Twentieth Century Fox and Apple Announce Movie Downloads Deal

Movies buyers in the UK will be able to download movies to their computers and iPods in a new breakthrough deal between Twentieth Century Fox and Apple, it has been announced.

'Digital Copy' for iTunes will provide customers who buy a DVD with an additional disk ? or Digital Copy of the movie ? allowing them to download the film straight on to their iPod, iPhone, PC, Mac or any other portable video player.

The technology, which has been available in the US for almost a year, is now being launched for British movie buyers. One Digital Copy title has already been released, the comedy What Happens in Vegas, starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.

Fans who buy the special edition sets of DVDs will be given the free extra disc allowing them to download the movie files straight on to their machine. Purchasers will not have unrestricted use of the files ? the number of times they can copy the film is strictly limited as each DVD will only transfer its iTunes Digital Copy to one iTunes library.

Although buying movies from online shops like Apple's iTunes has yet to take off in Britain, Hollywood studio are hoping the new venture will help to deter the public from downloading pirate films from the internet.

The Digital Copy technology was announced by Apple and Twentieth Century Fox by Steve Job, founder of Apple, at a conference address in January. Jim Gianopulos, chairman and chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment, said they expected to release more movie titles with a Digital copy.

"One of the most requested features DVD buyers have been asking for is the ability to get the movies they bought into their iTunes library," he said.

"We're thrilled to offer such an incredibly simple way for our customers to get even more out of their DVD purchase, and we look forward to releasing many more DVDs this year with iTunes Digital Copy."

Illegal downloaders to get warning letter in government clampdown

Internet service providers have struck a deal with government and the music industry to help clamp down on illegal downloading.

The deal, to be announced later today, is thought to include an agreement for ISPs to send out hundreds of thousands of letters to account holders responsible for illegal downloading.

The memorandum of understanding, struck with the BPI, the body that represents record labels, and the government, will be announced today ahead of the launch of a consultation on the introduction of legislation to clampdown on offending.

The memorandum of understanding has been struck with the UK's six biggest ISPs - BT, Virgin, Carphone Warehouse, Orange, Tiscali and BSkyB - and includes a deal for all parties to work together to develop ways to deal with repeat offenders.

The agreement has been reached ahead of an announcement expected later today by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform of a consultation on regulatory options to punish ISPs if they fail to take action against the illegal downloading of music, films and TV programmes.

"We have looked to ISPs to acknowledge their responsibility to help deal with illegal filesharing, engage in communicating the issue to their customers, and put in place procedures necessary to effectively tackle repeated unlawful filesharing," said a spokesman for the BPI.

"Achieving this would represent a significant step forward and demonstrate clearly the collective will that exists to tackle this serious issue."

It is thought that BSkyB's announcement of a digital music joint venture with Universal Music earlier this week - the venture has no name, no pricing and no launch date - could have been a move to prove that ISPs are supporting new, innovative, legal digital models ahead of the announcements today.

In February, the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, raised the possibility of introducing legislation to crack down of illegal filesharing as part of a wide-ranging strategy paper designed to look at ways of supporting the UK creative industries and digital intellectual property.

At the time Burnham said that the government preferred to find "voluntary, preferably commercial, solutions" but that it would look to introduce legislation next April if necessary.

The strong stance by the government has alarmed ISPs, which believe that regulation is a step too far.

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Illegal downloaders 'face UK ban'

People in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering.

A draft consultation suggests internet service providers would be required to take action over users who access pirated material via their accounts.

But the government is stressing that plans are at an early stage and it is still working on final proposals.

Six million people a year are estimated to download files illegally in the UK.

Music and film companies say that the illegal downloads cost them millions of pounds in lost revenues.

The government proposals were first reported by the Times newspaper.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that early drafts of the document had been circulated among stakeholders.

"The content and proposals for the strategy have been significantly developed since then and a comprehensive plan to bolster the UK's creative industries will be published shortly," it added.

"We will not comment on the content of the leaked document."

Voluntary scheme

The Times suggested that broadband firms which failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted, and the details of customers suspected of making illegal downloads made available to the courts.

According to the Times, the draft paper states: "We will move to legislate to require internet service providers to take action on illegal file sharing."

Some of the UK's biggest internet providers, such as BT, Virgin and Tiscali have been in talks with the entertainment industry over introducing a voluntary scheme for policing pirate activity, but no agreement has been reached.

So far, they have failed to resolve how disputed allegations would be arbitrated - for example, when customers claim other people have been "piggybacking" on their internet service.

'No liability'

Technology that allows internet providers to monitor what content is being downloaded is becoming more effective, said James Bates, media director at consultants Deloitte.

"This is also likely to help accelerate the process of identifying pirates, and may lead to swifter disconnection, or prosecution," Mr Bates said.

However, the Internet Service Providers Association said data protection laws would prevent providers from looking at the content of information sent over their networks.

"ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope," the association said.

"ISPs bear no liability for illegal file sharing as the content is not hosted on their servers," it added.

The BPI, the trade body that represents the UK record industry, said internet providers had "done little or nothing to address illegal downloading via their networks".

"This is the number one issue for the creative industries in the digital age, and the government's willingness to tackle it should be applauded," said BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor.

"Now is not the time for ISPs to hide behind bogus privacy arguments, or claim the problem is too complicated or difficult to tackle."

Sourced from BBC

79% of Americans download movies illegally

79% of Americans who are downloading movies do so illegally despite access to subscription based services.

US consumers are still downloading movies illegally despite the growing availability of subscription based movie download services according to a study conducted by Advanis Inc. Subscription based movie downloads have grown in prevalence with companies like Apple Inc., CinemaNow, MovieLink and most recently Wal-Mart offering movie downloads for a fee.

Yet 79% of those downloading movies are still doing so illegally, according to the study and is estimated to be costing the industry $598 million.

"The industry can respond to this stubborn core of piracy in one of two ways," said Phil Dwyer, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Advanis. "It can spend its time and resources pursuing the pirates, and attempting to get them to change their ways, or it can put those same resources into accelerating the adoption of these services by the early mainstream consumers, who are more inclined to behave legally."

"The experience of the music industry, and the evidence of our research suggests there is a hardcore of illegal downloaders who are unlikely to change their behavior. The industry would be better advised to focus resources on migrating new, and legally inclined consumers on to these services."

Downloaders Look For Deals

Despite the convenience of the movie download services, consumers are unwilling to pay a premium for them. In fact, online movie addicts, on average, value downloads at $2.59, while they value a movie bought in a store at more than double that - $5.98.

About this study

Findings are based on a survey of 506 online Americans, fielded between February 5th and 6th, 2007. Estimates are accurate to within +/- 4.6%, 19 times out of 20.