Hollywood directors are outraged at a deal between major studios and DirecTV to bring new movies straight to your home. Let’s see what Kim and his toy sheep have to say about this!
I know there are a few other bibliophiles around here, so maybe I'll get a hearing for the position that not all these things are exactly the same. A few people like vinyl as such. Anyone like CDs? Certainly people like cool old movie theaters. Anyone like multi-plexes? Anyone like VHS tapes, DVDs?
I am pretty sure that a lot of people - many millions - actually like books as such, as hardware; as delivery devices. And even the best digital readers struggle to match (reasonably sized) books for convenience.
They'll be with us a lot longer than some of these other content carriers.
So it happened with the music industry, it's happening with the book publishing industry, and now it's going to happen with the movie industry: The Powers That Be are resisting delivering their content through new technology. It makes sense when we recognize that it's all about money, but history has taught us that enraging consumers by rejecting their demands is not the smartest of initial moves. Pricing models have to change in order to keep the old systems (movie theaters) afloat while allowing for technology to advance and make the experience better and more seamless for consumers. Resistance is futile!
I have no doubt that independent movie theaters with interesting programs will exist indefinitely. Jazz, for example, was once the dominant popular music form; now it's a specialist interest, you don't hear it everywhere, but there are still jazz clubs.
The mass circuit of multiplexes is a different matter. I don't have figures to hand, but it's obvious that they increasingly attract a specific, younger demographic. They do so by loading the programs heavily with franchise blockbusters and comedies. 3D has returned from the grave to give them another lease of life - but at the end of the day, it's huge real estate which serves little purpose.
We still have some beautiful historic movie theaters in New York like the Paradise Theater in the Bronx. It held almost 4,000 people, all going to see the same movie. What a spectacle. I don't have much sentiment for commercial movie theaters today.
Bolingbroke, I shudder at the amount of unwanted content that is currently available today.
Any more movies like the ones that JA stars in and I swear it will break the 13 domain name root servers and we'll have to shuttle ourselves to the moon or Mars to be entertained.
In response to your question, KMT568, What you say is true, Joanne; but how do you feel about the prospect of movie houses in your local area closing down, thus ending a once treasured American tradition?
I haven't been to a movie theater in over a year, so I personally wouldn't miss them as much as other folks.
What you say is true, Joanne; but how do you feel about the prospect of movie houses in your local area closing down, thus ending a once treasured American tradition?
Regarding your comment, KMT568 - I would personally be disappointed to see the movie house experience diminish significantly, so hopefully there are still enough consumers like me to keep the tradition going for a long time.
Sad to say - It's likely that the movie theater will go the way of the drive-in theater. There are a few drivn-ins still in existence, but they're hard to find today. The movie theater has been dying out for years -- abandoned theaters in local towns are one sign of this.
I do think that directors need to be flexible and that various methods of content delivery are a given in today's technological culture. I would personally be disappointed to see the movie house experience diminish significantly, so hopefully there are still enough consumers like me to keep the tradition going for a long time.
I think the issue is that on-demand content is going straight to the consumer which, like music and book content, will diminish the value and revenue for movies as well. Case in point: YouTube and movies will converge in users minds and choices more than ever with this new model. I don't think it will end with a Premium channel. Content is free on YouTube -- why pay for movies online?
Aside from my Jennifer Anniston rant ( she’s such an easy target ) what I was trying to get across was that now there is a large segment of films that for whatever reason go directly or quickly to DVD, a format that is endangered. I maintain that at least initially this premium channel will be the new graveyard for many of these third raters. I’ll be surprised to see a high visibility, possible Oscar nominated film available on such a channel as soon as it is released.
( Very much off topic: for this country trashy celebrities like JA are our version of royalty. )
Netflix seemed to be a threat to all of TV, but with the current quarterly earnings report, it sure doesn't look as if that's true now. Netflix really proves that even Internet viewing of video isn't immune to profit and other business issues. This is a lesson we need to learn if we want a viable online video model.
Today's infants quickly move from the womb to a touchscreen. A survey by Common Sense Media found that half of children under eight years old access a mobile device like a smartphone, a video iPod, or a tablet; and experts are mulling the ramifications of this.
Mobile TV is everywhere, and yet, nowhere. Nobody uses it – because the handsets aren't good, the pricing is too high, and the coverage is not good enough. But Qualcomm's FloTV Personal TV aims to change all of that.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
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