Warner Bros chief: 28-day delay for Netflix, Redbox movie rentals helping DVD sales
By APThursday, September 16, 2010
Warner Bros: Delaying cheap rentals aids DVD sales
LOS ANGELES — Making people wait 28 days before they can rent new release home videos from Netflix or Redbox is helping sales of DVDs and movies ordered from set-top boxes.
That’s according to Warner Bros. Chief Executive Barry Meyer.
Meyer spoke at an investor conference hosted by Merrill Lynch in Newport Beach, Calif., on Thursday, and his interview could be heard online.
Meyer said the delay has helped boost video-on-demand sales by 20 percent to 30 percent and that DVD purchases were higher in the second through fourth weeks after their release for sale.
The movie studio unit of Time Warner Inc. imposed the delays on the $1-a-night DVD kiosk operator Redbox in February, a month after reaching a similar deal with mail-order DVD rental operator Netflix Inc.
