The once lucrative home-entertainment market is ailing. A steep decline in DVD sales has more than cancelled out growth in high-definition Blu-ray discs and electronic downloads. In developed countries, particularly America (by far the biggest home-entertainment market), people have switched from buying to borrowing. Since 2007 the number of films rented in America has grown by 10% even as spending on home entertainment has steadily declined.
All the big studios apart from Disney (once again going its own way) will start offering electronic copies of films that conform to a single format later this year. Buy a film, either as a download or as a Blu-ray disc that comes with digital rights, and a token will be stored in your account. In theory, you should then be able to play the film on television through your existing set-top box, download it to your laptop and your smartphone, and perhaps burn an extra copy to a DVD. Buying a film should begin to seem more appealing than renting it or downloading it illegally.
Read more at The Economist
