Re: [dvd-discuss] DoS attack on RIAA webstie

[Ronald Austin <ronald(at)caprock-spur.com>]

On Wednesday 31 July 2002 05:42 pm, you wrote:
> This argument about rental does not stand up, a movie is rented out but how
> much per rental goes back to the studio. Nothing. The rental store does not
> pay a royalty per rent. It buys the movies to rent at a fixed price so its
> the small guy who owns the rental store who loses most here...........


Some videostores do pay a per rental fee, a company called Rentrack collects 
fees for rentals. Some studios also have rental programs you can buy in to. 
Most small stores just buy videotapes at a whosale price and rent them out, 
because they can't qualify for the programs without buying too many copies of 
movies.  However you need to remember that "New Releases" arn't as cheap as 
people think. DVDs are cheap and I like 'em.... but VHS can get expensive 
they have a built in rental fee, it's called "Rental Priced" and comes with a 
rental window of 30 to 90 days before the studios switch to the sell thru 
price. However they are getting cheaper thanks to DVD. You also have to take 
into account tapes getting ruined, they won't replace them for free and if 
you are in a small town you don't have enough customers to force them to pay 
or not rent anymore.

Retail prices soon to be released single unit wholesale price aprox. 40% off.

Comic Book Villains                              $44.99 
Blade II   sell thru.  SRP                         $22.94
We were Soldiers                                  $106.00
The Hit                                                $45.98

You can see that the less desireable movies are cheaper. Blade II is sell 
thru, they will sell a bunch of them at this price. Think about buying 100 
VHS copies of We Were Soldiers, most stores couldn't afford it. heck even 
Blockbuster couldn't afford it. Thats why the lease them.


Ronald