Uh, no: Paid Internet Video Downloads Will Not be a Dead-End

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Sunday - July 6, 2008

Timely analyst thought pieces on issues pertaining to digital media, home networks, and consumer electronics.

Uh, no: Paid Internet Video Downloads Will Not be a Dead-End
Author: Michael Wolf, Research Director, Digital Home
Mon, 14 May 2007 13:32:18 EDT

Seems one analyst firm believes paid downloads for video content will be dead on arrival. The article points to services such as Joost, which I've written about recently, and other free streams. I think this is dead wrong.

What this analysis ignores is that there is a big difference between TV and movie content, and you're not about to see the newest studio home video releases in the VoD windows in any ad-supported format at all. The fact is that movies will continue to be available in either hard formats (DVD) or through electronic distribution, and new forms of electronic distribution are just going to get easier and easier for consumers to use. They may be somewhat unfriendly today and mostly PC-centric, but as I've written about in a forthcoming report on Internet Video to the TV, there are going to be a raft of new solutions - including from cable and satellite providers - that make electronic downloading at the TV much easier. I think while consumers aren't ready to give up their DVDs any time soon, they will begin to soon compliment their DVD purchases and rental with electronic downloading.

TV content is another story, and this content will be mainly ad-supported, whether its Joost, ABC.com or through the NewCo digital distribution JV formed by Fox and NBCU.

So - while some may think Internet VoD for movies is DOA, I think it'll be just the opposite.

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