Paramount Pictures, MGM and Lionsgate Partner on Epix FAIL

I have written a fair amount about what I see as the complete obsolescent concept of a “premium movie channel” like HBO or Showtime but that hasn’t stopped Paramount Pictures, MGM and Lionsgate from teaming up to launch EPIX, a premium movie channel that I predict will fail faster than Middle East peace negotiations.  According to the NYT:

The channel has engendered its fair share of skepticism in the media world, partly because of questions about consumer demand for another movie channel and because, increasingly, viewers have more options for how to consume video. Cable executives say privately that they have little interest in carrying the channel, which could partly be a negotiating ploy. But it does not appear that they are remotely close to a deal with any of the major cable companies.

I honestly can’t understand the thinking behind this move.  Instead of focusing on how to bring their films to the widest possible audience in the broadest number of formats at the lowest price, these studios are trying to get consumers to pony up more cash for a basically broken system that forces them to watch films on the studio’s terms instead of their own.

Can you say “Epix FAIL”?

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