Quote Originally Posted by nightflier
The studio's control over production can only apply to new releases. Yes, we can probably agree with the studios making it so, but what about the back catalog? More to the point, if only new movies will be released exclusively on BR at some point in the future (hasn't happened yet), how long will that last before digital downloads surpass it? It seems to me that BR has only a very small time window to completely replace DVD, and that window is shrinking everyday. With the continued losses from piracy on the back catalog and any new releases still coming to DVD, BR could very well only have a very short lifespan as the leading source of movies. Let's not forget that DVD sales still dominate, especially world-wide.
Your grasp of the market conditions is fleeting at best. As I've told you numerous times before, the new releases market represents the vast majority of the market. It's the new release window that generates by far the biggest share of revenues, and always has. The best selling videos have always been new releases, and there has always been a major dropoff in sales when they get reissued later on in a different format.

The back catalog has already been mined through numerous times, and the rate of return declines with every successive re-release (unless you add something new of value). What titles do you think are on all these movie streaming services? Basically, the same titles in the DVD clearance bins that hardly anyone buys anymore. Catalog titles generate revenue -- that's why the studios continue to issue them on Blu-ray. But, those revenues pale in comparison with what new releases generate.

The decades old techie pipe dream of digital distribution taking over the market is totally delusional until that market segment actually begins to outgrow Blu-ray. Last time I checked, Blu-ray's growth rate was 4X greater. The math for digital distribution won't even begin to compute until the growth rates switch places. Techies talk about this as if it's fait accompli, yet the actual sales trends indicate that the clock for the digital takeover hasn't even begun counting down yet.