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Vudu to Allow Users to Extend Movie Expiration Dates

By Alexander Grundner | May 30th, 2008 Interest Level: SMOKING HOT


vuduGizmodo is all giddy about Vudu allowing its users to extend a downloaded movie’s expiration date (typically you have 24 hours to watch a movie after you hit play) by forking over an extra $2 for HD content and $1 for standard definition. Giz says, “The option is available for a week after the flick expires, and then you have another 30 days to start watching, and 24-48 hours after you hit play. Downside is you can only extend a movie once.”

I don’t know about you guys, but my take is that services like Vudu should charge people a one time fee for downloading a single flick and then allow people to watch their movie selection as often as they want for a week. If Vudu wants to compete with brick and mortar stores, which generally allow members to keep a movie disc rental for about a week (and has no restriction on how many times you view it), it seems like competing digital services should do the same to winner over customers.

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Short URL: http://bit.ly/dnXJYq [+]  Filed in: Content Providers, Streaming Media Devices  
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Alexander Grundner is the Editor & Publisher of eHomeUpgrade. He has been following "Digital Home" developments since 2003. He's also a fan of cross-platform, open development software and industry standards related to media, networking, and the web. You can catch his daily tech musings on Twitter: @agrundner.
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  • Michael
    Correct - I don't disagree with your last statement at all. I'm 100% on board with that but I DO think that Vudu IS pressuring the studios to lighten up a little and this is the first move in ANY direction that I've seen so I see it as a very positive one.
  • You bring up some good points, but VOD is nothing new. CinemaNow (founded 1999) and Movielink (around since 2002) have been doing this for a few years now and have also offered their movies with similar viewing terms. I think we're way past the industry warming up to anything. But that's just my opinion. The service providers (whoever they may be) need to pressure the studios to have more liberal usage terms to better serve the customer, instead of asking them to pay more money for a convenience they should have already.
  • Michael
    Vudu is not the one setting the terms for the rental periods (and even to a large degree the rental prices). The studios are the ones controlling this. If it were up to Vudu (or AppleTV even) they would probably do something very similar to what you've mentioned.

    So I think you're kinda missing the point here. The point is that the studios are FINALLY moving a little bit and showing a little warmth towards the VOD market and this is a promising step.

    Additionally, Vudu and AppleTV have far more benefits than the brick and mortar stores so simply comparing the rental terms of the two services and leaving out all the other comparisons is not really a valid argument.

    I think the reason Gizmodo is really excited about this announcement is b/c the SHOULD be. This is an exciting step in the right direction as it is a major sign that the movie studios are finally seeing the light here...
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