Almost everyday I read another article about DRM and over aggressive copyright laws hindering people from watching online videos the way they want to.
The media industry is becoming obsessed with protecting their content to the point that they are alienating consumers.
Just recently we’ve seen:
- The BBC being attacked for its DRM infested and single format iPlayer. We could have seen something great that allowed us to simply catch up with missed TV shows on the internet but the copyright holders didn’t want that.
- The EU stating that people have no right to media and mindlessly saying that trying to get around DRM for a legitimate and legal purpose is against the law.
- The Apple iPhone having problems with YouTube videos due to AT&T’s strict copyright policy.
Pushing Users to Piracy
While the industry becomes obsessed with restricting their users, controversial pirate TV sites are providing access to countless TV shows and in many cases successfully evading the law.
Just look at QuickSilverScreen that evaded a lawsuit by moving to Malaysia. Peekvid, the most popular of these pirate TV show sites appears to be ignoring a recent lawsuit from the MPAA.
Is the media industry is pushing users into watching DRM-free pirate TV rather than preventing piracy. It’s easier and cheaper just too head on over to Peekvid to instantly watch a TV show than order a DRM infested download from the iTunes store.
Why Fight a Losing Battle? There is Money in Playing Fair
The TV industry is spending billions on DRM technology and losing billions on Piracy. Cut out the DRM and release fairer priced content, and ad-supported content online and you cut out the piracy too, thus saving lots of money while still earning from their content.
The media industry will probably keep fighting this expensive losing battle for a long time to come, until they eventually realize that by being fairer to the consumer will still bring them profits.
Light at the End of the Tunnel?
NBC, Fox, ABC and The CW are making a step in the right direction by bringing regular TV Episodes onto the internet. Unfortunately anyone outside the U.S can’t access this content, so TV networks in different nations need to start following suit.
We’ve seen a few staple companies become successful by launching DRM free channels on the internet and embracing fairer copyright laws. Just check out MoBuzz TV.
Unfortunately these sites are few and far between but with the number of web TV series launching on a regular basis I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of them.
