TV Studios Get Real About Online Piracy

[Brendan Goetz]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060425/wr_nm/media_disney_abc_dc' target='_blank'>http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060425/wr_nm/media_disney_abc_dc</a><br /><br /></div><i>“Sweeney said the network must treat piracy as a business model that competes the same way, through price, time to market and distribution. Piracy has wreaked havoc on the music industry. ‘Going forward, piracy will be our number one competitor and our business models have to reflect that reality,’ Sweeney said. ‘We have to create models that encourage and allow honest people to stay honest.’ ABC plans next month to offer some of its most popular shows for free on the Internet in a two-month trial. ‘We expect to learn a lot from this effort about the technology as well as the consumers who use it,’ she said. ‘And we will be sharing that information with our affiliates so we can work together to build the right online model.’”</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/depp_pirate_gun2.jpg" /> <br /><br />Well, this is refreshing. Rather than stick their collective heads in the sand and treat piracy like a vicious disease, the studios look like they are copping on to the fact that this is basically their competition. And the way you beat the competition is by offering a better service. Offering a affordable, fast, and easy alternative to online piracy is all many people will need to go the legal route and get their content from legit sources. Sure, some people will still download a torrent of The West Wing 10 minutes after it is over, but for a lot of people, right now it is just too easy to pull down an episode of their favorite show and pop it on their iPod video for free. They would just as soon get it from the legit source if it were available quickly. I hope this catches on because there is a way for everyone to get what they want, it just requires this kind of progressive thinking from the studios. Now, if they could only talk some sense into the record industry…

[Philip Colmer]

Whilst I'm pleased to see ABC take this approach, they've still got some way to go. I don't think that streaming the programmes is the answer - downloads are what people want.

Sky &amp; the BBC have been doing work in this area in the UK - Sky already have a solution out that allows subscribers to their Sports &amp; Movie channels to download programmes &amp; films. Although there have been complaints about the "hidden" use of P2P and that it is difficult to uninstall, the actual service is a welcome one.

The BBC trial is now over but I think everyone pretty much expects them to roll it out later this year. It will allow all UK residents to download any BBC programme that was broadcast within the last 7 days.

Both providers use Windows Media DRM to control how long the file is valid for.

I noticed that ABC are using geo-IP checking to ensure that only US residents can watch the programmes. I'm fine with that and they could employ a similar technique to ensure that if they went for the download model, only US residents would be able to get the licence key.

--Philip

[ctmagnus]

Yes, the US-only thing that ABC employs is rather frustrating, IMO. As my avatar suggests, I'm a Lost fan, and I would love to be able to legitimately download episodes to watch on (at least one of) my devices.