Two Russian entrepreneurs who are currently bringing the world access to cheap MP3s thanks to loopholes in Russian copyright law now want to bring Americans cheap access to commercial free network TV shows, whether the networks want them to or not.
In one of the "insider" private forums I dwell in to see what the Russians are up to, I have seen discussions on launching a new ALLOFUSTV service that would charge a flat $10-15 per month or 20c per TV show for access to commercial-free versions of most U.S. network television shows. Hosted on servers in Russia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, and possibly Uzbekistan, the service would sail around U.S. copyright laws and the bit-torrent crackdowns, as well as copyright enforcement, and provide more than 50 TV series from its launch.
Obviously shows would be recorded off-air, commercials deleted, and files uploaded in multiple formats for display on home computers as well as new video iPods.
The driving force of the service? The feeling that asking for 99c or an even more outrageous $2.49 per show is way overpriced, and the Russians can cash in and give Americans low/no-risk access to their favorite shows with little chance of any law enforcement action.
Attempts by American copyright agencies to stop the Russian services from dealing in MP3 files met with a Berlin Wall of resistance, with no enforcement action coming in the future, and a denial of access to subscriber records. The Russian services now destroy those records routinely to prevent future legal actions.
As eastern Europe continues to struggle with copyright issues, the next major source of servers and bandwidth for copyright-questionable material will be in Asia, particularly the PR of China and the developing countries of southeast Asia where copyrights are routinely flaunted.
As has always been the case, content providers trying to stem the flow of piracy are going to be play whack-a-mole forever until they price their services at a level that makes piracy simply not worth it.
In one of the "insider" private forums I dwell in to see what the Russians are up to, I have seen discussions on launching a new ALLOFUSTV service that would charge a flat $10-15 per month or 20c per TV show for access to commercial-free versions of most U.S. network television shows. Hosted on servers in Russia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, and possibly Uzbekistan, the service would sail around U.S. copyright laws and the bit-torrent crackdowns, as well as copyright enforcement, and provide more than 50 TV series from its launch.
Obviously shows would be recorded off-air, commercials deleted, and files uploaded in multiple formats for display on home computers as well as new video iPods.
The driving force of the service? The feeling that asking for 99c or an even more outrageous $2.49 per show is way overpriced, and the Russians can cash in and give Americans low/no-risk access to their favorite shows with little chance of any law enforcement action.
Attempts by American copyright agencies to stop the Russian services from dealing in MP3 files met with a Berlin Wall of resistance, with no enforcement action coming in the future, and a denial of access to subscriber records. The Russian services now destroy those records routinely to prevent future legal actions.
As eastern Europe continues to struggle with copyright issues, the next major source of servers and bandwidth for copyright-questionable material will be in Asia, particularly the PR of China and the developing countries of southeast Asia where copyrights are routinely flaunted.
As has always been the case, content providers trying to stem the flow of piracy are going to be play whack-a-mole forever until they price their services at a level that makes piracy simply not worth it.
