Fox Plans New Digital Model: Movies Available Closer to Theater Release

By Rob Scott
September 10, 2012

Fox Filmed Entertainment is planning a new digital window for its films by offering HD versions at newly lowered prices about three weeks prior to disc and VOD availability.
The new model will begin this month with director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi thriller “Prometheus,” which will be made available via digital purchase on September 18. The film is slated for DVD, Blu-ray and VOD release on October 11.
Fox will join the UltraViolet digital locker system used by Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures and others.
“The new system is an aggressive bid to revive consumers’ interest in the purchase of movies, by giving them an earlier shot at films for about $15 each, down from a purchase price that is currently about $20,” reports The New York Times.
“That will nibble into what has been a waiting period of roughly four months in which pictures play exclusively in theaters before their release in home entertainment formats,” notes the article.
Home video sales have dropped from a $21.8 billion high in 2004 to $18.4 billion in 2011.
“According to figures from the Digital Entertainment Group, an industry consortium, digital sales of films and television shows — as opposed to revenue from rentals or on-demand viewings — rose almost 22 percent in the first six months of this year, to $329.4 million, from $270.3 million in the first half of 2011,” according to the article.

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