1031
Another reason to sail the high seas
(sh.itjust.works)
$25 to rent the movie, one watch within max 24 hours after you start watching it... Or $5 more to own it. Scammers.
It's less than 2 movie tickets and people usually don't go to the theater alone.
Oh God just wait until they realize they can use cameras/IP geodata from your phone to determine how many people are in your house while you stream something so they start charging per person.
Wouldn't work because if you live in an apartment, then your neighbors are going to skew the numbers. There's no way for them to know if the guy who lives on the floor above you is in your apartment or theirs.
Cameras would work, as would AI to know which device identifiers tend to be close to one another. Besides, they wouldn't need or want perfect accuracy. I'm picturing basically something like the British does with TV licenses where they more or less assume you're guilty and then badger you into proving you're not. You have some friends over for the game, then you get a bill in the mail that says something like "This address has been linked to a broadcast without express, written consent from the NFL. Please pay $5 or we shut your service off. If you believe this letter is in error feel free to hire an attorney, take a day or two off of work and drive hundreds hundreds of miles to the dispute resolution center you agreed to use for such purposes when you accepted our EULA. We pay them, but who knows? Maybe they'll rule in your favor!"
You are exactly right. This whole thread is full of people complaining about the price, but it's perfectly justifiable for this one reason. If you have a significant other then it's actually cheaper to rent than it is to go to the theater. And big screen TVs are commonplace, so the experience is about the same (arguably better since you can pause if you have to go pee, can rewind if you missed something, can be as obnoxious as you want, don't have to commute there, and don't have to deal with sticky floors and overpriced popcorn).
I'm not saying the price is reasonable (it's too high in my opinion) but people need to stop pretending like it makes no sense from a business perspective. It's a no-brainer to the average non-pirating consumer: they are getting something better, for cheaper.
I love all the good and the bad of the movie theater experience, except the price. But having a young child now, it's just not worth going most of the time. I am still an avid film viewer so it's nice that I have an option to rent at home with only a slight delay behind the theatrical run. If I'm feeling really patient, I can usually wait a little longer and stream it for free. I recently did that with the TMNT movie.