Real's Glaser: Some studio chiefs 'scared' of tech

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: bobr () bobrosenberg phoenix az us
Date: April 30, 2009 2:59:33 PM EDT
To: "Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>
Subject: Real's Glaser: Some studio chiefs 'scared' of tech

Hi Dave

I'm beginning to salivate.  Perhaps, in the foreseeable future, I will  
allow myself
to buy movies -- something I haven't done for years.  The reason I  
haven't bought
any movies is simply that I don't want anybody who sells me stuff to  
attack me for
buying their stuff.

Cheers,
Bob


--
Bob Rosenberg
P.O. Box 33023
Phoenix, AZ  85067-3023
Mobile:  602-206-2856
LandLine:  602-274-3012
bob () bobrosenberg phoenix az us



April 29, 2009 4:31 PM PDT
Real's Glaser: Some studio chiefs 'scared' of tech
by Greg Sandoval

  http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10230578-93.html?tag=nl.e703

"Hollywood should be embracing us," said Real CEO Rob Glaser.

SAN FRANCISCO--Hollywood is missing out on a marvelous opportunity, says
RealNetworks' CEO Rob Glaser.

Real has presented the film industry with a means to inject renewed  
interest in
DVDs, which is waning, Glaser said minutes after testifying at a  
hearing in federal
court on Wednesday. Real has developed two different kinds of  
software, RealDVD and
Facet, that it says streamlines the movie-viewing experience by  
enabling owners to
duplicate DVDs and store the copies on hard drives.

But the studios, much like they've done since the Sony Betamax case,  
are resisting
technological advancement and have rejected the opportunity Real  
offers, Glaser
said. He thinks he knows why.

"Some of the studios are very progressive," said Glaser, who founded  
the public
company in 1994. "Some of them are scared. It's been my experience  
that often the
scared voices overwhelm the progressive voices."

Glaser's assessment of film industry CEOs couldn't be further from the  
truth, said
Elizabeth Kaltman, a spokeswoman from the Motion Picture Association  
of America, the
lobbying group of the six largest movie studios.

"These (film) companies have embraced innovation and collaborate with  
the technology
community to deliver content in a myriad of ways," Kaltman said. "The  
studios are
working daily to license movies and TV shows for online distribution  
to give
consumers the flexibility they desire."

Fear of technology is only one of the reasons that Real says it has  
come under fire
from the MPAA. The film industry filed a lawsuit last September that  
accused Real of
violating copyright and breach of contract. The studios claim that  
RealDVD violates
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by circumventing the copy  
protections. Real's
software also doesn't comply with the terms of the license granted by  
the DVD Copy
Control Association, the group formed to protect DVDs, according to  
lawyers
representing the studios.

In an interview with CNET, Glaser denied the charges.

At Glaser's side, Bill Way, RealNetworks' deputy general counsel,  
called the
allegations that Real breached its contract flat wrong.

"The notion that we are guilty of circumvention when we have a license  
is crazy,"
Way said. "There is no cases that show that if you have a license you  
can be found
guilty of circumventing encryption."

On Tuesday, Glaser demonstrated for the court a prototype of Real's  
new DVD player
called Facet. The software within not only copies and stores DVDs but  
allows users
to hop around instantly between movies or TV episodes. The device has  
been called a
Tivo for DVDs. Glaser said the machine offers the kind of convenience  
that consumers
demand but Hollywood refuses to listen.

"They should be embracing us," Glaser said. "If all you do is fight  
your customer,
you drive the mainstream market underground. This is a huge strategy  
mistake...The
big picture view is that they can make a lot more money with us than  
fighting
against us."


Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He  
is a former
reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail  
Greg, or follow
him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET.






-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com