[Infowarrior] - More on movies going to cable before DVD

[Richard Forno]

More on movies going to cable before DVD

http://opinion.latimes.com/bitplayer/2008/06/more-on-movies.html

An astute reader of my earlier post regarding a possible new, earlier  
window for movies at home pointed out something significant that I'd  
missed. Rather than being an isolated initiative, the earlier window  
fits into a continuum of efforts to create a secure, copy-protected  
pathway into and around the home for high-def programming. Those  
efforts could eventually give Hollywood inordinate influence over the  
technologies used in home networks and device-to-device communications.

To recap: the MPAA has asked the Federal Communications Commission to  
let it use a copy protection technique called "selectable output  
control" on high-def movies made available through cable and satellite  
TV operators before the titles were available on DVD. SOC enables  
studios to turn off the analog and unencrypted digital outputs from  
cable boxes and satellite receivers to prevent unauthorized copying.  
The FCC had banned the technique for existing services, such as pay  
per view, but left the door open to it being used in connection with  
an innovative new offering.

The MPAA's petition says that titles would be affected only during the  
period prior to their release on DVD. Once the movie is in  
Blockbuster, the people who'd been shut out by SOC -- those whose TV  
sets relied on analog or unencrypted digital inputs -- would have no  
trouble viewing it. But a pair of footnotes that I'd overlooked in the  
petition point out that next-generation home-video formats may also  
include SOC. These include downloadable movies and Blu-ray discs. So  
if Hollywood restricts high-def releases of movies to the new early- 
release window, Blu-ray discs and downloadable files, it could make  
SOC the rule, not the exception -- at least until the films reach HBO  
and broadcast TV.

That's not to begrudge Hollywood's desire for more protection on high- 
def titles. The problem here, IMHO, is the potential for the studios  
to control which protection technologies devices use. Under the FCC's  
broadcast flag rules (which a federal court struck down in 2005), the  
commission, not copyright holders, had the power to decide which anti- 
piracy techniques were acceptable. One example of why this matters:  
the commission approved the anti-piracy scheme for TiVo's TiVo To Go  
feature over the objections of the MPAA and the NFL. But with SOC, the  
FCC has no say over what's an acceptable level of protection. That  
leaves Hollywood with a great deal of sway over which anti-piracy  
technologies get deployed. Of course, the studios want their movies to  
be seen, too. If consumers rally behind home entertainment and  
networking equipment that's not compatible with the studios' favored   
protection techniques,  the studios will have to adapt to that  
reality. That's one of the reasons the major record companies finally  
embraced unprotected MP3 files -- they proved to be the best way to  
reach the largest audience.