[okfn-discuss] european parliament & drm discussion in european films

Fri Jan 5 12:04:06 UTC 2007

scary how the report DIGITAL PLATFORMS: RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR 
EUROPEAN FILM-MAKERS published on the european parliament site is 
pushing for drm. see attached...

adnan

A report from David Graham & Associates Ltd (UK) and Headway 
International (Fr) for the European Parliament says that, by 2012, large 
numbers of people in Europe will be ordering films from multi-language 
film portals, in the subtitled or dubbed version of their choice.

The authors of the report believe that this represents a huge 
opportunity for European films to travel outside their home markets and, 
potentially, an important new phase for European film production.

Although films can already be downloaded or streamed over the internet, 
the service is still too slow and unreliable for the digital delivery of 
film to be a realistic consumer proposition for most people.

However, the report argues that the speed of delivery, along with the 
quality of home entertainment from high definition screens and home 
cinema technology, will go on improving. As a result, the direct 
delivery of films to the home will be commonplace in many countries by 
2012.

The report does acknowledge that some problems remain to be solved if 
Europe is to take full advantage of this development. For example:

·                European cultural policy is not, at this point, 
directed enough towards pan-European models;

·                The digital era will make consumer choice almost 
absolute. Currently, European films pay too little attention to what 
audiences want to be able to succeed in this niche environment;

·                Most European films rely on advances from distributors 
in exchange for exclusive rights to specific territories, which is not 
an appropriate model for multi-language, multi-country distribution;

·                Film deliveries require fast broadband connections. 
However, progress in installing broadband around the EU varies greatly.

·                Digital Rights Management Systems (DRMs), necessary for 
the protection of film in the digital arena, are not yet interoperable 
enough.

The report predicts a period of comparative stability over the next few 
years, allowing time for these problems to be addressed.

The report is available from the European Parliament website at:

http://europarl.europa.eu/downloaddigitaldelivery 
<http://europarl.europa.eu/EST/download.do?file=13150#search=%20digital%20delivery%20> 

Alternatively, the report is available from our website at 
www.dganet.co.uk <http://www.dganet.co.uk/>

-- 
adnan hadzi
phd media & communications

dept media and communications
goldsmiths college
university of london
new cross
london, se14 6nw
united kingdom

tel.
+44 20 8816 8166

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+44 20 7943 2772
(account# 7041207864438)

www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/departments/media-communications
www.filmcode.org
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www.liquidculture.cc
www.copyleft.org.uk