Fair and balanced - Hollywood vs. Mom, Dad, and Junior
John Newton at TechNewsWorld writes:
"A now-famous AT&T Labs report, "Analysis of Security Vulnerabilities in the Movie Production and Distribution Process," revealed that of a total of 285 movies sampled on P2P networks, 77 percent were leaked by industry insiders. ... What's more, only 5% appeared after their DVD release date."
We already knew Mom and Dad aren't ripping DVDs. Now we know, neither is Junior.
Where's the disconnect? I think the problem is that Hollywood is forgetting the principles of usability and value. People don't go to the theater because they want to see a movie; they go because they want to "go out" and enjoy an "entertainment experience". Only a very very small segment of the market can duplicate that experience at home.
For the equivalent of a theater experience, you need at a minimum: a 400 sq ft room with no windows and a black ceiling, sound absorbing walls, a 200 inch screen, a 2000+ lumen DLP 16x9 projector with wide throw, a DVD player (or external device) with HiDef upscaling, a THX certified 7.1 channel 1500 watt amplifier, seven three way speakers plus a powered 15" subwoofer, comfortable seating, and a popcorn maker. After this extraordinary expense, just eight people can comfortably imagine themselves at the the theater.
Jack Valenti said, "I visited the labs at Caltech, and they're running an experiment called FAST where they can bring down a DVD-quality movie in 5 seconds. The director told me it could be operative in the market in 18 months. Well, my face blanched."
He damn well should blanch, because the MPAA has the opportunity to disintermediate HBO, cable PPV, and the local Blockbuster, and they're not doing it.
There's a tradeoff in the consumer's mind as she evaluates content accessibility, ease of use, desirability, and even the environmental or social payoffs of the interaction with media. For some things, the equation says "go to the theater" while for others, it says "Netflix". Her sister drops by for a drink and a chick flick, and the equation says "Blockbuster". Only the rarest confluence of variables are going to say "e-Donkey 2000" or "handycam copy".
What MPAA needs to do is place their media squarely at each key choice a consumer's variables may suggest, and simply ignore any segments that aren't worth pursuing. There's no point in making those segments illegal, because it both alienates potential future customers and decreases marketing exposure of the product. The guy for whom the variables say "Illegal download" may recommend the movie to a half dozen friends for whom the variables say "Buy the DVD at Circuit City or Amazon.com."
As the AT&T study suggests, professional piracy won't be stopped by making life difficult for Mom, Dad, and Junior. Hollywood needs to get control of their own, make life difficult for the mass producers of fakes (the ones you see sold on the street in the city), and change the value equation for the home consumer not through legislation and fear but through market segmentation and targetted products.