Breaking: FCC paves way for studios to push first-run movies into the home

[pinto]

Source: LA Times, via e-mail notice

Los Angeles Times | May 7, 2010 | 2:05 p.m.

FCC paves way for studios to push first-run movies into the home

Federal regulators have granted a controversial waiver to the Hollywood studios that clears the way for people to watch movies in their home shortly after -- or even during -- their release in theaters.

The Federal Communications Commission today granted a petition from the Motion Picture Assn. of America, the chief lobbying group for the major studios, that would permit use of a so-called selectable output control technology for watching first-run movies in the home.

The technology prevents the illegal copying of movies, which has been a stumbling block to delivering first-run movies into the home and directly to consumers. Currently, movies are only available for people to watch in the home on pay-per-view channels, usually about six months after they first appear in theaters and three months after they are released on DVD.

The move has been opposed by both movie theater operators and consumer groups, the former who worry it would undercut ticket sales and the latter who say it would interfere with other devices that plug into the TV.

More soon at: http://link.latimes.com/r/3J4Y05/M83QS/8Z4QI5/LJLZV/5VV4C6/7V/h


Read more: No direct link yet to a published article.

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Got this via my LA Times email feed. Apparently FCC granted the petition today. ~ pinto

[Ian David]

1. Oh, shit. Is this the old "Broadcast Flag" thing again? n/t

[MrSlayer]

2. I'd probably see more movies if they did it.

I always see trailers on TV and think "I'd like to see that." but rarely do. I don't particularly enjoy seeing movies with the general public as they tend to be assholes.

[Kookaburra]

3. And all the movie theaters around here are disgusting

I don't think they clean them.

[gateley]

16. Me, too. When someone asks "have you seen" I tell them they can just stop

right there. Pretty good bet the answer is no. Just never get around to it.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. "Have you seen..." "Stop!"

"...that $100 I left on your desk?"

D'oh!

[Warpy]

4. I would prefer something on this order

Pay double the ticket price and watch it streamed on the studio's own player in the comfort of your computer chair. Embed a mild virus that replicates nonsense code and eats your hard drive's free space every time you replay it for the type of cheater who figures out how to download it. Erase all the nonsense code along with the movie when he discovers it and deletes the movie.

The higher ticket price will make the theater look attractive, along with the experience of a night out with friends, really the point of going to a theater.

There's nothing they can do about filming the screen, either from a computer viewing site or in a theater, which is where most bootleg first run films come from. The quality is lousy, so my idea of a first quality, first run film on the computer screen might be workable.

I'm just playing with my head here. I'm sure people who really know what they're talking about will shoot it all down, so have at it.

[Occulus]

18. If it is able to connect to a PC, both white and black hat hackers will

"git 'er done" in under a month.

Watch.

[Captain Hilts]

5. I want a la carte cable TV. They keep telling us they're going to force cable companies to do so...

[RainDog]

21. I agree. I don't want those crappy religious stations coming into my home

and I CERTAINLY do not want to pay for them or Fux news.

[onenote]

22. who is "they"?

[suffragette]

6. Looks like a precedent allowing them to disable equipment capability

Still looking up info to try to understand the impact.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-shapiro/dear-fcc-please-dont-let_b_355191.html
Now, having failed to make its case to the Senate, the MPAA is back - this time, before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - asking permission to disable lawfully purchased HDTV-capable TVs. Using an obscure procedural mechanism, MPAA is asking the FCC for authority to use "selectable output control" (SOC) to shut off TVs that do not use the motion-picture industry's preferred digital connections. (Again for the non-engineers, SOC allows content providers to shut off the video stream to any TV that is receiving content over a non-favored connection, such as analog.)

The procedural vehicle may be different, but one thing remains the same - MPAA is still unable to show any evidence of piracy through analog outputs. That is because this type of piracy largely does not exist. Most movie piracy occurs before the studios release the movies on home video, much of it through the motion picture studios and their contractors - a fact that studios hide.

Indeed, some movie studio officials concede publicly that the biggest source of movie piracy is the old-fashioned video camera concealed by a movie patron under a coat. By the time a movie is being shown on cable TV, the file-sharing horse has left the barn. And so some forward-thinking studios, proving they don't agree with the industry's piracy argument, have begun releasing some films to video-on-demand even before DVD.

Given that at least some in Hollywood acknowledge their piracy argument makes no sense, why is the MPAA focusing its vast lobbying resources on this issue and trying to get the FCC to give them the right to shut off millions of TVs? The reason is that this is not about piracy, but about control of your TV. With the ability to turn off your TV at will, the studios gain veto power over TV design and the viewer's TV experience. If they are successful, viewers will only be able to watch movies when, where and how Hollywood says.

If the MPAA gets its way and the FCC grants its wish, then 25 million lawful TV viewers who rely on analog interfaces would be subject to being shut off by Hollywood. Millions of Americans could no longer be sure the technology they purchased in good faith would continue to be fully functional.


EFF is against this and has articles on the issue:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/eff-opposes-mpaas-selectable-output-control-fcc-pe
http://www.eff.org/issues/analog-hole


Good info on SOC and the issue here. There's a video about the issue there, but I'll have to watch later:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/soc

http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/3054

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to engage in “selectable output control” (SOC). If the FCC agrees, the MPAA and the movie studios it represents (Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal, Disney, and Warner Brothers) would be able to “turn off” any output plug they choose, like those on the back of consumer electronics devices of an entertainment system, during special video-on-demand movies on cable television. Public Knowledge opposes SOC and along with Consumer Federation of America, Digital Freedom Campaign, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Media Access Project, New America Foundation, and U.S. PIRG, has filed comments urging the FCC to deny the MPAA’s request.

[edbermac]

7. Great! I can't wait for the sequel to The Hottie and the Nottie.

And not have to worry about waiting in line at the theater.

[Jkid]

23. I actually saw that film.

It bored me to sleep. The only thing I liked was the main character cosplaying as Street Racer wearing a Mark 5 cutout.

[proudohioan]

8. I don't like it.....

Hell, I'm already coming up with ENOUGH reasons not to leave the house as it is; I don't need another excuse to sit around on my sorry ass!

}(

[KoKo]

9. COOL! Now I can watch the Crap I don't want to Pay for Popcorn/Soda to see at Home..!

:puke: Can't sell them out there...so they promote them first run to us who wouldn't watch in the first place! DESPERATE! ROFL!

[Liberalynn]

10. To be honest

I don't really go to the movies any more any way. I think most of them stink. I have rented a number on DVD's or through Time Warners "On Demand" service thinking they'd interest me and they didn't. The last movie I saw that I actually enjoyed was Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

And you can't fast forward through the dull parts in the theatre. Plus as an earlier poster mentioned my theatre is pretty grungy, the seats are uncomfortable, and the bathrooms are disgusting. So its not even an enjoyable experience in any way.

I maybe in the minority but I prefer television all around to movies. I'd rather sit home and watch NCIS, Castle and the Closer. In many cases they have more compelling talent on screen, and better written scripts in many cases.

That's why I am kind of hoping now that Nip/Tuck has been cancelled Julian Mcmahon, my favorite actor, finds a new TV project. I know he is trying to break into the movies, but IMHO I think he'd be smarter to stay with the small screen. Movies now a days are mostly over rated, again, IMHO.

So I may check them out a little more often if they start going directly to in home "ON DEMAND" services like TWs, but still not that much.

[depakid]

11. Better read the fine print on this one

The MPAA is probably using this as a Trojan horse to slip in some provisions that people aren't going to like....

[msongs]

12. oh sure, like paying $10 to listen to ppl yak on their cell phones during the flick isn't fun lol n

[kirby]

13. Oh great...

They will be able to force/require the movie to play only over an HDMI (with HDCP encryption) cable. Forget about watching it on a component output or recording/DVRing it.

[depakid]

14. Foot in the door, baby...

[Q3JR4]

15. So instead of taking your camera into

a theater you can just point it at your TV screen at home?

Brilliant!

Q3JR4

[FrenchieCat]

17. Great!

I won't have to yell, "SHUT THE FUCK UP, you're not at home,
didn't your mama give you any home training? I didn't pay to hear
you tell your girlfriend what just happened in the movie!"...... when I'm at the show.

My hubby tends to worry about who he will have to hurt when he has to defend me
when I do that! :rofl:

[bemildred]

20. Regular theaters are soon to go the way of the DriveIn theater.

Why would I want to go to some strange ampitheater where popcorn costs $10 and I have to pay $15 to get in, when I can sit on my couch and watch the same thing at a volume I set, with all the cheap popcorn I can buy at any store?