It's interesting that the only variables really being considered here regarding the timeframe for downloadable movies are consumer demand and technological capacity (for streaming full 1080P movies, etc.), when the real fly in the ointment is the incredibly complex legal agreements that studios secure regarding the exclusive rights and release schedule for every single film they produce.
After its theatrical run, a film has an exclusive period for pay-per-view, or airlines/hotels, or premium cable, or dvds, etc. These are incredibly complex and long-standing agreements, through which the studios get forwarded much of the money they use to finance the films' productions, so they can just cut and run overnight because they see an opportunity in downloadable content. The studios are now becoming more and more interested in downloadable content, but it will still be a LONG time before the vast majority of movies are available in 1080p on demand; the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, recently said that it would be at least ten years before that happens.
Think about that, DVDs officially came out twelve years ago, and Blu-Ray came out about two years ago; that means that there's still an entire format cycle left before the legal and technological hurdles surrounding downloadable content are overcome. This isn't a question a consumer demand or consumer techno-savvy, it's a question of a fundamental paradigm shift in content delivery that simply cannot be exploited at the present time because of these longstanding structures.
After its theatrical run, a film has an exclusive period for pay-per-view, or airlines/hotels, or premium cable, or dvds, etc. These are incredibly complex and long-standing agreements, through which the studios get forwarded much of the money they use to finance the films' productions, so they can just cut and run overnight because they see an opportunity in downloadable content. The studios are now becoming more and more interested in downloadable content, but it will still be a LONG time before the vast majority of movies are available in 1080p on demand; the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, recently said that it would be at least ten years before that happens.
Think about that, DVDs officially came out twelve years ago, and Blu-Ray came out about two years ago; that means that there's still an entire format cycle left before the legal and technological hurdles surrounding downloadable content are overcome. This isn't a question a consumer demand or consumer techno-savvy, it's a question of a fundamental paradigm shift in content delivery that simply cannot be exploited at the present time because of these longstanding structures.
