Hollywood's New Distribution Model?

This article on BusinessWeek caught my eye, and I had a thought about its sociological implications. There's a movie called Bubble, which will be released almost simultaneously in theatres, on DVD and HDTV. The point is to collapse the distribution windows and deliver entertainment to consumers on demand. This is what piracy and file sharing is all about, and adapting this model can help turn revenues back to people who earned it.

I thought about the growing authority of consumers to dictate when they want things. We're like little brats, and because we're such a mass, we have the capability to be bullies too. Imagine if we could have everything at the times that we wanted them. It's democratic, yes, because no one tells us when, but at the same time, it creates a highly disjuncted world. It'll also be an impersonal world because our time will only be our own, and everything else are like fixtures we can schedule at our own convenience.

Still, I'm not actually sure if we could fall into such a state. The social nature of human beings seems a powerful enough counterbalance. I guess it's just nice to put our feelers up for things like this.
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Will Bubble Burst a Hollywood Dogma?

"Consumers have a lot more authority these days," Disney CEO Bob Iger told me shortly after his ascension to the top job at the Mouse House. Iger has said collapsing distribution windows is something Hollywood needs to investigate. "We can't put limits on movies when consumers don't want limits," he says. You betcha, Bob.

The movie industry is struggling to find its way in a new and fast-changing world where content is only as good as the consumers' ability to find it when he or she wants it.