$30 for PPV? Sure Hollywood.

So this is a deal that Sony, Warner Bros and Walt Disney are talking about whereby movies would be available AFTER their theatrical release but before their On-Demand/Rental dates, and the price being thrown around is $20-$30. You read that correct, THIRTY DOLLARS! That’s more than the price of a Blu-ray disc of the same movie a few months later. I understand Hollywood’s motivation to try to increase sales but this seems pretty poorly thought out and I can’t imagine this taking off. Then again, the studios will eventually work with the On-Demand providers once the movie is ready so the "work" involved is quite minimal.

Hollywood studios have been looking for ways to generate
additional sales from movies as DVD purchases decline. A so-
called “premium” service would let consumers see movies on TV
without waiting as long as the typical three to four months for
DVDs or cable companies’ $4 or so on-demand showings.

But let me play devil’s advocate. In today’s era where DVD Rips of movies are released a few days if not weeks before the actual release date, is there even a doubt that pirates would spend the $30 to purchase one copy and then distribute this HD version across the net? A lot of people have no problem NOT pirating a movie that they can just wait a week and get the rental disc, but if you’re talking about multiple months ahead of time…that’s pretty tempting and could end up being more damaging than the profits it would net (if any).