News

P2P Goes to the Movies

The Vancouver Sun ran a story over the weekend on the growing popularity of downloading movies on P2P networks. The article notes that movie swapping is still tiny in comparison to music, but that it may grow in the future.
The movie industry argues that movie downloading resulted in $850 million in losses last year. I'm quoted in the article questioning that figure as I have hard timing understanding where the losses are coming from. It seems to me that revenues from the theatre should not be significantly impacted as the experience is quite different. Similarly, lower DVD sales are unlikely since most people buying DVDs have seen the movie before – they're interested in the extras which are not readily available online. That leaves the pay-per-view movie market. It might take a hit, but is that market really so significant? Presumably any losses would be offset by people that go to the theatre or buy the DVD after downloading the movie and are left wanting more. The debate on this issue is just beginning …

One Comment

  1. Question
    can you tell me if it illegal to downloading movies off the internet for personal use. Can i download a show, that has just aired on TV, and watch it on my computer? Please respond to sajjadj@yorku.ca

    Thank you
    Sajad jaffer