Ryan McNeil
“On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero” – Chuck Palahniuk
I can’t help but think about those words as I read about today’s announcement that YouTube has struck a deal to offer full length tv shows and movies on their site. The deal will offer content from Lionsgate, BBC, Sony, Discovery, and National Geographic.
The decision isn’t exactly groundbreaking – Hulu has been offering free content for a while now – but it seems to mark a complete about face for the film and TV industry. Ever since the turn of the century, all we’ve heard about is how piracy is bad, and how thousands of jobs will be lost if the material was just given away for free.
Perhaps nine years worth of legal bills has changed the tune of studio executives, and they’ve finally managed to come up with a better alternative.
(NB – No word as to whether or not Canadian net users will be able to access the free content, or whether – like Hulu – we’ll be locked out)
I’m very curious on this one, especailly if it opens up to be a broader and internationally acceptable for viewing content. So far, I’ve never been blocked from YouTube content because ‘the content is not available in your country/region’. Fingers crossed 🙂