At Netflix, The Embargo Is On

Well folks, better make some backup plans if you’re counting on watching your new releases through Netflix–Warner Brothers has officially reached an agreement with Netflix which keeps new release Warner titles unavailable through the popular service in exchange for huge discounts, more product and increased access to streaming content.

See, Warner’s thinking that if they can just make people wait twenty eight whole days after a product is released before it lands on Netflix, people’s tiny little minds will be so overwhelmed with lust for Warner product that they’ll rush right out and buy it, instead of renting it.

Dire predictions have come in from all over, meanwhile, saying that this move is sure to increase movie piracy thousandsfold and soon Warner itself will go out of business from the losses, at least that’s the MPAA stance on things last I knew, that every pirated copy of a movie costs a studio directly one hojillion dollars.

Ironically, this stance is limited to Netflix and Redbox and such right now, and will not affect rentals at brick-and-mortar stores like Blockbuster and Movie Gallery / Hollywood Video, which makes me wonder what the REAL point of all this is.