What? Really? By who? The government? Litigious lawyers? John McCain?
No, no, no. Way worse. The industry is killing themselves!
Don’t be surprised if you hear this little spiel soon. It’s sad really; all of this could easily be avoided if the Hollywood bigwigs would just stop being stubborn and embrace some new technology. What I’m talking about is the internet. You know, that thing that allows you to buy and order stuff without leaving the house, the thing that makes your Facebook page possible. You know, the technology that boats over 230,630,000 users in just the U.S.A. alone ("Internet World Stats") . Yeah that thing.
Sure, tinsel town execs say that people are happy with DVDs so there is no need to switch their distribution format. However, there are signs that the DVD boom is quickly coming to an end ("Economist" 86-88). Can’t the studios see that the people are speaking to them? Consumers want more digital online content, not more plastic discs ("Economist" 86-88). Forget about giant scary corporations like Wal-Mart pushing them around, if all of the customers decided not to buy DVDs anymore, what leverage would they have? Don’t you guys remember what happened in 1997 with the VHS to DVD format switch? Of course you guys do, even though you don’t want to admit it. I mean come on, don’t you guys want to make more money? Did you guys forget about the lower costs associated with sales of digital products? There’s also the argument about how long it takes to download movies and the fact that people want to watch their shows and movies on a T.V. rather than their computers. Oh wait, there is another problem too. Pirates, arrrrgggghhh!
I guess the studios are never going to embrace the internet like every other business. I guess their fate has been sealed…
But wait, there is hope in the horizon! You can call Hollywood’s potential savior Roku. So what is it exactly? Well in a nutshell, it is the little box that streams tons of entertainment instantly to your TV, without a PC.
If the Roku is successful, then it may revolutionize the way the film industry works. The content on the Roku is identified using the "channel" vernacular, with each separate channel supporting content from one partner, though some content partners have more than one channel ("Roku"). This would allow each film studio to have its own “channel” where it could release its films to the public. This would cut out marketing intermediaries such as Wal-Mart; stopping them from pushing the studios around as well as lowering costs to the consumers. This device combats piracy as well. If the movies are released at the same time worldwide, then pirates won’t have time to bootleg and upload movies before they are released.
The Roku also solves the problem of long movie download times and slow speeds. Since it streams the movie instead, people can enjoy their films instantly ("Roku"). This instantaneous stream works by having multimedia data transferred in a stream of packets that are interpreted and rendered, in real-time, by a software application as the packets arrive ("PCMags").
Since the Roku requires doesn’t require a P.C. and hooks up directly to any T.V. ("Roku"), people will be able to fully utilize their expensive home media system. In fact, people are spending more money on home theater systems than going out these days. If movies were released directly via the Roku, a lot more money could be made using this release model rather than the traditional one.
Another great thing about the Roku is that it’s an open-platform device with a freely available SDK that enables anyone to create new channels ("Roku"). Developers who wish to test their channels before a general release, or who wish to limit viewership, can create "private" channels that require a code be entered by the user in the account page of the Roku website. This works perfectly for what some of the film studios are doing today in regards to customer interaction. Consumers can create their own content for film studios to potentially pick up.
Physically speaking, the Roku is quite sexy. This line of little black boxes come in at 720p and 1080p resolution, has 802.11g WiFi reception (as well as an Ethernet connection) and an HDMI output ("Roku"). It also has component video and optical audio outputs, dual-band wireless N and a USB port for playing videos, photos and music ("Roku").
This little black box is what the film industry desperately needs. I truly believe if it’s successful, it will change the way the industry’s opinion of the internet and therefore possibly save it. This is why I say R stands for Revolution!
Sources
"Hollywood and the Internet." Economist 23 Feb 2008: 86-88. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://uwbs.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/courses/11WNT-14494/HollywoodandInternet.pdf>.
"Streaming Video." PCMags. PCMags, n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=streaming+video&i=52139,00.asp>.
"What is Roku?." Roku. Roku, n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://www.roku.com/roku-products#4>.
"WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS." Internet World Stats. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm>.
Sources
"Hollywood and the Internet." Economist 23 Feb 2008: 86-88. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://uwbs.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/courses/11WNT-14494/HollywoodandInternet.pdf>.
"Streaming Video." PCMags. PCMags, n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=streaming+video&i=52139,00.asp>.
"What is Roku?." Roku. Roku, n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://www.roku.com/roku-products#4>.
"WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS." Internet World Stats. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm>.
