Patrick Goldstein says it is in the L.A. Times.
The only question for him seems to be how big of a flop. The headline for his post gives you some idea: “Is DirecTV’s $30 movie rental test a flop of ‘Ishtar’-like proportions?” Yikes.
Why he thinks it flopped mirrors NATO’s thinking on the issue precisely:
The lesson here? As long as Netflix is around the studios are never going to have any luck getting fans to spend three times what they pay for a regular theater ticket to see a movie 60 days after its release, even in the comfort of their own homes. Once you get past the initial theatrical run, the price of entertainment is heading down, not up. The DVD boom is over. We are fast becoming a nation of renters, not buyers.
Say it with me: “Once you get past the initial theatrical run, the price of entertainment is heading down, not up.”