OPINION: Facing the cost of filling up
By Paul Sweeting -- Video Business, 5/30/2008
MAY 30 | PULL IN TO Blockbuster and fill ’er up.
Paul Sweeting is editor of Content Agenda
That’s the basic idea behind the in-store download kiosk that Blockbuster chairman/CEO Jim Keyes unveiled in New York this week during the company’s annual meeting of shareholders.
The kiosk itself even resembles a modern gas pump a bit: insert your credit card, touch your selection on the touch screen and the pump starts dispensing content into your “tank”—in this case a portable digital storage device.
Fortunately, the resemblance does not extend to the price you pay at the Blockbuster pump.
According to Keyes, movies can be downloaded from the kiosk for approximately the price of a standard DVD rental. Digital rights management technology in the device and in the content itself would make sure that rental copies do not become permanent copies for the price of rental.
That doesn’t mean that pricing won’t be an issue, however, especially if Blockbuster tries to get creative with its kiosk offerings.
Read the full column on ContentAgenda.com.
