Declining DVD sales and lackluster box-office performances are driving Hollywood studios and Consumer Electronics manufacturers to come up with new ways to increase their revenue streams. As this BusinessWeek's article and NY Times article report, Sony is experimenting with making some movies available through it's Internet ready Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players just before their DVD release. This new window, called as Home theatrical window is spaced between movie's theatrical release and it's DVD release so that, interests of theatre owners and DVD retailers are equally served . Sony, with it's unique position as Hardware manufacturer and Movie studio owner, is trying to convince other Hollywood studios and content providers to join this experiment.Even though HDTV and Blu-ray technology adoption is slow, there seems to be a section of viewers who are willing to pay a premium for watching movies on their big TV screens well before it's DVD release schedule. The quality of a typical internet streaming movie may be comparable to DVD quality but it doesn't match with Blu-ray quality. As Blu-ray technology becomes more mainstream, the popularity of this offering from Sony is going to depend on the quality of the online stream and how it is priced compared to DVDs.
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