Right now, I have DirecTV. I love it, especially because they have the exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket package. But Time Warner might be getting something that could rival that. Slash Film is reporting "Major Hollywood studios are in discussions with Time Warner Cable to offer movies on demand in people’s homes just 30 days after films hit the multiplex. The concept is being called “home theater on demand”, with the idea being that consumers would be offered the recently released movies in High Definition for $20 to $30."

This is a great move for both the studios and the cable company. It gives Time Warner a great marketing tool and a reason for viewers to switch to their service. It's great for the studios because Time Warner will probably pay them a nice chunk of change for the exclusive rights to the service (DirecTV pays over 700 million a year for the NFL package.) It also gives them another revenue stream before DVD's. Also, if it's just 30 days after, the initial marketing for the film can still be effective. Usually when a film hits DVD, the studio needs to roll out an entirely new ad campaign because, by that time, most people have forgotten about the film.

On the other hand, how many films do the studios deliver that people feel they HAVE to see right away? If I was a parent, I'd much rather just convince my kid to wait 30 days and then invite people over to watch the movie at home rather than have to trek the troop out to the theater. While the experience of going to the theater is still a plus for me, a lot of people don't like it. It should be interesting to see how this works out. I think it's a positive for the movie studios.

In the grand scheme of things, however, I'm still sticking with DirecTV. Personally, if I don't see a film in the theaters, it means that I can wait until it hits DVD. In many cases, it means I can wait until I stumble upon it when it hits cable. NFL Sunday Ticket is still the stronger package because the games are live and there's really no other way to see them. As a Patriots fan in Los Angeles, my options are Sunday Ticket or going to a sports bar at 10am every Sunday (actually, earlier than that if I want to get a good seat.)