Thanks, Comcast - Now Piracy Can Reign Supreme

If pirates ever need an excuse to steal movies, Comcast is here to help. Comcast CMCSA, the brilliant baffling cable company that acquired NBC, is slated to experiment with an idea that absolutely no one will care about: $60 movie rentals. Instead of spending $60 on a new video game (which, if nothing else, has the potential to provide you with more than two hours of entertainment), and instead of spending $10 to $12 on an individual ticket, Comcast is asking moviegoers in Atlanta, Georgia and Portland, Oregon to pay $60 to rent the new Ben Stiller/ Eddie Murphy comedy, Tower Heist. Why would anyone ever do this? Oh, because then we don't have to leave the house. We all know how much people hate to get up and do something. Thus, for the price of one brand-new video game, select consumers will be able to rent – not purchase – Tower Heist three weeks after it's released in theaters. Exciting, isn't it? Clearly the guys who thought of this spectacular stupid idea do not follow the news. Otherwise they would know that DirecTV DTV attempted a similar scheme and failed miserably. With DirecTV, consumers only had to pay $30 to see a film two months after it was released in theaters. With Comcast, you'll get to see the film much sooner but pay twice the price. I've tried to think of a scenario in which $60 would be worth a movie rental, and I can't come up with one. If my friends were coming over and we really wanted to see a new movie, I'd simply drag them to the theater. Nothing compares to the theater experience anyway. While there are some impressive high-def TVs out there (and some brilliant home theater offerings for the rich and famous), movie theaters still provide the best viewing experience. Now if you had come to me in March of 2010 and said, “Louis, ABC is charging $60 to watch the final hours of Lost right now!” I would have cleared my schedule, grabbed my TV remote and ran to the screen. Unlike Tower Heist, this wasn't just another movie – it was Lost. The end of Lost, a show I had cherished – in good times and in bad – for six years. To be given the chance to see the show conclude early would have been a remarkable experience that I couldn't have passed up. But that's a rare circumstance. There aren't any TV shows on the air that I would do that for now. I doubt there ever will be again. Certainly, there aren't any movies that I'd pay that much to see – especially not after the film was in theaters. Now if you said, “Hey Louis, there's a special screening of Brave this weekend. Tickets are $40. You going?” Sure, I'd cave. It'd be a killer experience. And assuming the screening didn't have embargoes attached, I could then be one of the first to review the film, thus providing value to Benzinga with an early review. That'd be a win-win situation. But I wouldn't pay $60, $50, $40, $30 or even $20 to see Brave a single day after it was released. When it finally arrives next summer, I will get in line and happily pay the $13 entry fee ($10 for the ticket, $3 extra for the addition of 3D) like everybody else. While I could surely come up with additional reasons for why Comcast's rental plans are absurd (and probably think of a few scenarios in which paying a little more to see a film early might actually be worth it – Dark Knight Rises, anyone?), there is something else to be concerned about: piracy. Piracy is a huge problem for the film and music industries, and while I don't believe that consumers are born criminals, they do tend to follow the, “Hey, if it's free and easy, why not?” mentality. Thus, Napster became a smash hit, millions still pirate music, and too many consumers download steal movies instead of paying for tickets, DVDs or legal digital downloads. The easier technology makes it to steal digital content, the more likely consumers are to take advantage. (This explains why console video games, such as those played on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, have a much lower piracy rate than music and movies.) There is one catch though. Consumers also have the tendency to look for free alternatives to items that are priced out of their reach. Realistically, $60 movie rentals are out of reach. And for those who can afford them, why bother? That price is still too high. Thus, if consumers can't get the movie they want at home, and if they don't feel like going to the theater, they will once again turn to the place that's corrupting the whole industry: piracy. That, my friend, is anything but fantastic. But considering the source of the problem, I suppose it is Comcastic. Follow me @LouisBedigian