Warner Brothers Opens its Vaults
In good news this morning, VDO is announcing a deal with Warner Brothers TV that they are going to provide content so that the VDO service can stream their material in Hong Kong to start.
Warner has been ok about releasing some content, like the rock videos that they released onto YouTube, but opening up streaming material in the Asian market, where (lets face this one) piracy is something that is common (ok, its common everywhere). This is a great move then on Warner’s part, in one way to stem piracy, in the other way, make some cash in an area where otherwise, the guy on the corner has three dollar DVD’s.
Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) has announced it has signed an agreement with ViDeOnline Communications, Ltd. (VDO) to deliver the studio’s entire library of current feature-length motion pictures and hundreds of other feature films to online audiences in a multi-year Video on Demand (VoD) venture. The service, initially to be launched in Hong Kong, offers content that can be either streamed or downloaded and played on compatible PCs. Source: Telecomtv
This raises the question though, and one for people in board rooms to figure out, with EMI doing DRM free music, and the limited release of materials on the streaming TV and Video sites. Then there is the social model as people moving to the internet to watch TV, there still is no defining economic model for this, still we want to know what this does about reducing piracy.
It is doubtful that we will ever get a real answer, but if anyone is going to make money on streaming media, it will be a partnership of delivery and content provider. As the producers of content start working (finally) to get their material on the internet this bodes well for choice, and may or may not reduce piracy. There is always going to be someone who wants to pirate rather than pay for, that is a given.
Yet offering more choice, and more legitimate channels in which ot pursue content is one way of addressing the problem. Warner Brothers is doing good in this respect, therefore in the fear driven board rooms of major media, EMI’s choice to do away with DRM, and Warner doing this. It is much better than Viacom giving out 100,000 take down notices, pause, then suing YouTube.
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