last100 » Warner Brothers

Universal and Warner sue Internet TV startup Zattoo

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:20:25 +0000

Zattoo

Zattoo’s legal status is, arguably, a bit of a grey area. While the Internet TV service, which features live streaming of existing over-the-air and cable channels, claims it only does so within the law – either through government legislation or direct licensing agreements – its business model remains a controversial one. And it seems that Hollywood has finally taken notice.

Broadband TV news reports that Universal Studios and Warner Brothers are suing Zattoo for the way in which it streams German television channels ARD and ZDF. Under a 12 month license, Zattoo is able to carry both channels’ content live an “unabridged”. It’s the latter that the Hollywood studios are taking issue with since Zattoo inserts an advertisement everytime a user switches channel.

In a follow-up report, Zattoo co-founder and CEO Beat Knecht says he’s surprised that Universal and Warner have chosen to take action:

“We have been very careful playing by the rules,” said Beat Knecht, co-founder, CEO, and President of Zattoo, speaking to Broadband TV News, “Last December we blocked five Hitchcock movies from Universal at their request. We monitor very closely the broadcast schedules for any programme changes in order to comply with such requests.”

Furthermore, Zattoo claims that it doesn’t break any licensing agreements since the ads that it does show are post-roll, only visible when a users leaves a public broadcast channel, not when they first arrive or switch to another public broadcast offering. In other words, the company argues, ads or no ads, the live streams remain “unabridged”.

Also see: Interview: Zattoo co-founders

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Warner Brothers to turn on TheWB.com; watch Veronica and Buffy for free on the Web

Daniel Langendorf — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:51:39 +0000

No matter what the shortcomings of TheWB.com are, it’s always nice to see more free, legal TV on the Web.

Warner Brothers announced it was resurrecting its defunct WB television brand as TheWB.com back in April. It will be available for all to see Wednesday after an extensive beta period.

At the time we liked the fact that a TV exec, Bruce Rosenblum, got the whole TV-on-the-Web thing. “We can’t stick out head in the sand and not acknowledge that there’s an evolution taking place,” he said in April.

TheWB.com is rich on content if you like older programs such as “Friends,” “The OC,” “Veronica Mars,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and “Angel.” It even has full shows of “Friends,” “Gilmore Girls,” and “Veronica Mars” that cannot be found on Hulu, the joint-venture online video site from the NBC and Fox networks that will compete with TheWB.com for viewer attention.

TheWB.com will also feature a number of made-for-the-Web programs, including “Jeannie Tate,” “Whatever Hollywood,” and the upcoming “Sorority Forever.”

Chris Albrecht of NewTeeVee was blessed with a sneak peak of TheWB.com in action and concluded that, “Though the content is good, the confusing interface makes one think that the WB stands for Why Bother.”

TheWB.com does not have the clean, easy to navigate interface that Hulu sports, Albrecht concludes, although it does have a decent search engine and a way for fans to mashup selected clips from each show.

“It’s actually a much better experience watching WB programming on Hulu than it is watching it on TheWB.com,” Albrecht writes.

Ouch.

Kudos, though, go to Warner Brothers for putting TV content online for free, even if the interface needs a bit of work.

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More to the story: Apple announces new movies available for purchase from all major studios

Daniel Langendorf — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:14:07 +0000

Less than 24 hours later, we find that there’s more to the new-release movies-on-iTunes story.

Today Apple announced that new movie releases from major film studios are available for purchase on the iTunes Store the same day as their DVD release.

The day before, Jeff Bewkes, the Time Warner chief executive, let slip on a conference call that Warner Brothers studio will now release movies for video-on-demand systems the same day they are released on DVD.

Joining Warner Brothers are 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment, and First Look Studios.

Movies purchased from iTunes cost $14.99, with most library titles at $9.99. They can be viewed on an iPod with video, iPhone, Mac or PC computers, or a widescreen television with Apple TV. New releases now available include “Juno”, “Cloverfield,” and “There Will Be Blood.”

Privately-held CinemaNow and Blockbuster’s Movielink already offer similar services, but new-release movies on iTunes are expected to expand the digital download market.

“Apple will increase awareness of digital downloads and it’s clearly a good thing for the studios who want to offer viable digital alternatives,” Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, told Reuters. “This is a game changer.”

Of course the Web is now abuzz about what this means. “The obvious loser here is the DVD format,” wrote Wired in a post headlined, “Apple Loves Digital Distribution; Blockbuster, Neflix Aren’t So Sure.” On its Apple 2.0 blog, Fortune wonders if Apple’s Hollywood deal is the “Death of the DVD?”

Not yet. Movies purchased via the Internet represent only 1.2 percent of the $36 billion movie industry market, but that’s expected to grow to 4.2 percent of a projected $40 billion market by the end of 2009, according to industry estimates (via Reuters).

What will push digital downloads is the availability to rent movies via the Web the same day they are available for purchase and rental as physical DVDs. That day isn’t here yet, but it’s coming.

“This is actually a big deal because when they [Apple] were able to get parity [with the music industry on CD release dates] on the music side, they were able to drive music sales,” analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research told Reuters.

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Warner Brothers to release movies for VOD systems at the same time they release physical DVDs

Daniel Langendorf — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:46:44 +0000

I missed seeing the movie “Juno” in theaters, so when it was released for sale through iTunes I figured I would rent it first, then if it was as good as everybody said it was maybe I’d buy it.

The wife and I settled in front of the TV, I fired up the Apple TV, navigated to movies and found “Juno.” What the ?!?! “Juno” was available only for purchase, not for rental.

I forgot: Many movies for video-on-demand systems like the Apple TV have to wait a month or so for rentals to become available, allowing first for the sale of DVDs and rentals of the “physical” disc through a Blockbuster or Netflix.

Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s chief executive, said today that Warner Brothers studio will now release movies for video-on-demand systems on the same day as they are released on DVD.

“For consumers, this moves Hollywood closer to what most people want: The ability to get any movie, on any device, at any time,” notes Saul Hansell of The New York Times.

Warner Brothers has been experimenting with this approach for a few months and has found that DVD rentals only fell by 3 percent to 5 percent and the sales of DVDs increased. (Hollywood Reporter)

In the age of the Internet, I wonder if Hollywood’s system of movie release dates makes sense anymore — films are released first to the theaters, then available on DVD for purchase or rental. Only later do these titles show up for rental on video-on-demand systems before being sold exclusively to pay TV networks and, eventually, commercial television.

Are movie buyers and movie renters the same animal? It seems to me they’re not. Those who buy are often collectors, or students of film who like all the extras they get when purchasing a DVD. Those who rent want to see the film and move on to the next one.

With video-on-demand systems becoming more prevalent, it seems that Hollywood is missing an opportunity to rent movies quicker through the next great distribution medium — the Internet — while eliminating some of the cost of manufacturing and distributing physical discs. It would also give consumers what they want: better choice.

“Taking a customer and moving that person over from rental-physical to VOD day-and-date is like a 60 to 70 percent margin instead of 20 to 30,” Bewkes said.

Many feel that Warner Brothers’ decision is the official start to the next great Hollywood entertainment battle: distribution of physical discs (regular and Blu-ray DVDs) vs. distribution via the Internet. The winner here may, one day, be the video-on-demand systems.

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