Walt Disney Co. chief Robert Iger and News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch each predicted
that movies will be released on video-on-demand platforms on cable and the Internet
at the same time they are released on DVD and Blu-ray disc. Speaking to a conference on digita
l technologies in Carlsbad, CA, Murdoch said that simultaneous releases are opposed
by "vested interests in the distribution chain." He presumably was referring to large
DVD retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy, which have threatened to shut out studio releases
if they are sold online at the same time they are released on home video. Speaking
separately at an investor's conference in New York, Iger predicted that the demands
of younger viewers will force studios to close the window between DVD and home-video
releases. "I think it has to be day and date with the DVD business and the home
video business and we've done that in some markets as a test," Iger said. "I think
you have to have a rich library, not only the newest stuff but you have to have a lot
of older stuff. I think we'll get there."
29/05/2008
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