Movie madness: Magnolia puts VoD ahead of theaters

With an owner like Mark Cuban, it's not that surprising that Magnolia Pictures has made six films--albeit hardly future box office blockbusters--available via video on demand (VoD) 30 days before their theatrical release.

The films are being offered to the usual suspects: Amazon VoD, AT&T (NYSE: T) U-Verse, Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Cox Communications, PlayStation 3 Store, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Xbox 360 Marketplace, Vudu and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) FiOS TV. DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) and Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) can have the films a week before theaters and Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) is being offered the flicks same-day-as-theater viewing.

Theater owners are already apoplectic about plans by DirecTV, Comcast and Vudu, among others, to offer $30 film rentals 60 days after theatrical release.

For more:
- Home Media Magazine has this story
- see Magnolia's website
- TV Predictions has this story

Related articles:
Dish, DirecTV plunge into VoD business as movie theaters balk
Premium VoD offerings priced too high, study says