Legal movie downloads offered in China
Warner Brothers will begin selling its movie as downloads in China in an attempt to stem piracy.
The studio struck a deal with Union Voole Technology in China to offer new movies, as well as those that have never been seen in Chinese theaters, at rental prices ranging from 60 cents to $1. The inexpensive video-on-demand service seeks to entice China’s estimated 253 million Internet users to pay for Hollywood fare rather than download illicit copies.
“Every major American company has tried to figure out and crack the nut in China,” said Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. “We believe that we have an opportunity, through digital distribution,” to solve that problem.
The rapid growth of Internet access in China presents a way for the studios to establish a legitimate business in China, where an industry study estimated $2.7 billion in lost potential sales due to pirated DVDs in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available. About 93% of the movies sold in China are counterfeit — black-market discs sold in stores and by legions of roaming vendors who peddle them at subway stations and from their bicycles.
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