AMERICAN IDOL - IDOL PRODUCERS FAVOR "3 STRIKES" RULE FOR DOWNLOADERS

IDOL PRODUCERS FAVOR "3 STRIKES" RULE FOR DOWNLOADERS

FremantleMedia, the producers of American Idol and its British counterpart Pop Idol have announced their support for the so-called three-strikes plan that would disconnect BitTorrent users who are caught downloading pirated material more than three times. FremantleMedia has not permitted its programs to be offered online -- even by Hulu, which is partly owned by Fox television, which airs American Idol . (Individual performances can be purchased from Apple's iTunes Store.) As reported by PaidContent UK, FremantleMedia CEO Tony Cohen told the Changing Media Summit in London Thursday that he supports a micropayment system that would allow viewers to download programs after they are aired by paying a few cents. But in the meantime, he said, "There needs to be an effective intermediate stage that will limit, suspend or cut off offenders' access to broadband capacity."

20/03/2009