No supplier appears to have committed a date or title for the move, but distributors expect it sometime between the next few waves of product announcements and the end of the year. Two suppliers have experimented with flat pricing following the past two NAVD conferences, Artisan Home Entertainment and then USA Home Entertainment. Both dropped flat pricing when orders failed to consistently meet sales goals. However, wholesalers say studios may be willing to make the jump now to reduce sideways selling and administrative headaches associated with copy depth programs. When you have that level of participation, the need to have programs diminishes considerably.
Distributors say the growing amount of sideways selling seems to be a key motivator.
Everybody said once it reaches a certain point, obviously it makes sense to do flat pricing. The problem, distributors say, is that nobody wants to be first. Then when the next ones come up it'll be the same story. There seems to be an unwillingness to take risk. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment executives reportedly told one distributor the studio is close to adopting flat rental pricing.