Hollywood Considering "Opening" Movies in People's Homes

Here's a Reuter's story about how U.S. cable operator Comcast had held talks with unnamed Hollywood studios about allowing people to see a movie in their homes on the same day it opens in theaters. Comcast COO Stephen Burke talked about fees in the $30 to $50 range.

The news here isn't the angle of the story that Comcast is trying to compete with premium offerings that other cable carriers are pursuing. It's that the studios have gotten so spooked that they're considering giving up on maintaining any time between theatrical and DVD release.

They wanted this gap because it meant an increase in revenues, with audiences paying premiums to see titles before they it the DVD shelves. The distributors and studios took the vast bulk of the ticket price, with the theater operators needing to sell refreshments to make a profit. But attendance is down, and why not? People increasingly own large-screen televisions with surround sound that probably give roughly equivalent experiences as attending a tiny multiplex. So people wait. This at least would let them get some of the money rather than having the audience completely disappear from the first release phase. I'd hate to own a theater at the moment, as this has to be a scary prospect.