D*RM is here for all to feast on

[TenaciousJoker]

I think more DTV customers should protest this new policy by not purchasing PPV movies and events so that DTV's revenue from PPV purchases drops considerably.

Problem is, if the revenue from PPV drops considerably, the cost per month of regular service will rise considerably. If they lose a source of revenue, they're just going to bilk the customers who don't order PPV for more. They're going to get their money from somewhere, folks.

 

[ultrablu]

I travel a lot and used to like to set the DVR so that I could watch a PPV on the weekend.

Piss off Hollywood!!!!!!

They can now watch their revenue drop like a lead balloon with D* I will not order any more PPV...Oh...and guess what????? I will also be dropping the premiums. If everybody did that they might wake up.

 

[jbmiller]

happiness is NOT owning a dvr system
john

 

[bertbarndoor]

I am quite surprised this happened. The only thing that this serves to do is to irritate and inconvienience customers. The ridiculous part is how unthoughtful and ill-conceived the 24 hour time-frame is. It isn't even in line with renting a DVD. I understand that the MPAA thinks they can receive additional revenue from account-holders who will pay for the same PPV twice while it is offered, as opposed to DVRing it and watching it multiple times, but does the MPAA really think that people/families are going to buy the same PPV in a 2 or 3 day period? Why not extend the DVR grace period to 2 or 3 days? I'm sure the percentage of customers who occasionally take a few days to 'get to a movie' is much higher than the percentage of customers who would pay for the same PPV in 48 hours multiple times. So what it comes down to is the industry making a horrible business decision that is going to limit and alienate nearly 100% of their customer base so that they can enjoy a miniscule increase in revenue from the 1% of customers who would pay for a PPV twice in the same 2-day period. Absolutely ludicrous. If customers were pushed to downloading torrents before, I envision a transcendental shift on the near horizon.

-MBA, CMA

 

[dishbd]

As far as whether the HBO's and other premiums go to this, I would not be surprised if it they made it so that you cannot view things recorded from those premiums if you drop your subscription to that premium. But if they tried to pull some kind of 24 hour crap, then that makes no sense, because they offer VOD on cable for all these channels, and that would be essentially the same thing.

 

[bkushner]

AppleTV same thing. Xbox360 Same thing. This is the studios and not the media companies. I understand they don't want 100 people watching a show over 2 months but a show on DVR is no different then a DVD in your player. I've had netflix dvds for months before watching them. Also 24hours in unreasonable. They could make it more friendly, a week, 7 days etc. The only way it would change is if every major carrier said they aren't carrying the movies unless there is change.

 

[bkushner]

One other thought, wonder if this pertains to when you shell out $70 for a Wrestling/Sports PPV?

 

[scottie_h]

This totally diminishes the purpose of a DVR!

I'm not saying I disagree personally. But DVRs are not exactly popular with everyone. While we may enjoy the ability to FF through commercials, how do you think the advertisers feel about that? They are paying huge money to get their names in front of us consumers, and we're blowing by those commercials. Paid advertising is a HUGE financial investment and importance to these companies. While I certainly prefer to FF through the commercials myself, I can certainly understand why they don't want us to.

 

[moonman]

One other thought, wonder if this pertains to when you shell out $70 for a Wrestling/Sports PPV?

=================
In all the statements I have seen from DirecTV, they have stated that this new policy, applies to PPV MOVIES only. Other PPV events(including sports etc) will not change. Let's hope they keep to this....now that they have
put the blame on the studios for this, it would be hard to start pointing fingers at others.

 

[Cincyray]

Barndoor i think they are already doing this. I recoded a ton of movies while i had the 3 month movie pack. Once i dropped them out of 12 movies recorded from those stations i could only watch 2. I kept getting a message searching for source.

 

[Jimbo]

I am quite surprised this happened. The only thing that this serves to do is to irritate and inconvienience customers. The ridiculous part is how unthoughtful and ill-conceived the 24 hour time-frame is. It isn't even in line with renting a DVD. I understand that the MPAA thinks they can receive additional revenue from account-holders who will pay for the same PPV twice while it is offered, as opposed to DVRing it and watching it multiple times, but does the MPAA really think that people/families are going to buy the same PPV in a 2 or 3 day period? Why not extend the DVR grace period to 2 or 3 days? I'm sure the percentage of customers who occasionally take a few days to 'get to a movie' is much higher than the percentage of customers who would pay for the same PPV in 48 hours multiple times. So what it comes down to is the industry making a horrible business decision that is going to limit and alienate nearly 100% of their customer base so that they can enjoy a miniscule increase in revenue from the 1% of customers who would pay for a PPV twice in the same 2-day period. Absolutely ludicrous. If customers were pushed to downloading torrents before, I envision a transcendental shift on the near horizon.

-MBA, CMA

Why not just order the movie when you want to actually watch it ?
Most movies are on for a month or so at a time.

Jimbo

 

[silversurfer]

I'm not saying I disagree personally. But DVRs are not exactly popular with everyone. While we may enjoy the ability to FF through commercials, how do you think the advertisers feel about that? They are paying huge money to get their names in front of us consumers, and we're blowing by those commercials. Paid advertising is a HUGE financial investment and importance to these companies. While I certainly prefer to FF through the commercials myself, I can certainly understand why they don't want us to.

The current way these companies advertise is outdated. They need to come up with new ways to get their advertisements seen. Just because something has always been done one way doesn't mean it is the best way or should in some way retard progress so a company can make more money. This kind of mentality is rampant in this country. The RIAA, MPAA, NAB all have out dated methods of doing business and if they weren't protected by some goverment regulation or by padding the pockets of a politician they would have gone by the way side years ago. Why can't we let the consumer decide where he/she wants to spend their dollar and let the companies figure out how to best serve them vs. the other way around?

 

[bkushner]

Why not just order the movie when you want to actually watch it ?
Most movies are on for a month or so at a time.

Jimbo

I think that is what most do but let's face it, you don't always make it through a movie. There are interruptions, sleep etc that cause you to have to view another time.

Brian

 

[garrubal]

DRM is here to stay

Wow, 24 hours is a really short time. At least they should match what the rental companies (Blockbuster) do for new rentals (2-3 days). A week would be better.

I think their concern is that if you have the PPV for a long time in your DVR, you'll have more time to archive it, and that'll eat into their DVD sales revenue.

With DirecTV, one possible way to get around the DRM restrictions is to get a Hauppage HD PVR (I believe it will be released around May 1, 2008). The PVR uses the composite outputs, not HDMI. I think they call that the "analog hole" or something to that effect. In any case, I don't know if the quality of the HD recording on the Hauppage will be on par with the DirecTV HD DVR.

It'll be a matter of someone doing a few tests on a variety of HD channels (or PPV if that's your thing, I personally have never ordered movies PPV from cable/satellite. The rental store and/or DVD delivery by mail is similarly priced and doesn't have all the time restrictions of PPV).

 

[bkushner]

Even in the old days Blockbuster gave you more then 24 hours. You could rent 9 am Wed and not be due back until midnight Thursday. And if you were late it was a buck or less. Why not charge a buck for each viewing after 24 hours .

 

[Matt9876]

happiness is NOT owning a dvr system
john

My H20 with Dazzel encoder always captures the movie.

NO time limits on PPVs at my home.

DRM sux !!

 

[shibby191]

They screwed up by letting it happen. If they knew this was going to happen why didn't they do more about it?

Tyralak - This is national. I sent an email complaining about it to D* and they state that this is being required by every provider including cable.

If HBO or any other premium channel does this I will drop them also. I already frequent my local video store because the price of a movie ticket is outrageous so keep it up MPAA and you will continue to get less of my money!

Not sure what you would want DirecTV to do about it. Just about every cable company already has the 24 hour deal as do Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. Dish is about all that's left that doesn't. So DirecTV says no and the MPAA takes their ball (the movies) and goes home.

Blame goes squarely on the MPAA

 

[n4uaj]

This wouldnt effect the dvd recorder would it? I usually dont get a ppv unless it is a movie i want to keep..In the old days I would save to VCR now I do the DVD..I have bought some on the All Day Ticket and watched one showing to see if it was worth recording.

 

[DWDYEM2001]

They are paying huge money to get their names in front of us consumers, and we're blowing by those commercials. Paid advertising is a HUGE financial investment and importance to these companies. While I certainly prefer to FF through the commercials myself, I can certainly understand why they don't want us to.

If the companies don't like the idea of DVR customers fast forwarding through their commercials, they should advertise elsewhere. If a company buys a newspaper ad and more people start paying for the right to read the newspaper's articles online, then those people don't see that ad. That's the way it goes with new technology. It's the 21st century. I don't sympathize with the companies who are spending money on commercials. We are paying for TV and DVR service. We shouldn't have to watch commercials at allif we choose not too. That is what we are paying for. If satellite TV were free, then I could understand watching 25 commercials for a one-hour TV show not on a network channel.

 

[nvrfgt343]

I'm a little confused...

It says the PPV expires 24 hours after its purchased. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not actually billed for recording a PPV until you actually start watching it. To me, that means you have 24 hours from the time you start watching it, not from the time you recorded it.

If that's the case, is that really a big deal?