So, then the key is lowering marketing costs which can easily run $40+M on a global release.

And how do you do that?

Let's not forget that marketing is one of the major opportunities studios have to double-dip on a budget (financing costs are the other one) and they're not interested in simply giving that away.

from Yahoo News -

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cbs-offer-stand-alone-subscription-1300265...

At some point, you'll see a consolidation and drop-out of some of these services .. Red Box ceased its streaming offerings this week ... but CBS and other networks have a wealth of material and now they won't have to sell it to the third parties like Netflix or Amazon because they'll be able to stream everything themselves .. in return, Netflix and Amazon are jumping into the original programming ... so, the US TV landscape went from three major networks in the 1970's to five-six in the 1990's to a soon-to-be infinite network system ... this should be good news for the independent filmmakers as well ... the biggest problems for the no/low/micro budgeted films remains their inability to find a suitable distribution partner ... now, every major streaming company - from YouTube to Amazon to Netflix to CBS to HBO will fight to deliver a high amount of usable inventory to their binge viewers ... the marginal losers here are the cable companies, who will have to carefully pick their partners as they take the next step ...

They had to go online to compete with Netflix and Amazon but one has to be weary of the US market's ability to handle all these services. Netflix's stock was pummeled yesterday when their earning report was announced - off by 20%. The subscribers are up but, if their stock gets hit even more, it will hinder their ability to purchase as many titles as they have recently (or, alternatively, pay for them as much as they have been paying ... $2M/episode of "Black List" is absurd, even if it's shot in 4K). At least, HBO will always have cable to fall back on if the streaming biz goes south.

The problem for the studios is that the majority people aren't likely to replace their old DVD's and Blu-Rays just to get a 4K disc. Similarly, many old/classic TV shows weren't shot on film anyway - oddly enough, the shows from the 50's and 60's were but in Black&White - and are barely good enough for Full HD. Thus, their market will be targeted toward the cinephiles and the first time purchasers of both 4K TV's and 4K Blu-Rays and that sort of clientele will also be deemed "upscale" and thus very much worth targeting. Eventually, of course, as prices come down, everything offered will be in 4K and, considering that they are dropping precipitously already, the 4K adoption may be faster than anticipated.

PS. Vizio is releasing their 4K sets starting at $999 MSRP for a $50" model and the "off-brands" like Seike and TLC could undercut that price point by 30% or more. Additionally, Seike is readying its 24"-27" (?) computer monitors for the desktop market. At the moment, one can purchase AOC 28" monitor for $549 online. The above basically brings the 4K into the mainstream economically, regardless of the individual aesthetics.

They were going to up their monthly fees anyway. This gives them a reasonable excuse to do so.

All streamers need to get a leg up on the 4K market before the 4K Blu-ray hits the stores a year from now. A disc player could naturally offer a superior bit rate and, with it, superior picture to anything streamed until the infrastructure can handle upward of 100 MBPS on a consistent basis.

DLD

URSA has been shipping its EF mount version for about three weeks now.

It's available on Adorama, TX Media Systems, etc.

DLD