WEBVTT - Movie Ticket Subscription Services Compared

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<v Speaker 1>Movie subscription plans compared. What's going on. I'm Rich Demiro.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Rich on Tech. Well, you've probably heard of

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<v Speaker 1>Movie Past. They kind of shook up the movie industry

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<v Speaker 1>by introducing in all you can watch plan for movie

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<v Speaker 1>theater tickets, kind of like Netflix, but for movies that

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<v Speaker 1>you see in actual theaters. Well, ever since they started up,

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<v Speaker 1>several other companies have also come along and introduced their

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<v Speaker 1>own movie subscription plans. So today I'm taking a look

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<v Speaker 1>at three of them, kind of comparing the pros and

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<v Speaker 1>cons and seeing which one might be best for you. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>keep in mind, all of these plans are really good

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<v Speaker 1>if you see several movies in the theaters a year.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you're just a casual moviegoer maybe you see

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<v Speaker 1>one movie every couple of months, probably not for you.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you see a lot of movies, these are fantastic.

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<v Speaker 1>If you see a bunch of movies, well they're pretty good.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's start with Movie Pass because they pioneered this entire

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<v Speaker 1>genre of subscriptions. So basically, movie Pass charges about ten

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<v Speaker 1>dollars a month, but in the they've done deals where

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<v Speaker 1>it's cheaper and it really sounds too good to be true,

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<v Speaker 1>because it's ten dollars a month and you can see

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<v Speaker 1>up to one movie a day, so literally thirty movies

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<v Speaker 1>in theaters for ten dollars a month. Now, with that said,

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<v Speaker 1>I think that movie Pass is definitely the toughest to

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<v Speaker 1>use for the average person because there are so many restrictions.

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<v Speaker 1>You can't see three D movies, you can't see two

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<v Speaker 1>D movies, you can't see Imax movies. You have to

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<v Speaker 1>see movies at certain theaters. You can't get advanced tickets.

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<v Speaker 1>You have to go to the theater to buy your ticket.

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<v Speaker 1>They do have E ticketing, but it's very limited and

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<v Speaker 1>only with certain theaters. I talk to my friend Brian Bishop.

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<v Speaker 1>He does a podcast called The Film Vault and he

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<v Speaker 1>reviews movies on that podcast. He has movie Pass and

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<v Speaker 1>he told me it is great for him, but he

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<v Speaker 1>really has the system down. He paid ninety dollars for

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<v Speaker 1>a one year subscription to movie Pass. So far he

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<v Speaker 1>said he saw over eleven movies in six months using

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<v Speaker 1>the service, But he said it is kind of complicated

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<v Speaker 1>to use. They give you a debit card, use that

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<v Speaker 1>to buy your tickets, but you have to be on

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<v Speaker 1>site to buy tickets and sometimes They even ask you

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<v Speaker 1>to take a picture of your movie ticket to prove

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<v Speaker 1>that you're not abusing the service. This sounds like a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of work, and I think it's really limited to

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<v Speaker 1>people who want to sort of game the system get

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<v Speaker 1>the absolute most bang for their buck. It's doable, clearly,

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<v Speaker 1>he's proof of that, but I think for the average person,

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<v Speaker 1>this one is going to be way too complicated. And

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<v Speaker 1>if you get into the whole couples thing where you

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<v Speaker 1>want to go to see a movie with someone else,

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<v Speaker 1>that gets even more complicated because then you got to

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<v Speaker 1>figure out how to get a seat next to each other.

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<v Speaker 1>And in a city like La where it's kind of

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<v Speaker 1>crowded when you go to see movies, that could be tough.

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<v Speaker 1>Now a new alternative is from AMC theaters. This is

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<v Speaker 1>called AMC Stubs a list. It's three movies a week.

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<v Speaker 1>As long as you go to AMC theaters, you can

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<v Speaker 1>pretty much see any movie you want. You can see

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<v Speaker 1>a movie in IMAX, you can see a movie in

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<v Speaker 1>two D, you can see a movie in three D,

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<v Speaker 1>so it really solves many of movie passes drawbacks. But

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<v Speaker 1>you're limited to AMC movie theaters, which is not bad

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<v Speaker 1>because AMC has a ton of theaters. You also have

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<v Speaker 1>to commit to a minimum of three months. You're definitely

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<v Speaker 1>in for sixty dollars. So if you do the math,

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<v Speaker 1>there three movies a week. Let's say you max it out,

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<v Speaker 1>that would be twelve movies a month for twenty dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you multiply that to be thirty six movies

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<v Speaker 1>for sixty dollars, do the math. Not too bad, but

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<v Speaker 1>you have to see a lot of movies to get

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<v Speaker 1>your money's worth, especially with this one. I think the

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<v Speaker 1>stubs a list is going to be the easiest to

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<v Speaker 1>use because you can buy advanced tickets, you can reserve

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<v Speaker 1>your seat. So that one's a good one, but again,

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<v Speaker 1>twenty dollars very expensive. You have to see a ton

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<v Speaker 1>of movies for that to work out. Now the final one,

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<v Speaker 1>and this one is my pick. It's a relative newcomer

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<v Speaker 1>here in the United States, but they've been doing their

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<v Speaker 1>service overseas for a couple of years now. It's called Cinemia,

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<v Speaker 1>and they have plans that are as low as five

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<v Speaker 1>dollars a month. They are not unlimited, though, so they

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<v Speaker 1>gave me a trial subscription to try it out. I

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<v Speaker 1>went to see Incredibles two. And the cool thing about

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<v Speaker 1>cinemia is, yes, it's a little bit more complicated, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's actually quite easy once you learn how to use it.

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<v Speaker 1>So different plans have different amounts of movie tickets. So

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<v Speaker 1>for that five dollars plan, you get one ticket a month.

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<v Speaker 1>That's pretty easy to use. You can do a couple's

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<v Speaker 1>plan where you can get a movie for two people,

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<v Speaker 1>so that makes it easier to buy two tickets at

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<v Speaker 1>the same time. And here's how cinemia works. It all

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<v Speaker 1>works with a virtual credit card. So once you sign in,

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<v Speaker 1>you set everything up, they assign you a virtual credit card.

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<v Speaker 1>You go in and you tell them, hey, I want

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<v Speaker 1>to see this movie in two D, three D, whatever

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<v Speaker 1>your plan can allow. And then at this time, at

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<v Speaker 1>this theater, their system on the back end calculates exactly

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<v Speaker 1>how much those movie tickets should cost, and then they

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<v Speaker 1>pre authorize or they load up that virtual debit card

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<v Speaker 1>that you have with the exact amount of money it

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<v Speaker 1>costs to buy those tickets. So let's say the tickets

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<v Speaker 1>are twenty dollars. Will you go on fandango, ormovietickets dot

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<v Speaker 1>Com or adam tickets and your card will only work

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<v Speaker 1>for twenty dollars for the next two hours or so.

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<v Speaker 1>And I asked the CEO, I said, well, do people

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<v Speaker 1>try to use this card at like Amazon or something

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<v Speaker 1>like that? You said, all the time, But our system

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<v Speaker 1>only allows it to work at the exact movie ticket

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<v Speaker 1>website you're talking about that you pre authorize and also

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<v Speaker 1>for the time and showing and all that stuff. So

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<v Speaker 1>it's a pretty smart system and you can see how

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<v Speaker 1>it works pretty well. Once you figure that out, it's

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<v Speaker 1>very easy to use. The other thing to know about

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<v Speaker 1>with Cinemia is that you are on the hook for

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<v Speaker 1>any advanced ticketing fees. Those are not included in your subscription.

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<v Speaker 1>So for me, I bought from fandango, it costs me

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<v Speaker 1>a dollar fifty for each ticket. So I was charged

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<v Speaker 1>on my link to credit card three dollars when I

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<v Speaker 1>purchased my Cinemia tickets. Now that's still pretty good three

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<v Speaker 1>dollars to see a movie, but it is something to

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<v Speaker 1>know about. The Other thing to know about Cinemia that's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty cool is that if you can get around those

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<v Speaker 1>movie ticketing fees, you don't have to pay for them.

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<v Speaker 1>So let's say with Fandango you find some sort of

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<v Speaker 1>promotion where the movie ticketing fees are free. Well, when

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<v Speaker 1>you go in and authorize your Cinemia card, you tell them, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not actually paying for these advanced ticketing fees and

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<v Speaker 1>they won't authorize your credit card for those. Now you

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<v Speaker 1>have to keep in mind you can't cheat the system

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<v Speaker 1>because if you say that you don't need to pay

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<v Speaker 1>those fees and then Fandango tries to charge you those fees,

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<v Speaker 1>guess what, your transaction is not going to go through

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<v Speaker 1>because they're only putting the exact amount for those tickets

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<v Speaker 1>on your card. So my advice if you can buy

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<v Speaker 1>your tickets through Facebook right now, Facebook has a deal,

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<v Speaker 1>or if you buy your movie tickets through the Facebook app,

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<v Speaker 1>they actually use Fandango on the back end, but your

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<v Speaker 1>movie ticketing fees are waived right now on Facebook. I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know how long that offer is going to last for,

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<v Speaker 1>but if you pair up Cinemia and buy your tickets

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<v Speaker 1>through Facebook, then you won't have to pay for those

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<v Speaker 1>movie ticketing fees at least for the foreseeable future until

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<v Speaker 1>Facebook stops doing that promotion. So bottom line, Movie past

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<v Speaker 1>cheapest plan, but the most restrictions. AMC stubs A list

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<v Speaker 1>the most expensive, but I think the easiest to use,

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<v Speaker 1>and Cinemia the best combination of value and convenience. If

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<v Speaker 1>you want to read my full review on Cinemia or

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<v Speaker 1>see the TV segment I did on all three of

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<v Speaker 1>these movie ticketing apps, you can go to my website.

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<v Speaker 1>It is richon tech dot tv. Like what I'm doing here,

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<v Speaker 1>Please rate and review the podcast in Apple Podcasts or

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<v Speaker 1>whatever app that you use to listen. Thanks so much

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<v Speaker 1>for listening. You can always find links at richontech dot tv.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Richdemiro. I'll talk to you real soon