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| Format: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ930810 |
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Table of Contents:
- Film Format Pandemonium Malczewski, Benjamin Video Technology Film Production Public Libraries Nonprint Media Economic Climate Every day, Americans borrow 2.1 million DVDs from public libraries. Barely beating libraries out for the top spot is Netflix, at 2.2 million daily rentals. This is according to the OCLC 2010 survey "How Libraries Stack Up." (Redbox vending-machine rentals lag behind at 1.1 million, while DVD rental chain Blockbuster is no longer in the running, having filed for bankruptcy protection in September.) In today's tentative economic climate, a more financially discerning public is opting to borrow rather than spend. With Netflix augmenting its streaming offerings--in October, the company announced plans to move from "mostly DVD to mostly streaming," what many speculate is part of a long-term strategy to transition exclusively to streaming content--and with Redbox, too, soon adding subscription streaming to its services, the road appears paved for libraries to become the primary lender of DVDs to U.S. consumers. But are DVDs going to remain relevant much longer? That depends on the direction of competing film formats and delivery methods as well as the elusive processes of DVD production and distribution. The likely scenario is that when the shift to digital delivery occurs, it will be gradual. Until then, people will continue to see a compartmentalized marketplace, one in which competing film formats are divvied up according to users' preferred delivery methods, be it streaming to their TVs or laptops; downloaded to their smartphones or iPads for on-the-go viewing; or at home, slipped into their DVD/Blu-ray disc players or via premium cable subscriptions or video on demand (VOD). There will, of course, be fluctuations in the marketplace, with sales of one format or platform dipping one quarter and rising back up the next--until the tides adjust to a more device-agnostic world and the media waters find a new equilibrium.