A Roll of the D.E.C.E.
Can Hollywood go back to the future and reclaim streaming and digital copying of movies? This week they’ll give us all what we haven’t been waiting for. January brings snow and cold as surely as it brings the Consumer Electronics Show back to Las Vegas. This annual gadget fest has become very important because there is usually so little to write about in the recovery week after New Year’s Eve.
A gaggle of Hollywood Studios along with Comcast, Best Buy, and the usual suspects is about to tell us they have a better way for us to watch movies. D.E.C.E. (Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem) will let us buy movies and see them on any approved device (yet to be defined) that we like. Amazon already does some of this with DVD+ and Netflix does it with Watch Instantly. But DECE is intended to do it with everything. The theory is that if you give people the choice of how to watch, they will stop pirating movies on the internet and start paying for them. With DECE, you only need to pay once and then you can stream to TV, computer, netbook, smartphone and any future device still unknown in the universe.
DECE is supposed to be an answer to both piracy and price point. The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) estimates that between 50 and 80 percent of internet content is illegal. (Bernstein Research calls the size of this estimate “an urban legend”).
The bigger problem is price point. Hollywood complains that iTunes has a monopoly to set prices. This is unfair. Hollywood has a monopoly to set movie ticket prices and DVD prices. This is fair. We’re told the business needs price competition. By this they mean themselves (DECE), but nobody else. When I was producing, I was found of referring to a dusted up old concept as “an idea whose time has came.” DECE may be just that. Perhaps I’m rushing to judgment. Like an executive hearing a pitch, I like to say, “surprise me.”
Meanwhile, at MovieWithMe.com we keep chugging along on our own; searching to bring you the best suggestions for what to watch on any machine you like. Regardless of the delivery system, the story is still all that matters.
Link to this Post: http://www.moviewithme.com/blog/archives/133
January 9th, 2010 at 22:05
Interesting. Maybe I can surprise you! Here’s how it works in France: We pay one monthly bill which includes internet,cable TV and land line telephone: calls to land lines in France and about 5O other countrys are free, as are calls to cell phones in the States! Average monthly bill is approx. 33 Euros. (However land line calls to a cell phone in France are overtaxed) Another advantage is that several TV stations allow you to watch shows you missed or would like to watch again for a full week after the show was aired, either on your computer or on your TV. Recently they’ve taken it one step further. It’s possible to include a cell phone subscription as a 4th service, the cost depends on the number of cell call hours. Competion betweeen service providers may actually lower cost in 2010!!!