[opendtv] Re: Variety.com: Leslie Moonves and Jeff Shell Defend Movie Industry, Blast Aereo for 'Stealing' Content
- From: "James Albro" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "jalbro@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 23:51:41 -0400
Bert said:
"I wonder if my antenna farm in the fireplace is also "kind of theft," then.
It's the same content Aereo would have, no?"
No it's not "kind of theft." If the signals are viewed only in your home
then it's a private performance as has been established for years. If you
start wiring up your neighbors, distributing your fireplace signals to them
and charging a fee for the service (without paying a mutually agreed fee for
the use of copyrighted content) you'll be in the wrong and acting just like
Aereo.
"Oh, to help answer Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor's question, as long as
Aereo only provides OTA channels (+ Bloomberg TV), then it differs from
MVPDs"
No, Aereo provides OTA channels plus cable only content. Just like a cable
company.
" also because Aereo gets no ad revenues from the programs"
Cable companies also get no ad revenue from OTA channels. Cable channels
(like CNBC, for example) have local avails that can be sold by the local
cable company. OTA channels do not. Cable channels send commercial roll
cues to allow the local avail spots to fit in properly with the channel's
other programming. OTA channels do not because they don't have local
avails.
" and doesn't charge monthly fees for separate bundles."
So a transitory business decision should decide what kind of service is
being offered?
" Plenty of differences there."
Pretty much no differences there.
Jim
-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Manfredi, Albert E
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 9:57 PM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Variety.com: Leslie Moonves and Jeff Shell Defend Movie
Industry, Blast Aereo for 'Stealing' Content
"Moonves became rather heated when discussing the Aereo case currently
before the Supreme Court. 'Aereo is trying to cloud the issue about what we
do with our content because the law is not on their side,' he said, further
explaining that companies like Netflix and Amazon pay CBS to use their
content, while Aereo wants it free of charge. 'It's a kind of theft,'
Moonves said."
I wonder if my antenna farm in the fireplace is also "kind of theft," then.
It's the same content Aereo would have, no?
Oh, to help answer Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor's question, as long as
Aereo only provides OTA channels (+ Bloomberg TV), then it differs from
MVPDs also because Aereo gets no ad revenues from the programs and doesn't
charge monthly fees for separate bundles. Plenty of differences there.
And if Bloomberg is happy to have Aereo carry his programs, who's to
object??
Bert
---------------------------------------------
http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/les-moonves-and-jeff-shell-defend-movie-biz
-blast-aereo-for-stealing-content-1201168099/#
Leslie Moonves and Jeff Shell Defend Movie Industry, Blast Aereo for
'Stealing' Content April 30, 2014 | 12:05PM PT Alexandra Cheney Senior Film
Reporter
@alexandracheney
"Fifty Shades of Grey," the Supreme Court Aereo case and DreamWorks
Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's recent critique of the film business were
among the many topics of discussion Wednesday morning at the Milken Global
Conference's "Entertainment: The Big Picture" panel.
Universal topper Jeff Shell and CBS chief Leslie Moonves (pictured, above)
both disagreed with Katzenberg's assertion that "movies are not a growth
business." Shell argued that while domestic ticket sales are flat, the film
industry is "growing like crazy from an international perspective," citing
both Sky and Canal Plus as interested in talking about big movies. "That's
what they want from Hollywood," he said.
"The future is extraordinarily bright," said Moonves, who also admitted that
CBS Films is "a tiny little film company that doesn't even move the needle."
Moonves became rather heated when discussing the Aereo case currently before
the Supreme Court. "Aereo is trying to cloud the issue about what we do with
our content because the law is not on their side," he said, further
explaining that companies like Netflix and Amazon pay CBS to use their
content, while Aereo wants it free of charge. "It's a kind of theft,"
Moonves said.
Transforming CBS into a cable network was just one of the possibilities he
threw out should Aereo win the case.
Shell immediately backed Moonves up, calling Aereo's business plan to
distribute content without paying for it "stealing," although he then said,
"I've been at the movie thing for seven months now."
Shell also tackled both "Fast 7" and "Fifty Shades of Grey," upcoming
projects at Universal. He was proud of the way he, Donna Langley and Ron
Meyer handled the death of the film's star, Paul Walker, describing it as
"act(ing) as a human being first."
He also shut down the idea of issuing "Fifty Shades of Grey" as a
day-and-date release. "'Fifty Shades' is going to be an intimate movie best
watched in a theater," Shell said.
Moonves replied that a lot of people are going to "want to watch at home
with their wife."
Nancy Dubuc, president and CEO of A+E Networks, kept returning to the idea
of owning one's content outright, such as her company's upcoming follow-up
to the successful miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys" in which A+E is putting
$40 million-$50 million.
"We have to do this things. We have to be in control of our destiny," she
said, discussing the growing importance of the backend versus the front end.
Moonves immediately agreed, adding that the prized 18-49 demographic is no
longer the "be all end all" because revenue streams are changing.
While conversations around Netflix dominated this panel last year, this time
around Moonves summarized it this way: "Who cares? There's plenty of room
for good content and competition. They're paying us to carry our content and
we love that" - another barb at Aereo.
When asked about the recent negotiation fallout between Time Warner Cable
and local TV providers over broadcast rights for the Los Angeles Dodgers,
Moonves said, "I don't get Time Warner so I don't watch the Dodgers," adding
that he's on ESPN more than CBS.
Similarly, Shell said, "I run Universal, so I have no idea about that,"
referring to the question of whether he would have purchased Disney's
recently acquired Maker Studios.
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