The Glade 4.0

One thing is certain: People who like inexpensive movie rentals are going to have to get used to waiting longer than they do now. Studios are beginning to use the Internet to slice up the market so that people who are willing to buy a movie or pay more to rent it can get it sooner.

At the same time, some studios that make Netflix and kiosk rental company Redbox wait until 28 days after a DVD goes on sale before they can offer it for rent want to lengthen that delay. They believe such a move will encourage consumers to pay more to buy or rent a movie digitally.

By next year, consumers may have to wait two months or longer after a movie goes on sale before they can get it in a Redbox kiosk or Netflix envelope. Those who want to stream films online for a flat monthly fee from Netflix, Amazon or Blockbuster will in many cases wait years until those titles have completed their runs on cable networks like HBO.

"I see movies going down a path over time from premium sell-through all the way to the lowest-price rentals," said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "If we get digital right, consumers are going to get what they're willing to pay for."

We may be seeing the beginning of the next pirate resurgence here.

I honestly wouldn't care if I had to wait 5 years to watch something.... If *everything* from 5 years ago was up and available for streaming on, say, Netflix.

Being behind the curve has never bothered me, but behind the curve without all the material has. I'd just stop watching current stuff, and go back and watch things from several years ago that I never got around to.

Well they're competing with free... so whatever model they adopt will have to face the competition of piracy.

By the way this should go into the technology section, since there are similar threads there, and streaming video is a new technology that is disrupting the industry.