MPAA ASKS FCC FOR PERMISSION TO LAUNCH NEW TECHNOLOGY

MPAA ASKS FCC FOR PERMISSION TO LAUNCH NEW TECHNOLOGY

The MPAA on Wednesday once again called upon the FCC to allow it to employ a technology -- called selectable output control (SOC) -- that can deliver movies to the homes of consumers while preventing piracy. In a statement, MPAA chief Dan Glickman said that the movie producers' object was to give consumers "the option to enjoy movies in a more timely fashion at home." However, there was no definition of "a more timely fashion" -- something that theater owners have demanded. As of now films are not made available for home viewing until four months after their theatrical run. And, in an interview with today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Times , John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, said that while his group doesn't oppose the use of SOC, he objects to the fact that the MPAA isn't "telling the FCC or anyone else how early they want to go, so there's no way of telling what the impact is on the cinema industry and our consumers." Referring to the MPAA filing, influential Hollywood blogger (DeadlineHollywood.com) Nikki Finke headlined, "MPAA Betrays Theaters" and commented that if the industry has its way, "It would put the struggling theater chains virtually out of business." However, other industry analysts have observed that the barn door was already unlocked by peer-to-peer technology, which has already made bootlegged versions of movies available online at about the same time they are released in theaters -- or even earlier.

05/11/2009