TV dramas go online, copyright prices soar

In 2006, the online copyright for 80 episodes of the blockbuster TV drama My Own Swordsman sold for a modest 100,000 yuan ($15,720).

Just five years later, the price paid by Internet portal Sohu for rights to another hit television series - New Princess Pearl, which has nearly 100 episodes - soared to 30 million yuan ($ 4.7 million).

[via China Daily]

Apple to launch 'voice-activated' TV dreamt up by Steve Jobs

According to Metro, Apple is developing a TV set that reacts to a viewer's voice and gestures - and it could be available by summer next year, according to reports.

Dubbed the iTv (although it is highly unlikely the company will be allowed to use this name), Apple hopes its latest product will be as ground-breaking and transformative as the iPhone was to mobile phones and the iPod was to portable music players.

According to the Guardian, Japanese firm Sharp will begin commercial production of the hi-tech flatscreen TVs in February before a release in the latter half of 2012.

Read full article.

Europe rules ISPs can't be forced to block pirate sites

Good news from Europe: ISPs can't be forced to monitor or block customers from using the Web. A European court has ruled that record labels and film studios can't use the courts to instruct a broadband company to track or try to block a customer.

[via CNet]

European Court Overturns Rule on Illegal File Sharing

The Court of Justice overturned a Belgian ruling that required an Internet service provider to filter out any unauthorized exchanges of songs.

[via The New York Times]

You Can Rent Disney Movies on YouTube Now

From classics like Alice in Wonderland to the Pixar hits and Pirates movies of today, Disney will eventually put up a lion's share of its movies for rent on YouTube Movies.

[via Gizmodo]

EBay iPad App Allows Viewers to Buy Products Seen in TV Shows, Movies

EBay's iPad app is now allowing users to browse products from TV shows and movies as the company pushes into the TV commerce space, in which companies have so far failed to hit a homerun, Bloomberg News reported via The Hollywood Reporter.

The new commerce service works with TV guide data that enables the app to show relevant merchandise in eBay’s store. In the first version, users must tell the app which channel they are watching, but the goal is to eventually automatically sync the app with the TV, according to Bloomberg.

That would allow the app to recognize the brand of clothing and props in each scene, such as a jacket worn by a character on AMC’s Mad Men, and let users buy the item on eBay. To make this happen, easy is looking to strike partnerships with cable providers, studios and networks, Yankovich told Bloomberg.

Read full article.

Related:

-- Glamour’s iPad Series to Let Viewers Buy Clothes From Gap - Glamour announced in March 2011 that it was launching an original reality series produced exclusively for the iPad called "Glamour Girls" allowing viewers to pause the program and buy clothing worn by the characters, directly from Gap.com.

-- Shop for "Gossip Girls" - The New York Daily News via YPulse in 2007, reported on a new TV show which emphasized the growing trend of TV networks partnering with designers and retailers, for online commerce. Coined "Web Shopping 3.0", TV viewers are able to purchase what the characters wore in a TV series, or even buy the furniture from the sets they are filmed in from merchant websites.

-- Shopisodes enable you to Dress Like Your Favorite TV Character - The E-Commerce Times reported in 2007 on an ever-growing collection of interactive videos called Shopisodes, that allow consumers to shop for items directly from a clip of their favorite show. As the clip is playing, visitors can select and purchase the products that appear in the video.

Film industry takes on iTunes with Ultraviolet

The film industry is launching a new movie download service called Ultraviolet which has the backing of all the major US film studios, in an attempt to take on Apple's iTunes. The Telegraph reports.

The service works by giving consumers a code when they purchase a film on BluRay or DVD. They can then use the code to add the movie to their Ultraviolet library, meaning they can download digital versions of the film onto their computer or stream it over the internet from the Cloud. Users can enjoy films on any device, such as a computer, smart phone or tablet PC, unlike iTunes which ties users to Apple products such as the iPhone and iPad if they want to watch films while on the move.

Read more.

Study Claims Online Piracy Caused By Lack Of Available Legal US Content

Something I have been saying for years, European viewers watch TV shows on video streaming sites because we don't get them (at all or soon enough) on our TV channels.

World TVPC reports on a study called Tomorrow Calling that looked into the way UK viewers watch TV Online.

A survey, entitled Tomorrow Calling, revealed that 46% of those questioned claimed illegal downloading levels would become ’greatly reduced’ were there legal options available to view their favourite shows from overseas (mainly the USA) without being forced to wait for an official UK release, which can often be several months or over a year after their original airing.

It was also found that 83% would be willing to pay higher (20%) or the same (63%) rates as their regular TV service in order to get the specified content as it is released.

Read full article.

Google argues against U.S. online piracy bill

Google Inc warned U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday that proposed legislation' Stop Online Piracy Ac't to crack down on foreign websites selling pirated U.S. movies, music or other counterfeit goods goes too far and could depress investment. Reuters reports.

The legislation has pit Internet giants, consumer groups and first amendment advocates against the U.S. copyright industries, including Hollywood studios and record labels, who have long argued for tougher protection.

A U.S. House of Representatives bill would allow a private party to go straight to a website's advertising and payment providers and request they sever ties.

"A corporation, a copyright 'troll,' or anyone with an axe to grind could send a notice... without first involving law enforcement or triggering any judicial process," Google policy counsel Katherine Oyama told a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

She urged lawmakers to instead work on legislation that cuts off revenue to rogue sites via the courts and avoids the "collateral damage" built into the current form of the bill.

Google, Yahoo! Inc, Facebook, Twitter, eBay Inc and other Internet companies ran full-page advertisements in major newspapers on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to rethink their approach.

The U.S. Justice Department, under the bill, could also request court orders to compel U.S. search engines and other sites to block domain names or search results

Read full article. Image from Yahoo/The Wrap.

Viewers tuning in to online video for longer periods of time

Long-form video viewing online might soon become mainstream. Nielsen reported Wednesday that over the last three years, the number of online viewers has grown 26 percent, which is a pretty sizable shift. But the amount of time spent streaming has more than doubled in that time. Check out the graph from GigaOM for a more granular look into how things have grown.

Copyright infringement fines should be under $100

Current US law allows for up to $150,000 damage awards for each online copyright infringement. $100 should be the max, say 75% of those surveyed.

70 percent of those age 18-29 have pirated music or video, though few are hardcore pirates and most also acquire content legally.

[via arstechnica]

Sony to develop its own smart TV platform

Sony has just announced via The Wall Street Journal that it will be creating its own “smart TV” platform after sales of its own Google TV-powered TV failed to meet expectations. The new TV is also said to be competing with the TV that Apple has been rumored to be working on. No other details yet.

[via Ubergizmo]

Google TV Goes Full-On ‘Boob Tube’ With Porn App Debut

Seasoned smut peddlers Vivid Entertainment launched its Vivid for Google TV app on Monday, the first TV application to bring X-rated flicks to Google’s set-top box. Wired reports.

... Of course, Google’s app goes a few steps beyond cartoon boobs. Much of Vivid’s, er, entertainment — including its infamous X-rated parodies of mainstream, pop-culture TV and movies — can be streamed in high definition to the Google TV set-top box (for 18-year-old eyes only, of course).

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Report: Game consoles most popular device for watching online content on a TV screen

This is a shocker, according to a new report from market research service Strategy Analytics via VentureBeat, game consoles - and not computers - have become the most popular device in the U.S. for watching online content on a TV screen.

While the PC remains the dominant screen for viewing online content overall, delivering content to the big screen is becoming increasingly popular, according to Strategy Analytics’ new report, “Multiscreen Connected TV: Assessing Device Usage and Ownership.” Twelve percent of U.S. households (about 15 million) use gaming consoles to watch content online.

The report also found that 65 percent of U.S.-based weekly Xbox 360 users under the age of 25 watch more TV shows and movies online through the console than their desktop or notebook PCs.

Read more.

Megaupload settles copyright suit with porn studio

The Internet file-storage business accused of helping millions around the world to store pirated videos, music, and software, has settled a copyright suit filed against it in January by Perfect 10, a porn studio with a long history of accusing tech companies of copyright violations.

Megaupload is the parent company of multiple services, such as Megaporn, MegaVideo and MegaPix.

[via CNet

Disney and YouTube Make a Video Deal

Disney and YouTube will spend a combined $10 million to $15 million on original video series; those shorts will be produced by Disney and distributed on a co-branded channel on Disney.com and YouTube. The channel will also include amateur video culled from the torrent uploaded to YouTube daily.

[via The New York Times]

An Online Answer to the DVR

For $5 a month, a new service called PlayLater lets subscribers copy streaming video as it shows up at 30 sites, including Netflix, Hulu, PBS, ESPN and CNN, so they can watch it later (on Windows only at this time).

[via The New York Times]

YouTube is streaming Hajj live

Piracy is NOT Theft: Problems of a Nonsense Metaphor

When talking about piracy the entertainment industry and politicians often use the term “theft.” This is a huge problem according to the Swedish sociologist of law Stefan Larsson. In his thesis “Metaphors and Norms – Understanding Copyright Law in a Digital Society,” he explains that these metaphors are in part keeping the wide gap between people’s norms and the law intact. [via TorrentFreak]

A few years ago best-selling author Paulo Coelho made a Russian translation of The Alchemist available without permission from his publisher. As a result the sales in Russia skyrocketed from 1,000 books a year to over 1,000,000.

The above is just one of the many examples which show that there are many positive sides to the act of ‘copying’. Despite these nuances, piracy is often referred to as theft. This is a problem according to Stefan Larsson, lawyer and socio-legal researcher at Lund University in Sweden.

Read more.

Piracy problems? US copyright industries show terrific health/wealth

... A major report from the largest copyright owners shows that they are earning record foreign profits, beat the US economy handily during the recent recession, and pay better than most industries. arstechnica reports.

... The report doesn't even try to quantify losses to piracy anymore--last year, an official US government report concluded that such estimates were all deeply unreliable. Instead, it simply asserts without evidence that "piracy inhibits… growth in the US and around the world."

Read more.

Great. LG Brings Ad Capability to Internet-Connected TV

Something to look forward to, more commercials. LG Electronics is adding an advertising capability to its Internet-connected televisions through an agreement with video advertising technology company YuMe. And Toyota has already signed up.

A viewer of what LG calls its Smart TV would see ads for Toyota's 2012 Camry when browsing the TV set’s app store or using the search screen.

[via The New York Times]

Study finds growing use of online, alternate delivery methods for TV among viewers

More than half of broadband Internet users watch television content that's streamed online or on an alternate platform every week, according to a new study from Horowitz Associates that you can purchase for $10'000. BroadcastEngineering reports.

The study, "Multiplatform Content & Services 2011," found 54 percent of broadband Internet users turn to streaming or alternate platforms weekly for TV content and that nontraditional viewing totaled 10.8 hours a month, or 7 percent of total viewing time.

Read more and Horowitz Associates overview of the study (pdf).

'CanIStream' Shows You Where You Can Stream, Rent, Download Or Buy Movies

CanIStream.it is a new search engine that shows you where you can stream, rent, download and buy movies. TechCrunch gives it a good review.

The site checks the libraries at Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and Hulu and provides links to the appropriate listings. And if a movie isn’t available, you can sign up for CanIStream.it, set a reminder and the service will email you when the movie’s availability changes.

Read more.