I maintain that there is some trouble for Netflix and Redbox in the recent announcing and forming of the Epix movie channel, because it represents a serious possible problem to rental outlets.

Now, admittedly, it’s only a possibility.  See, Epix has already begun talks with my personal fave TV provider DIsh Network to get Epix in the lineup.

This by itself might not mean anything–after all, Fox has been running FX for how long now?  And it’s not like that’s doing any damage–but there COULD be a serious problem.

See, the studios aren’t really happy with Netflix and Redbox.  They’re driving down the price.  After all, why pay to own a movie when you can just watch it once and return it at a vastly cheaper price?  Not much sense in that route at all.  So if the companies behind Epix, including Lions Gate and Universal, decided to, they could USE Epix to freeze Netflix and Redbox out in the cold by running the new stuff THERE first, even before it sells to the public.  Naturally, they can’t stop Netflix and Redbox from buying and renting out what they bought (first use doctrine says renting a DVD you own is perfectly cool, despite what the breathless FBI warning says, but I’m not a lawyer nor do I pretend to be, so I may be reading that wrong.  Laws, after all, aren’t written for us folks to UNDERSTAND.), but they CAN control when they release DVDs to market.

So if Epix is used in a certain way, it could destroy Netflix and Redbox.  Will it be used that way?  Only time will tell.