News Warner slashes DVD prices to fight piracy in China

cd-wow.com - they were gonna be stopped but then unfair contract law came in and they carried on, slowly but surely the UK is catching up with them

 

I wasn't disagreeing with you in that sense...and I definitely agree that we're never going to see $1.50 DVD prices in the Western world...although I hope to see prices start to come down at least to what they were 2 years ago (at least in my observation, prices have gone up about $3 in the past 2 years and discounts on new releases are now smaller and shorter lived)

my main point of writing was that when a few people mention basic economics and the ideas of supply and demand, I always like to point out that basic economics always relies on the idea of "ideal" consumers...I just chose to quote you for convenience .

and I'm by no means an expert in economics, being that I've had basically 1 and a half entry level classes in the subject, but I think that we often forget to think about the fact that while we can say in forums "I don't buy DVD's for $XX," it's your 15 neighbors out there paying full price that are keeping prices high.

Also along the lines of what keeps prices high: another tenet of economics states that eventually, due to competition, price should always drop to very slightly above manufacturing costs -- given that I can burn a DVD for 40cents and the one time cost of a $500 computer, you know mass-produced DVD's (in a $1 plastic case with some fancy pictures) aren't costing more than a couple dollars to put on the store shelves. And since most movies make back their production and marketing costs while they're in theaters, there shouldn't be much of an addition there to the DVD cost, yet the selling price is still $15-$20 -- basic economics just doesn't work in this case. Part of the reason there is that if you go to the store and see "Titanic" from xx studio/manufacturer selling for $17 and "Spiderman" from yy studio/manufacturer for $13, basic consumer who wants "Titanic" isn't going to settle for "Spiderman" because it's cheaper -- so there's a problem with the idea of "competition" when there's really only one source (ie: manufacturer/studio) for a given movie -- and the problem is a sort of monopoly -- again, this would be solved by some widescale easy-access piracy started up to create true competition between nearly identical products.

So, unless we can get wide-scale open-market piracy like in China to force manufacturer prices down via real open competition that is plainly visible to the majority of consumers, the best way to get prices lower would be to smack the hell out of your neighbors who run out to the store every time a movie is released and they've got a wallet full of cash (or a credit card and a willingness to rack up a huge debt and then pay a debt consolidation company to deal with it in 10 years).

Long story short: Most people are stupid with money. Thank them for high prices. Also thank the congressman who's in the RIAA/MPAA's back pocket and therefore creating legislation to prevent the widescale piracy that would fix the marketplace.

 

Wow, Im not pro piracy but have some media files that have been obtained questionably. Buying any movie for $5 would be so much more convient than torrenting it.

 

yep, its totally ridiculous. CD's are just as bad, who has 30NZD+ for a cd floating around each week? 40NZD for a DVD? if they were 15-20$ for a dvd and 10-15 for a CD, i might have actually bought one in the last few years, but as they're not, i havent. Stupidity...

I wish they'd get off their arses and try lowering prices for a bit just to see what happens.. that would be interesting...

 

If it's any incentive to the large companies lowering prices works. In China because DVD prices are so low no one actually stops to think about purchasing a movie. Purchasing movies to most Chinese citizens comes second hand as to buying grocery, people walk into a DVD store and almost always leave with a bunch of DVDs, there's really no looking and trying prior to purchase. Cause prices are low and are acceptable to the masses. This move to lower prices in China is the best move Warner has made in ages, because the amount of money the piraters make off DVD sales is astronomical now this profits will finally go to those who deserve it.
But on a down side lowering DVD prices just about eliminates rentals markets, because when purchasing price drops no one rents everyone just buys. So in short lowering media prices will definitely generate more sales and in turn more post theatrical profit.

 

'Strue, I have plenty of DVDs people in the family have just bought... and noone's ever seen them

 

Power comes from numbers with a industry of over 1.3 billion, all they have to do is make 50 cents from each person and it already over shadows their current sales.
A country where people buy DVDs like they buy potatoes is a market that cannot be forsaken. I'm so glad that Hollywood has finally opened their eyes and see the forest beyond the tree. Maybe Hollywood still has hope.

What's even greater is now DVD sales in China can finally go to those who worked hard to produce the product.

 

DVDs are a lot cheaper than they used to be at least...

£25-25 was the norm back in 2000. Now in 2006, you can get many new-release DVDs for under £15, with those older than 6 months costing < £10.

HMV always has a sale on, which is where I end up walking out with 4 or 5 DVDs, when I only intended to purchase the one.

Compared to actually watching the film in the cinema, it's not that bad. Considering it costs around £6.50 here to watch a film, you could purchase it on release for around twice that. Rip-Off Britain.