Several Hollywood studios are expected to announce an agreement within months with Time Warner Cable, one of America’s biggest cable TV operators, that would allow viewers to pay between $20 and $30 (£14 to 21) to watch a newly-released film at home four times earlier than usual.
The so-called “home theatre on demand” system would ride roughshod over the existing system, in which a new film’s release in various formats is carefully staggered in order to maximise profits.
The usual four-month period, or “window”, between a film coming out in the cinema and its release on DVD is designed to make sure that the wider distribution does not eat into possible box office receipts.
However, DVD sales are in decline and studios are increasingly open to considering alternatives. Disney angered cinema owners earlier this year when it decided to release the DVD of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland after it had been in theatres for only three months.
Warner Bros, Disney Studios, Universal, Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox are among major studies that have looked at Time Warner’s proposals, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper said several studios could sign up to the new system within months, putting it into operation as early as the end of this year.
Cinema owners are likely to be worst affected by Time Warner’s proposal.
Tony Kerasotes, chief executive of Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, an independent cinema chain in the US Midwest, told the Journal that some in his industry might refuse to show films that were offered too soon on television.
Smaller budget films are already available early on pay-per-view channels in the US, and the technology is available via satellite and cable in Britain for the Time Warner idea to be adopted in the UK.
