Make the VOD movies free?

St Geordie · 13-02-2008, 11:05

Why don’t VM make some VOD movies free to TV XL customers, as they do for the VOD Music.

They could still charge for the newer movies, but the back catalogue would be free. This will encourage more people to upgrade to the XL package.

Any thoughts?

chickendippers · 13-02-2008, 11:31

It costs £££ for Filmflex to buy the movies for broadcast.

Tod · 13-02-2008, 13:43

What they should do is charge a premium per month for unlimited access to Filmflex movies, then people would go for that, rather than Sky Movies.

nicke261192 · 13-02-2008, 13:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by St Geordie

Why don’t VM make some VOD movies free to TV XL customers, as they do for the VOD Music.

They could still charge for the newer movies, but the back catalogue would be free. This will encourage more people to upgrade to the XL package.

Any thoughts?

What Would Be The Point Of That?

Then Virgin Media Would Loose Money

Which Would Result In Higher Service Prices For Us

foreverwar · 13-02-2008, 15:53

The Shift Key is not our friend....

SMHarman · 13-02-2008, 17:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tod

What they should do is charge a premium per month for unlimited access to Filmflex movies, then people would go for that, rather than Sky Movies.

Nice idea. This is what happens in the US model. You get say the HBO channels and you can pay a little more for HBO on Demand.

tweetypie/8 · 13-02-2008, 17:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicke261192

What Would Be The Point Of That?

Then Virgin Media Would Loose Money

Which Would Result In Higher Service Prices For Us

how true.

WillPS · 16-02-2008, 02:02

I was under the impression that Virgin Media don't own FilmFlex, they're just paid a commission by them each time a film is purchased.

Gunslinger · 16-02-2008, 22:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tod

What they should do is charge a premium per month for unlimited access to Filmflex movies, then people would go for that, rather than Sky Movies.

Aren't PPV movies covered by different rights arrangements to 'subscription' movies?

So VM could not give them away, even if they wanted to. Sky and/or other channels presumably have 'exclusive' rights to air most of the content once it moves out of the PPV stage.

Presumably this doesn't apply to PPV movies because (a) they are normally newer, and still generate full-price DVD sales, and (b) the rights owners get a cut of what the customer pays, so it would not be in their interests to give exclusive PPV rights to any one platform.

Morden · 18-02-2008, 15:22

Filmflex was just taken over by Sony and Disney :-

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitalt...nd-disney.html

So we may see better content appearing seeing as the films studios own it now.

lostandconfused · 18-02-2008, 15:35

nothing ever comes for free. So you would only end up paying for it one way or another. I would rather keep them on PPV as i dont watch them that often, so is good value IMO

EvilRoySlade · 18-02-2008, 16:31

Getting them free just isn't an option however a price overhaul is required in my opinion. If new movies were say £2 each I'd rent at least a couple a week. But £3.75? Nope, not on your nelly grandad. I watch maybe one a month at that price. I think almost four quid to rent a flick is just robbery.

Tod · 18-02-2008, 17:03

What Virgin should do is say that renting VOD films is much better for the environment, ie you do not have to produce a DVD disk which is a waste of valuable resources!

accessjunky · 19-02-2008, 13:46

I've rented quite a few movies in the past, mainly for the children, but think the price is too high to make it a popular service. A lot of the older films can be bought on dvd for the price of the Filmflex rental, or only 2 or 3 times the amount for recent films, making dvd purchase a more attractive option. Films are out on dvd more quickly after cinema release now so Filmflex can't win on that front either.

I think a workable model would be 50p for the older movies and £1 to £2 for the newer ones. At this price level the purchase stops being a comparison with dvd prices and more to do with wanting to watch the film.

I know the current business model may dictate higher prices but until the purchase stops being 'do I want to spend that much watching a film' and becomes 'I wouldn't mind watching that it's only £1' then filmflex rental volume isn't going to increase.

This only works if higher volume gives increased profit overall but perhaps a trial period with low prices would give an idea of viability. The trial could be limited to a number of areas if necessary (Swindon might be a good place to start

)

Tod · 19-02-2008, 15:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by accessjunky

I've rented quite a few movies in the past, mainly for the children, but think the price is too high to make it a popular service. A lot of the older films can be bought on dvd for the price of the Filmflex rental, or only 2 or 3 times the amount for recent films, making dvd purchase a more attractive option. Films are out on dvd more quickly after cinema release now so Filmflex can't win on that front either.

I think a workable model would be 50p for the older movies and £1 to £2 for the newer ones. At this price level the purchase stops being a comparison with dvd prices and more to do with wanting to watch the film.

I know the current business model may dictate higher prices but until the purchase stops being 'do I want to spend that much watching a film' and becomes 'I wouldn't mind watching that it's only £1' then filmflex rental volume isn't going to increase.

This only works if higher volume gives increased profit overall but perhaps a trial period with low prices would give an idea of viability. The trial could be limited to a number of areas if necessary (Swindon might be a good place to start

)

It's never going to happen, because the argument for dropping the price is to stop people buying the DVD's. But the owners of Filmflex don't mind if you buy the DVD's because they are part of the film industry so they get the money either way!