4 ms·

This is most certainly not the case. Rental licenses are their own thing and usually get their own media stock. For DVDs, the discs usually had basic monochrome

This is most certainly not the case. Rental licenses are their own thing and usually get their own media stock. For DVDs, the discs usually had basic monochrome screen printing and came in paper sleeves that would later be processed into rent-able form.

Retric 3y ago
Where’s the contract you sign when buying a DVD? If you want to get a copy before it’s for general sale then you need to sign a contract, if you buy it at Walmart you don’t.
- gjsman-1000 3y ago
  There is one, in the sense that the law states you cannot use the digital contents any way you like - you can only use the digital contents for your own personal, home use. However, the physical disk is protected by First Sale Doctrine. You can sell it, rent it, auction it, destroy it, whatever you want. The same applies to, say, your laptop. You can do whatever you physically want to your laptop, even if you can't copy your Windows license wherever you like.
  - Retric 3y ago
    Which is why you can lend people the physical disk for someone to use at home, but can’t stream people the DVD.
giantrobot 3y ago
Right of first sale lets the buyer rent out discs. No matter what publisher/studio cartels might tell you, no licensing from the publisher is required. This doesn't preclude the existence of specially packaged "rental" discs but Netflix is not and has never been limited to those.
pavon 3y ago
Nope, you only need a rental license to get copies of movies to rent out before they are available to purchase (and the contract for those often made you agree to only use rental licenses for any movies from that publisher). If your rental business is content with always waiting for DVDs to be released to the public then yes you can rent out any legally purchased DVDs by the right of first sale.
- filmgirlcw 3y ago
  Correct -- and studios decided to go direct-to-consumer in the late 1990s, realizing they could sell way more discs for $14.99 (often sold for $9.99) to the general public than they could sell $50 discs to rental shops. Plus, the technology allowed studios to digitize their back catalogs that had never had home video releases, opening up a new revenue stream that would last another decade until over-saturation and the recession stopped growth (the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray battle didn't help) and consumers transitioned very quickly from VOD/digital purchases to streaming. When direct-to-consumer happened, there was typically not any difference between when a large rental chain got a disc and when I could pick mine up on Tuesday morning at Best Buy (or get it in the mail, sometimes arriving the day before) or wherever. Some chains like Blockbuster did sign rental agreements with studios both because of the bulk orders they needed and because for a few years, Blockbuster had to stock VHS tapes AND DVDs and the studios would basically make them sign those agreements if they still wanted to get VHS tapes -- but nothing stopped them from carrying the home release versions from retail if a rental copy was not available. And as you say, nothing stopped the indie shops from buying Tuesday morning at 10am and then immediately putting them out to rent.

Retric 3y ago

Where’s the contract you sign when buying a DVD? If you want to get a copy before it’s for general sale then you need to sign a contract, if you buy it at Walmart you don’t.

gjsman-1000 3y ago
There is one, in the sense that the law states you cannot use the digital contents any way you like - you can only use the digital contents for your own personal, home use. However, the physical disk is protected by First Sale Doctrine. You can sell it, rent it, auction it, destroy it, whatever you want. The same applies to, say, your laptop. You can do whatever you physically want to your laptop, even if you can't copy your Windows license wherever you like.
- Retric 3y ago
  Which is why you can lend people the physical disk for someone to use at home, but can’t stream people the DVD.

giantrobot 3y ago

Right of first sale lets the buyer rent out discs. No matter what publisher/studio cartels might tell you, no licensing from the publisher is required. This doesn't preclude the existence of specially packaged "rental" discs but Netflix is not and has never been limited to those.

pavon 3y ago

Nope, you only need a rental license to get copies of movies to rent out before they are available to purchase (and the contract for those often made you agree to only use rental licenses for any movies from that publisher). If your rental business is content with always waiting for DVDs to be released to the public then yes you can rent out any legally purchased DVDs by the right of first sale.

filmgirlcw 3y ago
Correct -- and studios decided to go direct-to-consumer in the late 1990s, realizing they could sell way more discs for $14.99 (often sold for $9.99) to the general public than they could sell $50 discs to rental shops. Plus, the technology allowed studios to digitize their back catalogs that had never had home video releases, opening up a new revenue stream that would last another decade until over-saturation and the recession stopped growth (the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray battle didn't help) and consumers transitioned very quickly from VOD/digital purchases to streaming. When direct-to-consumer happened, there was typically not any difference between when a large rental chain got a disc and when I could pick mine up on Tuesday morning at Best Buy (or get it in the mail, sometimes arriving the day before) or wherever. Some chains like Blockbuster did sign rental agreements with studios both because of the bulk orders they needed and because for a few years, Blockbuster had to stock VHS tapes AND DVDs and the studios would basically make them sign those agreements if they still wanted to get VHS tapes -- but nothing stopped them from carrying the home release versions from retail if a rental copy was not available. And as you say, nothing stopped the indie shops from buying Tuesday morning at 10am and then immediately putting them out to rent.