Studios testing more simultaneous DVD, on-demand releases
The window between DVD release and video on demand (VOD) availability continues to close, this time thanks to efforts from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Summit Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. These studios are slowly but surely gaining more confidence that VOD rentals and sales are a good thing, though some are more willing than others to put everything out there.
From Universal, both the Oscar-nominated Changeling and Flash of Genius will be available on the iTunes Store as well as cable VOD services at the same time as the DVD release on February 17. Similarly, Fox plans to release Bottle Shock, The Secret Life of Bees, and Choke on VOD and DVD simultaneously this month, and The Happening in October.
Summit is also joining in on the simultaneous release fun with Twilight in March, though this won't be the first time the studio has done so. In fact, Summit has released all of its films simultaneously on DVD and VOD. "We’ve done it from the beginning, because we had seen results from various tests that said that releasing it on VOD did not negatively affect DVD purchases and in some cases might have positively affected it," Summit Home Entertainment President Steve Nickerson told Video Business.
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