VOD Rentals For The Cost Of A Theater Visit? Good Luck With That

The Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA) wants to bring you video on demand and they want to do it before DVD or Blu-ray versions of movies are available.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the major networks; Disney, Fox, Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros., and Sony are considering a pitch from Time Warner Cable that would bring rentals to users TV sets well ahead of video rentals.

The cost? somewhere between $20 to $30 per title. For that price the wait for renting videos will fall from around 4 months from the time they leave theaters to just 30 days.

It won’t be the first time such a move is attempted, both Hancock and Cloudy with a Chance Of Meatballs were offered by Sony on Bradvia HDTV’s, while Cloudy came with a free Blu-ray copy of the movie.

While VOD offered at faster release rates may be appealing, the $20 to $30 charge simply doesn’t make sense to me, but then again it’s just me and my wife, perhaps for a family with children the money equation will make a whole lot more sense.