NATO president and CEO John Fithian lays out the case:
Despite NATO’s repeated suggestions that our distribution partners discuss their potential VOD models with individual exhibitors prior to executing them, several leading studio executives appear determined to roll out early release VOD without proper consultation with exhibitors, without the input of the creative community and without market testing their proposed models to determine whether or not they work. In response to this ill-conceived attempted stampede, NATO and our members have (1) emphasized various possible responses of exhibitors; (2) reached out to the creative community to discuss shared objectives; (3) traveled to Wall Street to challenge the viability of these unworkable models; and (4) begun to educate leading reporters on the dangers of the proposals.
Read the whole thing.