Warner Brothers--and other studios likely to come--decide to change the video rental game.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10426792-261.html
http://community.netflix.com/forum/topics/netflix-bends-over-for-warner?xg_source=activity

Interesting--Hollywood studios want to forcibly revive the old ways of doing DVD business by breathing life into sagging in-store sales and rentals from chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video (plus what few independent video stores remain). At the same time, there seems to be a cluelessness about just how much of a demand there will be in the recession climate... for consumers to keep paying an average of $20 apiece for movies on DVD--outside of surefire hit titles like THE HANGOVER and THE BLIND SIDE.

And, of course, Netflix will probably continue spinning the "hey, we get a lot of older content to stream on computers, set-top boxes and newer DVD players" talking point.

The question is: Will WB provide Netflix with quality older content--or just dump a lot of revenue-stream-exhausted stuff like THE IN CROWD, THE POSTMAN and BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER?

Warner Bros. bundling its DVD-on-demand archive selections.

It's an attempt to increase sales of DVDs-on-demand, but Warner Brothers' home video campaign devoted to "bundling" a set of DVDs (Cary Grant films, for example) for half the price of buying them at regular rates is worth looking into:
http://www.wbshop.com/Bundles/WACBUNDLE,default,sc.html?adid=WACBndlEml

I've bought a handful of DVDs from the Warner Archive (including a couple of hard-to-find Garbo silents). It's a good consumer service that deserves to escape death-by-economic recession.