Some earnings calls are a wasteland of pro forma responses. During the Disney 3Q05 call, though, I thought I heard something worth getting verbatim from Bob Iger, president, COO and CEO-elect; the next time he speaks on an earnings call he will be the man in charge of Disney. The subject of softening DVD sales came up several different times, along with questions about how Disney would respond. Here’s what Iger had to say during one q-and-a exchange; a little long but worth it:
“I think a number of things have to change. I think we have to look more aggressively at window changes across the board … The notion that a product that airs on a television network remains exclusive, in effect, until its rerun airs some six months later is just one example of what has to change from a windowing perspective. The music industry learned this kind of the hard way.
Consumers have a lot more authority these days and they know that by using technology they can gain access to content and they want to use the power that they have to do so and we can’t stand in the way and we can’t allow tradition to stand in the way of where the consumer can go or wants to go. Windows in general need to change; they need to compress.
I don’t think it’s out of the question that a DVD can be released in the same window as the theatrical release although I’m sure we’ll get a fair amount of pushback from the industry but it’s not out of the question. I think all the old rules should be called into question because the rules in terms of consumption have changed so dramatically.”
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