Stephanie Prange

Piracy Lurks Larger

By : Erik Gruenwedel | Posted: February 26, 2009
egruenwedel@questex.com

While the industry and market wring their hands regarding the economy and downturn in packaged media sales, piracy and illegal file sharing of Hollywood movies and network television shows proliferate.

At a bagel store in Fullerton this week, I overheard an employee telling another about a Web site that offered free movies and TV programs that could be downloaded to a PC. Said he had just watched Yes Man, which Warner Home Video doesn’t release on DVD and Blu-ray until April 7.

As the employee wrote down the name of the site, I asked about it. After convincing him I wasn’t a cop, he gave me the URL. The employee said the picture quality was as good as DVD.

Turns out the site (name withheld for obvious reasons) is a file-sharing platform, the same medium Napster and later BitTorrent and other P2P trailblazers used to all but destroy the music CD business. Movie files can be difficult and time-consuming to download. But with increased broadband penetration and sites that allow you to view while downloading, challenges are fading.

An acquaintance mentioned watching 20th Century Fox Studios’ Taken, downloaded to a PlayStation 3 — a week before I saw it theatrically.

Richard Doherty, analyst with The Envisioneering Group, said sales of blank DVDs typically surge near college campuses around street date.

“It’s an issue the studios don’t like to talk about,” he said.

In these recessionary times, piracy should be atop all studios' weekly boardroom agendas.

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Commented by Ben Drawbaugh
Posted on 2009-02-27 14:50:18

Should it be any surprise? Hollywood is almost completely ignoring this segment because they are too scared people will cancel cable. I mean if someone watches 4 shows on cable, that means they should pay $60 a month? Or even worse pay iTunes $4.00 an episode for something they will only watch once? I suppose they could wait 3-9 months for the Blu-ray discs -- assuming they are ever released (I'm talking to you HBO, as I'm still waiting on the John Adams Blu-ray set). There was a glimpse of hope that this market would be catered to, but then Hulu's providers decide that wasn't what they had in mind. In these hard times people are looking for ways to save money, and paying $60/mo to watch a few shows seems like a good alternative to most.

Commented by rossco65
Posted on 2009-02-28 22:14:28

Why are the studio's and networks so scared of providing choice? I'm in Australia where Television is abysmal and we see most movies, other than blockbusters, usually a year or so after they're released in the states. Yes there are some exceptions but on the whole, that is the case. I downloaded and watched True Blood a year before it's been released here in Australia and only on premium pay tv. I would happily have paid money to download it. The same with movies. There are some movies I'll wait to see in the theatre but only big boofy event movies. I don't understand why the studios can't do a simultaneous release online and theatrically for non event movies or all of them. I reckon they'd make more money with people paying to download a movie then they would theatrically. The choice being in that I could decide if I wanted to wait to see it at the cinema on a big screen and then buy it later on Blu Ray or I felt I'd prefer to watch downloaded in high res off the net and pay a decent premium price. Same wit