With the past problems of illegally sharing music files over the Internet, the film industry has been working to implement services to legally download movies online to prevent the same outcome the music industry has been facing.
“In my business we’re just looking over the shoulder of the music industry, which has gone through a very difficult time,” said Bob Wright, NBC universal chairman and chief executive, according to an article in Entertainment Weekly.
Wright said that with today’s spreading technologies in file sharing and high speed Internet, movies are becoming more and more vulnerable to illegal downloading.
Gary Hansen, a junior from Preston Idaho shared his opinion concerning the efforts that are being made to protect movies from piracy.
“Even though I don’t think it will completely stop illegal downloading, it’s a good idea, but not realistic enough,” Hansen said.
Steps have already been taken toward preventing illegal downloading within the film industry. For instance, a service called Movielink started making movies available online to rent in 2002, in which people are able to legally download movies.
However, at this point, Movielink is just a rental service in which movies can be rented temporarily and for a price anywhere from $1.99 to $5.99, said a Movielink representative.
“I didn’t know that you could rent movies online,” said Mikkel Robb, a freshman from Highland, Utah, when asked about her opinion about services such as Movielink. “It’s cool that you don’t have to go anywhere to rent a movie. I think it’s smart.”
“When you are able to start downloading and burning your own legitimate DVDs, hopefully sometime next year, I think that will be the next big breakthrough,” said Yair Landau, Sony Pictures Digital president, according to an article in Newsweek International.
When asked how much he thinks it will cost to download a movie, Landau said that downloading an older titled movie in DVD format will probably cost about $9.99. However, there are several variables that will determine the cost, and these include such things as usage rules and quality of the DVD download.
In witnessing the music industry fighting the illegal downloading of music files, “you have to accept that technology empowers the consumer, and you have to adapt to that and really respond to what they’re telling you,” Landau said.
For example, in the music industry, consumers often desire to be able to download individual songs. Landau said that in the movie industry, the issue is probably the consumer’s desire to watch movies sooner.
Landau said that just as the iPod has allowed people to download music online, recent hardware such as the PlayStation Portable and cell phones with mobile video capability may result in increased movie downloading.
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