By : Erik Gruenwedel | Posted: 02 Nov 2009
egruenwedel@questex.com

The month of November is earmarked to generate a record cable video-on-demand slate with a slew of major theatrical releases the same day as DVD and Blu-ray Disc, according to In Demand, the VOD service co-owned by Comcast, Time Warner and Cox Communications.

The Time Warner and Comcast have been torchbearers in the strategic effort to offer new-release movies on cable VOD the same day as their packaged media release.

Titles include Nov. 3: Food, Inc. (Magnolia), I Love You, Beth Cooper (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), Aliens in the Attic (Fox), and The Taking of Pelham 123 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment); and Nov. 10: The Ugly Truth (Sony); and Nov. 17 Bruno (Universal Studios Home Entertainment) and My Sister's Keeper (Warner Home Video). All the films will be available in high-definition.

Sony’s box office hit Angels & Demons, Four Christmases (Warner), Funny People (Universal) and Shorts (Warner) are available Nov. 24.

"Over the past three years, we've seen a more than seven-fold increase in the number of titles offered to cable's movies-on-demand the same time as DVD,” said David Asch, EVP of iN Demand Networks.

Indeed, in 2007, just 15 films were offered day-and-date with DVD compared to 76 films in 2008. This year, 110 films have been offered to cable VOD day-and-date with home video.

That said, studios apparently did not want to jeopardize packaged-media sales for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which won’t be available on cable VOD until Nov. 18 and 24, respectively.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was released at retail Oct. 20 and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Oct. 27.
 

---