Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos announced at MIPCOMM last week that his company is going to modernize the distribution model of movies. Film deals including a sequel to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and a four-picture agreement with Adam Sandler are some of the original films that will have a day-and-date release. This will give viewers the option of watching the movie in theaters, buying the DVD, or streaming it on demand beginning the same day.
However, the day-and-date release pattern faces opposition from theater operators. Regal Cinemas, AMC Theaters, and Cinemark are said to be considering countermeasures such as refusing to screen the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” installment in their IMAX theaters, thereby costing Netflix significant revenue as the Producer of the picture.
Following on the success of original series “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black”, Netflix also has an agreement with comedian Chelsea Handler to star in several Netflix series as well as a deal with Dreamworks Animation TV for hundreds of hours of animated content as they continue their expansion around the world.
Meanwhile, just a day after HBO announced its plans to launch a standalone streaming service in 2015, CBS followed with news of their own subscription streaming service. It is designed to provide consumers with access to live CBS programming in addition to thousands of current and past programs on demand. “CBS All Access” service is priced at $6 a month and made its debut on Thursday while price details for HBO’s service, which is set to start in 2015, are yet to be announced. Both of these new services are thought to bolster the movement toward “cord-cutting” with viewers turning to the Internet for content instead of cable, satellite and telecoms. For better or worse, change seems to be in the wind for the way we will receive content.
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