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April 19, 2011
DirecTV to Offer 48-Hour Rentals of New Films for $29.99 Starting April 21
DirecTV, the largest satellite-TV operator, will offer a 48-hour rental of Sony Corp. (6758)’s “Just Go With It” for $29.99 just 10 weeks after the movie’s theatrical release in the first such service on pay television.
This is fantastic news for the huge cross section of America which is too frugal to see movies in theaters when they first come out but too impulsive to wait just a few more weeks for a much better price.
April 19, 2011
The $30 movie rental launches
Would you pay $30 to rent "Just Go With It," an Adam Sandler movie that critic Richard Roeper calls "a pile of steaming crap"? Me neither.
Friday: No Major Economic Releases
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Friday:
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8 comments:
Hmm, so is this inflation or deflation?
All these services are huge deflation IMO but would like Marks take.
On the one hand, I do see this as a symptom of too much money being in the system. Just the thought that people would pay $29.99 for a movie at home just to see it a few weeks earlier seems very inflationary to me. Is $29.99 worth so little now?
Put another way, I suppose some might argue that if movie rentals were paid for with silver then $29.99 is just about par for the course. At today's prices, it is just 2/3rds of an ounce of silver. When silver was $5 per ounce in 1999 renting a movie for about $3 would seem about right (also 2/3rds of an ounce of silver). I tend to think silver is in a bubble right now but I can certainly sympathize with the mindset.
On the other hand, what are the odds this $29.99 rate goes higher any time soon? If it was instantly included in the CPI (it won't be) then I would tend to think it is deflationary from here. Just a thought!
I was thinking along the lines that No, no one will pay the extra and then all flms will move to the low rate rental instead of getting $10 bucks or more per ticket at the theater. Add in all the business and lost activity as no one goes to the movies, and I think it is very deflationary.
GYSC,
Generally speaking, I would agree that when we see more services offered it is deflationary. This is an added service. Nobody is forcing us to pay for it. It is entirely optional.
It also strikes me as one born out of desperation. The competition for our entertainment dollars is intense and companies are looking for any way they can to increase market share and revenues at at time when unemployment is high.
It is like the new New York Times paywall. The Internet is filled with workarounds to avoid it. Worse...
After Paywall, New York Times Traffic Dips 15 Percent, Report Finds
The total number of page views for NYTimes.com has taken a more significant hit. Hitwise noted that after the paywall launched, total page views dipped between 11 and 30 percent.
Funny how it seems like such a glib question, but is so hard to answer.
I can't make up my mind either. On the one hand I agree it's ridiculous this is all $30 buys!?! On the other hand I think it is priced for the future figuring they won't be able to raise the price, probably ever. So in that respect it's indicative of deflationary pressures.
Is that stagflation: inflation in goods we need (food, energy), deflation in things we don't (tech gizmos, 2nd homes)?
AllanF,
Is that stagflation: inflation in goods we need (food, energy), deflation in things we don't (tech gizmos, 2nd homes)?
It has been my belief that we are trying to combine the deflationary Great Depression with the inflationary 1970s. Sigh.
Eventually we'll return to the days where the studios also owned the theaters. Either that or theaters won't exist except as burned out shells like in the 70's.
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