve. It would make sense for them to starting the process when Warner made their announcement.
So I'd say we should hear and get something near end of this year. If it's before that, then we only have Paramount's old titles.
Why would the studios be in any big hurry to release more titles? If blu-ray is to be the DVD successor they are better off waiting until the install base is much higher to cash in on more full price sales. There really isn't any significant cost for universal and paramount in waiting.
Best Buy is kinda jumping onto the BD bandwagon:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200802111609DOWJONESDJONLINE000541_FORTUNE5.htm
They'll still sell HD-DVDs, but they'll be focussing on Blu-ray, promoting and recommending it as the 'preferred format', from next month. My guess is they want to transition away from HD-DVD rather than just stop it dead, to avoid pissing off existing hd-dvd buyers.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200802111609DOWJONESDJONLINE000541_FORTUNE5.htm
They'll still sell HD-DVDs, but they'll be focussing on Blu-ray, promoting and recommending it as the 'preferred format', from next month. My guess is they want to transition away from HD-DVD rather than just stop it dead, to avoid pissing off existing hd-dvd buyers.
Ask the Blu-ray studios. Not only are they releasing Blu-ray movies regularly, they also forecasted US$1 billion sales, shipped (?). The industry as a whole will need to invest upfront (or in a timely manner) to develop/grow the hi-def movie market.
BTW, Best Buy will officially recommend Blu-ray to their customers starting early March: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=950
EDIT: Beaten by Titanio !
Last edited by a moderator:
So they expect to surpass 2% of DVD sales this year?
/twirl?
Paramount and Universal can let Sony and Warner do the groundwork on building the install base, why should they break ground and sacrifice future profits?
If the studios see disc-based hidef movies as one of their key strategies, then they will sink in due amount of marketing and content development to grow the market. Besides the current sales, you also have to look at the projection and the lead time in product development.
Early supporters will likely get special discounts (e.g., in royalties) in helping to shape the Blu-ray future although Paramount and Universal may or may not be too late for that.
The studios will also need time to play with the new technologies (Expertise building and market research). Even when digital download was immature, the studios jumped on it for various purposes.
Not to mention Paramount already have Blu-ray titles going. They can easily restock them for a start. Universal may feel more pain switching to Blu-ray.
Last edited by a moderator:
The media prices need to come down to around DVD levels. The studios think the general public is willing to spend $10-$15 extra for a Hi Def. It'll be a rude awakening when they realize that is not the case. Just the other day I was in Fry's and saw "The Brave One" day and date on SD and BR. The SD was $14.99 and the BR was $29.99 GOOD LUCK! trying to sell that and other such movies.
For a megahit like Transformers you might be able to justify $29.99 but this certainly cannot be the norm and expect mass market penetration.
For a megahit like Transformers you might be able to justify $29.99 but this certainly cannot be the norm and expect mass market penetration.
You're really reaching and still have found nothing near a compelling reason for Universal and Paramount to get in on the paltry blu-ray action. I could just as easily suggest Universal and Paramount have decided blu-ray isn't going to take off and they don't want to risk any money on it.
I think the studios can now basically phase out DVD at leisure, just by starting to release titles on BluRay first and so on, just in whichever way they think is best for their bottom line. Probably in cooperation with the hardware manufacturors, who can easily phase out DVD only players in favor of BluRay players, who can all still play DVDs after all. It's a piece of cake, really. I'm betting it will happen exactly like and basically following how LCD tvs replace HD tvs.
You are welcomed to hold that view. ^_^
All I am saying are:
(A) We have to look at the projection (projected growth rate), production lead time, in addition to current sales to understand the studios' Blu-ray picture. Most things (everything ?), including DVD, started small.
(B) There are incentives in place to promote a new format. Despite some failures and risks, the studios have shown a keen interest in new distributions so far (That's their bread and butter anyway). e.g., UMD, HD DVD, DivX, Blu-ray and assorted digital download programs. Coupled with the HD TV movement, it is possible that the studios will want to remain engaged -- especially when Blu-ray is the only contender in the hidef movie space.... and the PS3 userbase is growing rapidly.
As long as it's cash positive for them to do a selling Blu-ray title, there is "no loss" for them to get involved to develop a market together (rather than just paid exclusive).
(C) Paramount already have Blu-ray titles in the storeroom. They can benefit from Blu-ray immediately.
Last edited by a moderator:
/snicker
No studio is phasing out DVD any time soon (ie less than a few years). You don't phase out the product that makes up 98% of your profits.
Last edited by a moderator:
Do you think the lead time is more than a year? I kinda doubt it. If not why would they be worried now, because they might be losing out on that 2% of their projected sales?
Mostly those incentives are just to offset initial high costs, but production costs will most likely go down just by waiting. They'd likely benefit most by letting warner and sony break the ground as I said before.
See above. It will be cheaper to enter later with more potential profit (larger user base).
You're talking about small change. A few titles they already previously sold are unlikely to be big money makers by restocking them. They'd probably benefit more by waiting a few years and try to get full price again like disney does with its titles.
That 2% is pegged to the huge DVD sales. And that percentage should go up over the months and years.
It depends on what they are trying to do. If the studio makes use of BD-Live extensively, it could be close to a year (or more... initially). Fox has some interesting experiments with MySpace and online gaming integration. It will help them understand key marketing issues (e.g., pricing, usage, additional revenue streams) better. They also have more leverage over the tool vendors since they are starting out too.
There were talks about royalty payment incentives in the AV forums. Not only production cost. In any case, cost is only one of the key pieces -- not everything -- as evident in their past format involvements.
Wait for a few years ? Their exclusivity contract runs out end of the year (or early next year). Anything extra from a few completed Blu-ray titles are well... extra income. It will also let them understand the actual sales of a Blu-ray title quickly.
Last edited by a moderator:
That's projected for 2008. That is including a massive increase over what they had last year already.
You're really just reaching here, costs are mostly a small part of the equation in the final analysis.
Incentives? So Sony is handing out money if they'd release movies? That would certainly change things.
No. It's not nearly that simple. Could they restock and sell significant numbers of those items at full price with zero marketing? If they wait a few years (like disney does with all their movies) they can re-release a new edition with an advertising campaign and cash in on a decent amount of sales. If you keep the market saturated you have to reduce price to stimulate sales, the result is lost opportunity as some of the buyers may have been willing to pay full price.
Yap ! It should increase with even more HD TV and Blu-ray player sold through, plus more concerted retail push over the next few years.
??? The paragraph you quoted does not talk about cost. It talks about lead time and the extra need for innovation and market research initially.
Perhaps you should read the insider threads here: http://forum.blu-ray.com/forumdisplay.php?f=61
Right after the Warner announcements, it was mentioned by one of the insiders that Universal and Paramount needed sometime to negotiate with BDA regarding the incentives (e.g., royalty discount was highlighted by one of the posters, I can't remember which one and don't care enough to search for it
). Remember it's with BDA, not Sony.Paramount called off the titles days before they hit the shelves. So they should already be produced and stored in warehouses somewhere. As I mentioned, it would be a quick way to gauge response at whatever price they deemed reasonable. If they sold out, then well, it's a good problem to have wouldn't it (regarding their assessment of the Blu-ray market) ?
Last edited by a moderator:
Or it could be worse. They're predicting a pretty big jump already.
Innovation? I thought we were talking about releasing movies on a different format? I'm sure there is a bit of technical stuff to porting to a different format, but it's not like they need to find a cure for cancer or reinvent the wheel. And Paramount has already done blu-rays in the past, so I'm not sure what they need to innovate.
Perhaps you should read the insider threads here: http://forum.blu-ray.com/forumdisplay.php?f=61
Right after the Warner announcements, it was mentioned by one of the insiders that Universal and Paramount needed sometime to negotiate with BDA regarding the incentives (e.g., royalty discount was highlighted by one of the posters, I can't remember which one and don't care enough to search for it
I stand corrected, but either there is money on the table or their isn't, doesn't really matter who is signing the cheque. It would still have to outweigh the opportunity cost.
If you own something and sell it for less than you could have, is that good or bad?
You keep suggesting there is no downside for them to jump in now, but that's not entirely true because of potential opportunity costs and reductions in production costs, while we do know that the upside for them is pretty small.
[edit]When I buy movies, I either buy them as a new release or heavily discounted. I will never buy a movie (any media really) that has been on the shelves for a couple months for full price. If other people think as I do, you would want initial sales to be significant as you're not benefiting nearly as much from long term sales.
Last edited by a moderator:
It would be constrained by the player install base (BDA estimated 10 million players by end of the year), the HD TV availability (A number higher than 10 million today) and the number of movies available (200+ ?). So the more good Blu-ray movies they make, the better chance they can hit the targets, assuming price is attractive enough.
As I mentioned, during the initial stage, they will try to experiment more with BD-Live. These has been demonstrated in CES 2008. You should be able to find them in this thread.
I am refering to those titles Paramount has already made and kept in the warehouse. There is no downside for them to release the limited number of titles anyway since they have been developed. I remember at least one was cancelled just before they were released, so Paramount can charge full price for that one.
As for the rest, they can always re-release the title again later with better quality (like Fifth Element), or with BD-Live extensions. If they postpone everything until later, the expectation will be higher.
There is limited number of copies for these movies. They will run out and Paramount can still decide what to do next.
Last edited by a moderator:
And? Any reason that should mean Paramount and Universal would want to jump in sooner rather than later other than for considerations?
Just another reason for them to let the others test the waters. Why should you waste time experimenting when you can let others figure out what works?
You're just not understanding opportunity costs.
Similar threads
- Locked
