DISNEY - SHOULD MOVIES BE RELEASED ON DVD AND VOD ON SAME DAY?

Caption: Robert Kardashian watches his girlfriend sign autographs. The Cheetah Girls sign the soundtrack to their latest Disney film 'One World' at Virgin Megastore Times Square. New York City, USA

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VIEWERS QUITTING BROADCAST NETS HEADING FOR CABLE

HUMANS ESCAPE 2 THE MOVIES

OBAMAS DAUGHTERS ASKED TO APPEAR ON HANNAH MONTANA

DISNEY CAUGHT UP IN DOWNTURN

HALLOWEEN BUSINESS FRIGHTFUL

The leading film studios have split over the question of whether to release movies on video-on-demand (VOD) on the same day they do so on DVD, the New York Post reported today (Tuesday). According to the newspaper, Warner Bros. and Sony want to do a "day and date" release; Paramount, Disney and 20th Century Fox do not. In an interview with the newspaper, Peter Chernin, COO of News Crop, the parent company of Fox, said, "We still have some concerns that it may cannibalize our DVD business. ... What's paramount in our mind is protecting our overall margins, and we certainly don't want to be overly aggressive until we're sure that any move like that is going to be margin accretive." On the other hand, Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner, the owner of Warner Bros., said that its tests indicate there is no reason for such concern. "We think that since we haven't seen cannibalization on sell-through, that it's going to increase margins and profitability going to day-and-date," Bewkes said.

12/08/2008