Target-Disney Feud: Dinosaurs Hold Out

The dispute almost escalated to open warfare:

Target Backs Off in Online Movies Feud
Nov 17, 7:32 PM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Discount retailer Target backed off plans to pull in-store promotions of products from Walt Disney after Disney threatened not to ship DVDs of hit movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” a person familiar with the situation said Friday.

The companies are at odds over The Walt Disney Co.’s decision to sell movies online through Apple Computer Co.’s iTunes store for less than it charges Target and other retailers.
The dispute is part of a feud between a number of major retailers and Hollywood studios over online movie sales.

Target Corp. (TGT) stores had removed signs promoting the DVD of the Disney-Pixar animated film “Cars” and other Disney products, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak for either company.

The two sides are discussing their differences after resolving the standoff, the person said.

The message from Target to the rest of the studios is: Don’t even think about it.

That’s fine for the very short-term. But the message from the marketplace to the studios who don’t take advantage of the online opportunity: Other studios will, even if they end up being ones you haven’t heard of yet or that don’t even exist yet. Adapt or die.

And the long-term message to Target, Wal-Mart, and the rest is this: Get used to the idea that you’re eventually going to have to devote that DVD store space to selling something else.