Warner Bros. is sleeping with the enemy


guba

Not long ago, media empires sued file sharers. Now, they strike partnerships.

The latest is from Time Warner's Warner Bros. The deal calls for distribution of Warner Bros.' rich content library of TV shows and movies on Guba.com.

OK, in this deal, "sharing" means selling the movie downloads. Interestingly enough, like other video sites, Guba.com shared copyrighted content for free.  Well, it is changing its ways.

Actually, Warner Bros. has been quite visionary.  The company recently struck a similar deal with another file sharer, BitTorrent.

Warner Bros. also realizes that – if it wants to find its customers – it must move to the Web.  Why not go to places where huge numbers of users gather? Yes, it's not brain surgery.  But, in the entertainment business, often the first inclination is to sue, not partner.


By the end of the year, up to 1,000 Warner Bros. titles will be available for download on Guba.  Some of the titles:  The Matrix, Rebel Without a Cause, Dukes of Hazzard and Good Night and Good Luck. The downloads will be done through Microsoft media technology.

I talked to Greg Kostello, who is the CEO of the video site, vMix:  "I like the fact that Warner is trying a number of different companies and approaches. I doubt the deal is exclusive as the movie industry looks to have a series of channels for distribution.  They will try to avoid the single distributor model (Apple) in the future so they will have the pricing flexibility they seek."

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