Coming to your TV: New movies still in the theater

New, first-run films may soon be coming to TV near you even as they are still running in theaters. Now the question is what the impact will be on theaters.

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday approved the request by major Hollywood studios for a technological step that would allow them to bring high-definition films to the small screen far, far more quickly.The studios have wanted to work with cable, phone and satellite providers to offer first-run films from video-on-demand services, probably at a premium price, but have been worried it might lead to more illegal copying and piracy problems.

To prevent that, they asked the FCC to let video-on-demand services temporarily turn off any secondary outputs on a TV, cable box or DVR whenever a first-run movie is being watched. Normally, under FCC rules only a homeowner can turn off those output jacks.