Target Joins Walmart with iTunes Concerns

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

Target has joined Wal-Mart in cautioning major movie studies that digital movies could hurt retail DVD sales.

Target's letter from President Gregg Steinhafel noted that movie studio downloads were less expensive than DVDs, according to the newspaper. The letter also said that if the pricing did not become more equitable, Target would reconsider its investment in the DVD business, the paper said.

Wal-Mart was recently cited as warning Movie Studios that there could be consequences if more movie studies joined in digital movie distribution alongside Disney.

Disney's Present of Home Entertainment has reportedly met with Target executives to stress that digital distribution remains a small market.

[FF_productions]

Ah shut up you bastards...

[evilgEEk]

I thought Wal-Mart denied these claims?

[alec]

Sounds like bad news for Apple. Increased outside pressure from major retailers of DVDs is turning into the less likelihood of other studios signing on to iTunes... unless of course consumers get the wonderful opportunity to pay $24.99 to watch the latest Tim Allen release.

[PharmD]

I'm ashamed I work for them. I've always considered Target the "good guys" Wal-mart but the more I get a taste for their corporate side (retail as well as pharmacy) I'm less impressed day by day.

[Durendal]

This is a load. Downloads will barely make a dent in DVD sales, especially when you can take the DVD home and rip it yourself. Most people don't have massive broadband pipes and they want a physical copy they can pop into the DVD player at home. Joe Noob may not know how to rip the disc, but I doubt he'll buy a movie online if he can't watch it on his DVD player. He might buy a movie to watch on his iPod that he already has in his DVD collection, though. Target and Hole-in-the-Wal-Mart are whining about nothing. Downloads may one day start chipping away at hardcopy sales, but it's going to be years before it starts to make a difference.

[greendragon]

Originally Posted by FF_productions

Ah shut up you bastards...

walmart, target, YOU SUCK!!!

[runplaysleeprun]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

Disney's Present of Home Entertainment....

Disney's President perhaps?

[darwen]

When will these companies stop bitching over this! I shop at Target all the time for DVDs, iTunes selling those movies is not going to change this. If I want the DVD, I will buy the DVD. Seriously, this is like them complaining over Pay Per View or Rental stores. Get over yourself! This is corporate America... monopolies are not going to be supported by the masses. Competition is a good thing. These companies need to start putting the consumer first and themselves second.

[nostaws]

Of course they are less expensive. No packaging, no media, no store space, no shipping required.

They should be less expensive.

If they were the same price this would be a serious problem. I still have a problem at the outrageous prices of CDs and DVDs because they are more expnsive than cassettes were, but cheaper to produce. It is all about greed and $$.

Apple wants to make money too. but they eliminated some considerable costs.

[evilgEEk]

Originally Posted by darwen

I shop at Target all the time for DVDs, iTunes selling those movies is not going to change this.

Maybe not for you, but it will for me, and probably a lot of other folks as well.

Once I have a decent method of getting my movies from my computer to my TV (i.e. iTV), and iTunes has more selection, I plan on never buying another DVD again. I'm in the minority here I'm sure, but for how long? How long before digital distribution is the method of choice for your average Joe?

My point is that their (Wal-Mart/Target) concerns are valid, but they're still just whining about it because they're scared of competition. Why isn't Wal-Mart whining and complaining about the Music Store? Oh... That's right, because they have one of their own.

[ziwi]

Makes one wonder what the markup on the DVDs are at the 'discount' stores...I am sure that they do not get the same profit from an iTunes card as the movie so it is just about $$$ as everything is.

[Swarmlord]

Originally Posted by nostaws

Of course they are less expensive. No packaging, no media, no store space, no shipping required.

They should be less expensive.

If they were the same price this would be a serious problem. I still have a problem at the outrageous prices of CDs and DVDs because they are more expnsive than cassettes were, but cheaper to produce. It is all about greed and $$.

Apple wants to make money too. but they eliminated some considerable costs.

I knew if I scrolled down far enough I'd find someone that had already said exactly what I would have posted on this subject.

[zap2]

If true, this is bad...Apple needs to get people who make movies on board, with pressure from Walmart and Target, movies companys might not come over as quickly, and they really are selling well from what Disney says!

[dgriffiths]

..if Apple doesn't promise to not kick Target out of the DVD sales business, Target will leave the DVD sales business?

I can hardly imagine the terror that must be echoing through the halls of the Disney headquarters. Don't tell their biggest shareholder - he'll be mightily ticked off.

[sartinsauce]

Originally Posted by evilgEEk

Once I have a decent method of getting my movies from my computer to my TV (i.e. iTV), and iTunes has more selection, I plan on never buying another DVD again. I'm in the minority here I'm sure, but for how long? How long before digital distribution is the method of choice for your average Joe?

I agree, except for one little thing===> HD Content distribution. No real solution for that one yet. You can't very easily d/l a 25GB HD movie. Even compressed, it's a massive freakin' file. I don't think there's a comsumer level internet connection that could support such content offerings.

So where does that leave us? We'll be able to d/l SD movies & TV. Brick and Mortar retailers can continue to sell hard copies with special features and HD DVD/Blu-Ray discs as well. Any retailer worth their weight in liquid soap will markup premium content and delivery formats, and everything will work out fine, until the next big change or trend.

I must agree with everyone who is in essence saying: "I'll download, stream to the TV, and if I need higher quality, special features or a hard copy, I'll stumble to the store (or online retailer) and but the disc.

I don't see how these delivery methods can't work hand in hand.

[iMikeT]

"Change" is always a hard thing for people to accept...

[ChrisA]

Just what can Target say? "If you allow Apple do do something that might cut into out DVD sales we will intentionally sell fewer DVD" Kind of like holding a gun to your head threatening to shoot.

[evilgEEk]

Originally Posted by sartinsauce

I agree, except for one little thing===> HD Content distribution. No real solution for that one yet. You can't very easily d/l a 25GB HD movie. Even compressed, it's a massive freakin' file. I don't think there's a comsumer level internet connection that could support such content offerings.

I agree, but I don't have an HD TV, nor do I plan on having one any time soon, so I'm not too concerned about HD content yet. But others definitely will be.

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Just what can Target say? "If you allow Apple do do something that might cut into out DVD sales we will intentionally sell fewer DVD" Kind of like holding a gun to your head threatening to shoot.

I love it!

[calculus]

It's funny how the capitalists are all for a free market...until it starts working against them.

[mechamac]

Eeeeeeyep, Target is just gonna stop selling DVDs if they don't get their way. Uh huh. Ridiculous.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by sartinsauce

I agree, except for one little thing===> HD Content distribution. No real solution for that one yet.

If you can watch an HD movie over your satilite or cable system then somehow the cable or stilite company found a way to electronically distribute the HD content to you. That 25GB of data found a way to get into your house. Not only did it get into the huse but it did it in real time

[BRLawyer]

Originally Posted by calculus

It's funny how the capitalists are all for a free market...until it starts working against them.

Ah, the U.S. are specialists at that...a.k.a. "you have to open, but I don't"...

[Earendil]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Just what can Target say? "If you allow Apple do do something that might cut into out DVD sales we will intentionally sell fewer DVD" Kind of like holding a gun to your head threatening to shoot.

Well, the idea being that if Wal-mart (reported to be selling 40% of all DVDs in the US) and Target suddenly pull out of the DVD business, that would be a 40+% hit in DVD revenue, to which I don't think Apple could possibly pick up, nor would all those people go to Apple.

Now you say that people will just shop elsewhere, but that isn't going to be true either. Many people buy DVDs on either impulse or because they are cheap. Not everyone who would buy a DVD at Wal-Mart will suddenly be willing to another shop and pay $5 more.

Now, Wal-Mart and Target won't pull everything at once, so I'm not sure exactly what they could do. But anything they do WILL be felt by the movie industry in the short run at least.

And to those that say Apple won't put a dent in retail sales, you're wrong
Maybe not this month, maybe not this year. But in a 100 years we will be downloading all our entertainment, which means that sometime between now and then SOMEONE is going to take over that distribution. If Wal-Mart is in no position to make that move to online, than they have to stall those that are as much as possible until they are able to get in the game.

btw- how can Wal-mart make this claim about iTunes robbing retail when they themselves have an online music store. I'm not sure why a parallel can't be drawn between music and movies...

[brepublican]

Originally Posted by mechamac

Eeeeeeyep, Target is just gonna stop selling DVDs if they don't get their way. Uh huh. Ridiculous.

Ditto.

Stop being retards and let the free market do what it do. Last time I checked, we had a capitalist society