The Real Reason For Staggered Movie/Video Release

The real reason for staggered movie/video release was recently revealed during a joint industry meeting of the British Video Association and FACT, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, at the BAFTA cinema in Londonís Piccadilly. At the conference, Consumer Affairs Minister Kim Howells told the video establishment to ""get real"" and end the ""absurd"" policy of staggered releasing. If movies and video were released simultaneously, there would be no need for chipped (regionalized) players and imports, and far less demand for pirate copies. For the first time ever, someone from the movie industry owned up and admitted that the cost of 35mm cinema prints was the real reason for staggered releasing. ""Itís just not possible to have that many prints ready for worldwide release,"" said Nathan Knight of the Motion Picture Association.Source: Barry Fox, What Video & TV