New Release napster-type services????
 

Are there any online services where I can download movies to watch on my pc for a monthly fee?

Not any legal services that I know of yet. Will definately be awesome when the time comes.

Deja-vu... I just posted this exact thread a little while ago.

http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showthread.php?t=502679

I don't think you will see any services like that in the very near future. Too much money to lose with DVD rentals/sales and PayPerView.

Netflix discussed this one and Tivo to a certain extent but the content providers have put the nix on it.

Right now the online movie services (pay-per-download) are charged the greater of 60% of gross movie sale, or $2.60 for each new release movie. Hence why they generally cost $5.

The online strategies for the movie companies are stuck in never-land. Right now there is CinemaNow funded by 2 major studios, and Movielink funded by 4. To even start selling movies online you have to pay huge pre-paid minimums. The only companies that can afford that are the aforementioned ones. And in effect, they're simply paying these huge minimums to each other.

I spoke with an insider about this and it was explained this way.

The head of content licensing for a studio gets approached by their head of DVD sales. This guy goes, "I'm bringining in a few billion per year in DVD sales at huge profits which is over half our revenue, don't you dare do anything to fuck that up".

Next comes the head of Cable licensing. He says "I'm getting 20 million dollars in cash in exchange for the rights to play this movie on HBO. That's pure profit, don't fuck that up".

Then comes the head of TV movie deals he says "I'm getting 5 million in cash for the the rights to play this old-ass movie on NBC after Touched By an Angel, all profit, don't you fuck that up".

Last of all comes the online guy "I want to sell an online subscription to movies, it could hurt DVD sales by virtue of being a subscription, it could hurt cable tv licensing, and it could hurt TV licensing. Additionally it may not even succeed in the end and could be cracked wide open by pirates".

At that point the online guy gets tossed out the door and stuck with ridiculous Pay-per-download rules. E.g. Windowing, movies are on sale online for X months, then must be removed as the movie segways to the Cable channels which have exclusive broadcast rights. Then a few years later after normal TV is done with them and TNT has played the damn movie 6 times a week for a month it finally comes back online.

So that's the paraphrased inside scoop of where the online movie subscription service currently is. They're afraid of hit they're taking from piracy, but they're more afraid of hurting their hugely profitable cash cows.

Napster sucks..