On demand company TVN Entertainment Wednesday is announcing the VOD roll-out dates for eight recent Oscar-nominated or winning films, including Frost/Nixon which is being released on the same day it becomes available on DVD. Also being released Wednesday will be The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke.
TVN last month released Milk and Australia on the same day they were released on VOD.
Later this month (April 24), the company will release Rachel Getting Married, followed by best picture winner Slumdog Millionaire (April 29), Bolt (May 6), Doubt (May 7), The Reader (May 14), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (June 3).
Day-and-date releases like Frost/Nixon may be contributing to declining DVD sales or perhaps simply taking the baton from a maturing industry. Speaking at an investment conference recently, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said: “The standard DVD business that has been a huge growth engine has been slowing down and maturing, but the new businesses, whether it's Blu-ray or electronic VOD for rental or sell-through, are picking up quite nicely."
In announcing the title lineup, TVN pointed to the trend, quoting a Parks Associates study that suggested in the down economy, "Consumers are more likely to cut back on outside entertainment expenses before trimming household services such as home telephone, pay TV and the Internet.”
