Yahoo Putting Movies Online

limpdawg writes, "Yahoo anounced a deal to put Hong Kong movies on the Internet in order to keep pirates from selling them in alleys. " Of course I'm still living for the day when every piece of video and film is online and available for me to watch whenever I choose... if the first step is some Bruce Lee movies, I'm cool with that.

Comments

I like this Guy's Attitude

[Anonymous Coward]

"If it gets very well received...there won't be pirate VCDs anymore," he said with a laugh.

Now, if they talked corporations who buy product placement into sponsoring the servers, ie: showing their products off indefinately, this could be an even more win-win situation.

-- Ender, Duke_of_URL

Re:Why?!

[redled]

I'm not even going to comment on the first paranoid too-good-to-be-true part of your comment. However, I will comment on the latter part.

"If you're that poor, you should worry about food, not getting a deal on Titanic, ferchrisakes!"

I know several people who are quite well-off but still quite happy to pirate a movie. There are several reasons one might want to:

The cost of one legit movie is the same as several pirate ones.

Some would rathar not support movie companies, or even the entertainment industry in general.

Often, pirate movies are available earlier than legit ones.

It's an act of defiance.

Admittedly, that last argument was really weak. Nonetheless, it helps illustrate my point that poor people are not the only people who pirate. Think about cd's and tapes...if everyone who owned a copy of a cd or tape was poor, then well, a hell of a lot more people would be poor. :)

--

Re:first relevant post

[Wah]

Supply and Demand. You have basically an infinite supply (dgital media reproduced), you need to create an infinite demand. Fans who "love" what they watch, and can never get enough, i.e. infinite demand. This is done by creating and nurturing devoted fans. Not by sueing devoted fans.

Open access to media only makes it more valuable, not value based on scarcity, but value based on brand equity. Comanies in general, and media companies specifically, should be moving more towards a beneficial one to one relationship with their customers. Rather than the turnip squeezing we have today.

Of course, all of this only makes sense if you really grok what the Internet is and can do. If you want to control media like it was done from the 1st to the 20th centuries, good luck, it's not gonna work.

--

Some Bruce Lee clips are already online

[/]

Like this southpark parody that's just begging to get slashdotted.

first relevant post

[HarveyNeon]

How long do you think it will be before we will be able to go on to the internet and watch any peice of visual media ever created (sesame street episode 65- canadian version of course)??
i say 5 years.
and you can quote me on that.

Snow crash

[Augury]

Anyone who has read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson will be familiar with the concept of the great library.. a gigantic database that is the store of every little piece of information you can imagine.

People pay to access the information, and a part of that payment goes to whomever provided it in the first place, making it a very nice system indeed :)

Of course, it also spawns a series of 'gargoyles' who strap video cameras and sensors and other input devices to themselves so that they can transmit everything they experience back to the library.. in the hope that by sheer volume, someone will access their information, and they'll be paid for it :)

Perhaps an online movie database is a first step.. would you pay a small amount to view those movies?

B.

The solution to the piracy problem ...

[P_Simm]

Now if only the entire media industry could begin to see this as a viable profit-making marketing approach for larger-scale ventures.

The most effective solution to piracy (and coincidentally, the way to beat any competitor in a capitalist market) is to offer better access to the same product. Glancing at advertising is an easier, cheaper payment than paying for a $15-20 VHS tape, or $15 for a cd, or $20 for a hardcover book ...

Just as open-source software is creating a new market model for corporations (RedHat, etc), open-access media has been spawning new marketing models for corporations. So far, however, open-access media ventures are largely based in webpage content rather than extending into traditional media. The established media giants don't grok that freeing their traditional media forms can be beneficial and profitable if done correctly. There are a few companies that are putting this into action - mp3.com comes to mind. However, until the current media giants either wake up to the revolution or get overthrown (by enlightened companies, not by piracy), we will have to continue dealing with a barrage of political noise and interference.

Let's put some support behind this newest baby step - next time you want to watch an action movie, download one legitimately! Piracy only leads to political sympathy for the media giants - the support of legitimate open media will truly revolutionize the industry.

Why this might not work..

[Bullschmidt]

New movies would be available on the Website after they had played out in cinemas, on cable television and been released on video compact discs (VCD).

This seems to be the problem here.. pirates don't just get the buyer the product, but they get it before the buyer can go to the video store, rent it and copy it. They are proposing to wait until the movies have become old and out on video (and thus copiable). The movie pirates will still be providing new movies before they are release on rental (or even for sale). I have seen movies posted on the net (as well as seen them on others computers) that weren't even on sale at video stores. This is the pirate niche.