Piracy in Czech Republic
| Author: | Zara |
| Date: | Mon, 01/05/2006 - 18:36 |
| Category: | International > Distribution |
Warner Bros have decided to stop distributing home video to the Czech Republic. Apparently, a combination of piracy, a 14% increase in VAT, and a new legislation which required home entertainment distributors to give 3% of their profits to the State Fund for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography, makes the business unprofitable for Warners in that territory. They will continue theatrical releases though.
It makes you wonder though, if a giant like Warners has to close shop in Czech Republic, what hope do the smaller home entertainment distributors have?
edeverett wrote: Mon, 01/05/2006 - 21:00
One way to ensure piracy is to not give the public access to the content they want. iTunes (and the like) has cut piracy by making digital music easy to consume legally.
Wouldn't this be more likely to be an oportunity for a smaller more flexible distributer to get a big foot-hold in the market? Obviously I now nothing about the complexities of the situation, but it doesn't seem all bad.
Ed.
LL wrote: Tue, 02/05/2006 - 14:48
Warners have been odd about home video for ages. Remember when they threatened the existence of the rental market?
Screen International reports that 9 out of every 10 videos and DVDs in the Czech Republic are illegal copies. I wonder how they know, and how that compares with other countries?
Warner Bros was the number two distributor in 2005, so you'd think the impact of this would be considerable. But if you consider that their market share was 16% (and the legal market is around 10%) this slice of the action won't be sorely missed by the Hollywood barons.
So that's what they'll lose, but the question is what do they stand to gain? Nothing, as far as I can see. I'm with Ed here.
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