YouTube might just have shown a glimpse of how the future of the movie industry and online video portals will co-exist. With YouTube and Sony working directly to offer a full length version of the Ghostbusters movie. I’d suspect there will be a whole lot more of this over the next 12 months as YouTube and Publishers continue to test the waters! Check out the brand sponsored Ghostbusters full length film here and let me know your thoughts! (via PSFK)
Oh, and unfortunately it only works in the US – they still can’t manage to work around their ridiculous regional issues that are the current sticking point for all online video content… Why is it so hard?!
Selective IP address blocking for online content is the DVD region encoding of the 21st century.
We live in interesting times.. the models and methods for content distribution in the 20th century are starting to break when implemented in a 21st century world. Regional distribution licensing models for all media types desperately need to be reinvented.
the problem with regional issues is basically caused by the paleonthologic film distribution model, based in a rigid margin chain from the film producer to the local distributor and finally to the cinemas.
I guess a business model based in films being sold/rented directly from the producer using Youtube (or other platform) should prevail in the future of AV content.
Selective IP filtering is definitely the latest issue which makes one feel like it is not the same internet that you and I are experiencing. Actually Pandora has brought this to practice some years ago.
Yes the main issue here I guess is “who owns the copyrights gets the lion share”. I believe this may change in the long run if the creators of the content are convinced that they will get better cuts with better distribution from an alternative distributor. Which is YouTube in this case. Better cuts may be possible due to entry in a competitive market. But better distribution this is hard, because the viewer needs a proof that this is a viable solution to finding a reasonable content on TV. So I think what YouTube tries to do with this move is to start building a customer trust that would make you say “yes this is better than my average cable”.
If this happens YouTube or others may try to sign contract even with you, whatever you are recording.
ps: checkout “boxee” as it might be the next buzzword in this dark waters. at the end of the day it is the viewer attachement that will build the trust [which the cable lost a while ago].