Thursday, 28th January 2010

Sky's new dimension
Andrew Hill comments on Sky's screening of the first football match live in 3D this weekend. "BSkyB's high-definition set-top boxes, installed in 1.6m households, can handle 3D already. Its high-end subscribers will get the new service for free at first. Whether or not customers decide to upgrade their set is not the broadcaster's problem, as long as more are enticed to take the more expensive HD package. In fact, the real challenge posed by Sky's Sunday Premiership publicity coup is to manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, LG and Panasonic as they race to get the new 3D sets into the market. "

Sources: FT

Thursday, 28th January 2010

150 "falsely accused" of illegal file-sharing
Consumer group Which? has heard from more than 150 people who claim to have been falsely accused of illegal file-sharing by legal firm ACS Law. Law firms such as ACS Law and previously Davenport Lyons act on behalf of copyright owners, who employ companies to track illegal downloads made using P2P file-sharing services. Crucially, the firms only identify the connection - and not the individual - responsible for the download.

Sources: PC Pro

Thursday, 28th January 2010

Talk Talk slams file-sharing plans at Westminster
Talk Talk and other organisations have criticised the proposed measures outlined in the Digital Economy Bill to combat illegal file sharing as unfair. At a Westminster briefing hosted by the ISP Talk Talk and backed by consumer organisations, MPs and peers heard how alternatives to the the 'three strikes' proposals in the Bill needed to be found.

Sources: Computer Active

Wednesday, 27th January 2010

Who's winning the file-sharing war?
Rory Cellan-Jones reports on a lobbying session organized by Charles Dunstone, the Carphone Warehouse boss and owner of Talk Talk, who invited MPs and Lords to come and hear the case against the Digital Economy Bill.

Sources: BBC News

Wednesday, 27th January 2010

Copyright theft letter campaign 'nets innocents'
More than 150 people have approached consumer publication Which? Computing claiming to have been wrongly targeted in crackdowns on illegal file-sharing. ACS:Law has sent thousands of letters to people claiming they have illegally downloaded material and offers them a chance to settle by paying around £500. Which? says it has been approached by some - including a 78 year-old accused of downloading pornography - who have no knowledge of the alleged offence.

Sources: BBC News

Wednesday, 27th January 2010

EU to assess copyright theft detection software
A human rights watchdog has asked the European Commission to assess the legality of software being used to analyse file-sharing in the UK. The software in question is called CView and will be used by ISP Virgin Media to identify legal versus illegal traffic on its network. The EC has said it will monitor the use of the software, following a complaint from Privacy International.

Sources: BBC News

Wednesday, 27th January 2010

Avatar overtakes Titanic as top-grossing film ever
Avatar has surpassed Titanic to become the highest grossing movie of all time, figures from distributor 20th Century Fox show.

Avatar's worldwide takings in just six weeks stand at $1.859bn (£1.15bn), versus Titanic's $1.843bn (£1.14bn).

Sources: BBC News

Tuesday, 26th January 2010

Govt told to tackle camcorder film copyright theft
The government must introduce clearer legislation to stop copyright thieves from using camcorders to record films at the cinema, a House of Lords report has claimed. Lord Fowler's communications committee report on the British film and television industries says that not enough is being done to combat copyright theft of new films during cinema screenings.

Sources: Digitalspy

Tuesday, 26th January 2010

$2m file-sharing fine slashed to $54,000
An American woman told to pay $2m (£1.23m) for sharing 24 songs over the internet has had her fine slashed. Following an appeal, Jammie Thomas-Rasset has now been ordered to pay the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) $54,000 (£33,420). The judge who reduced the fine said the original multi-million dollar claim by the industry body was "monstrous".

Sources: BBC News

Tuesday, 26th January 2010

Australia joins copyright theft talks
AUSTRALIA is among more than a dozen countries meeting this week in Mexico for the next round of negotiations for a trade agreement to crack down on copyright theft, but discussions remain shrouded in secrecy. Internet industry figures fear the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will force participating countries to introduce tough penalties for copyright breaches to bring them into line with US laws.

Sources: The Age

Tuesday, 26th January 2010

In the end, we’ll pay a high price for this free-for-all
More than half the “bestselling” e-books on Kindle, Amazon.com’s e-reader, are available at no charge. And though some of these American titles are digital versions of out-of-copyright classics, such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, many are by new authors trying to make it in writing.

Sources: Times

Tuesday, 26th January 2010

Could 3D films make you sick?
Following the success of sci fi blockbuster Avatar it is a sure sign that the 3D medium is making a comeback. One year ago there were 70 3D capable theatres in the UK, now 400 exists. Concern remains however, that 3D exposure can cause physical symptoms including vomitting.

Sources: Express

Monday, 25th January 2010

House of Lords report on British film and TV
House of Lords report on British film and TV recommends, to stem the rising tide of film piracy, new legislation to make it a criminal offence to use a camcorder in a cinema and also voices its support for the government's plans to crack down on illegal online file-sharing. "The glaring omission is camcorder crime when new films are recorded at the cinema by camcorder, and then sold as DVDs. There is no legitimate issue of freedom here. It is theft which ultimately does great damage to the industry and those working in it. We believe that we should follow the example of most other countries in Europe and make it a criminal offence."

Sources: The Guardian

Monday, 25th January 2010

HP to launch music service in Europe
Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest maker of PCs, will launch a digital music service across key European markets on Monday, hoping to benefit from consumers' rising appetite for new types of music download services. The MusicStation service will be preloaded on 16 of HP's personal computer models in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. Consumers pay around 10 euros ($14.13) a month for access to all music in HP's service. They can try the service for free for 14 days, and keep 10 tracks each month.

Sources: Reuters.com

Monday, 25th January 2010

Radiohead's Ed O'Brien 'Piracy isn't killing music'
Radiohead 's Ed O'Brien has hit out at claims that piracy is killing the music industry. Expressing his thoughts on the situation, the guitarist explained that whilst pirates might not purchase music, they are still putting money into the industry.

Sources: NME

Monday, 25th January 2010

Tesco sets up film studio to adapt hit novels
There is an unlikely new player in the British film industry with ambitions to change the world of entertainment. Tesco has moved into movie mogul territory this weekend with the launch of a multi-million-pound production arm poised to make films of books by a slew of bestselling authors. The first release from the Tesco studio will be Paris Connections, a tweaked Jackie Collins tale. It will go straight to DVD after a number of cinema preview screenings. The film will then be sold exclusively in Tesco stores and has been specially adapted by Collins for the chain from her 1999 bestselling murder mystery LA Connections.

Sources: The Guardian

Thursday, 21th January 2010

Illegal file-sharing destroys UK jobs
Christine Payne, chair of the Creative Coalition Campaign argues that "digital theft" destroys UK jobs.

Sources: The Independent

Thursday, 21th January 2010

Warning of 'cultural desert' as music sales fall despite rise in downloads
The rise of new services such as Spotify and legal crackdowns on online copyright thieves failed to halt tumbling music sales last year, according to industry figures showing a dramatic slowdown in digital growth.

Sources: The Guardian, FT, Times, BBC News

Thursday, 21th January 2010

Rights holders to fund 75% of web crackdown
Record labels and film studios will have to bear most of the cost of tackling online piracy, the government said on Thursday. Stephen Timms, Treasury minister, told media executives gathered at the Oxford Media Convention that rights holders should pay 75 per cent of charges arising from the government’s plans to clamp down on internet file-sharing, as they would be the “primary beneficiaries” of the scheme, which ministers estimate will cost £500m over 10 years.

Sources: FT

Thursday, 21th January 2010

Tories’ new role for UK Film Council
The UK Film Council could have its remit broadened to represent the computer games industry as well as cinema if a Conservative government were elected. Ed Vaizey, the shadow minister for culture and the creative industries, told a Westminster eForum on Thursday that he would favour the UK’s games sector joining forces with the film industry to gain more clout.

Sources: FT

Thursday, 21th January 2010

Sharing files is an essential part of the digital revolution
Nicholas Jones is the founder of Quantafilms.com, one of Britain's first websites to sell downloads of TV documentaries. He comments on the Digital Economy Bill, currently being discussed in Parliament, which he believes is misguided and doomed to failure. He claims the figures provided by the government regarding losses caused by illegal file-sharing "are pure conjecture". And he states that "history shows that the music and film industries often tried to stop progress - and just looked stupid. The record labels and film studios respectively claimed the audio cassette and then the VHS would destroy their industries. Well, they're still here”. He concludes: "trust people - and don't call them criminals... if people are happy with the price of a film they like, they will buy it."

Sources: The Independent

Thursday, 21th January 2010

Verizon ends service of alleged illegal downloaders
Months after Verizon Communications began issuing warnings to accused file sharers, the company has acknowledged that multiple offenses could result in a service interruption. "We've cut some people off," Verizon Online spokeswoman Bobbi Henson told CNET. "We do reserve the right to discontinue service. But we don't throttle bandwidth like Comcast was doing. Verizon does not have bandwidth caps."

Sources: Cnet

Thursday, 21th January 2010

BPI: policing pirates could cost us all 24p in Digital Britain – not £24
The British Phonographic Institute has commissioned some research into just how expensive the Digital Economy Bill’s copyright measures could be for both Internet Service Providers and end users. And it says we could ultimately each have to pay an extra 24 pence on top of our existing broadband bills – one hundred times less than ISPs have been claiming.

Sources: SamKnows

Wednesday, 20th January 2010

British cinemas see best performance in seven years
Harry Potter, Slumdog Millionaire and Avatar helped make 2009 the best year for cinemas since 2002, a raft of figures from the UK Film Council (UKFC) showed yesterday. In the UK last year, cinema admissions hit 173.5m and the combined box office takings in the UK and Ireland exceeded £1bn for the first time. Creative industries minister Siôn Simon paid tribute to the "superb production statistics and incredibly buoyant box office receipts". He said: "It's hard to imagine that there was a time not so long ago that UK production was in the doldrums and cinema was under threat from new forms of home entertainment."

Sources: The Guardian

Wednesday, 20th January 2010

Game on: the battle for your living room
Stephen Foley reports on the race between Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to provide all your home entertainment via their games consoles. Foley notes that Disney-owned sports channel ESPN, which dominates sports broadcasting in the US, is in talks with Microsoft about signing up to a similar distribution deal as Sky has with the Xbox 360 in the UK. "Deals like these have been proliferating, with social networking and catch-up television also being added to these consoles" said Ed Barton, gaming sector analyst at Screen Digest. "It has always been a strategic imperative of the manufacturers to persuade people that this is not just a games console to be put in teenagers' bedrooms but a box that can go front and centre by the TV in the living room."

Sources: The Independent

Wednesday, 20th January 2010

A high price for viewers
Millions of Freeview customers will have to fork out almost £200 to watch the World Cup in high definition. Experts say those who have bought HD-ready TVs with built-in Freeview decoders will need a new set-top box to receive the HD signals.

Sources: Dailystar

Wednesday, 20th January 2010

BPI takes aim at ISP claims about the costs of anti-copyright theft measures
The war of words between the music industry and certain UK ISPs shows no signs of thawing. With ISPs like TalkTalk and BT having predicted huge costs if they’re forced to introduce anti-piracy measures on their networks, the BPI has commissioned a report from technical consultancy Sweet Consulting that claims to disprove them.

Sources: music :) ally

Wednesday, 20th January 2010

Illegal downloading affects profits at Sony’s Irish arm
Accounts just filed show Sony Music Entertainment Ireland notched up revenues of just €19.9m in the 16 months to last March, about €1m lower than the firm's turnover in the 12 months to December 2007. The company's Irish directors point to "increased competition in the entertainment sector, illegal downloading, physical piracy and downward price pressure" as the reason for the poorer performance.

Sources: The Independent

Tuesday, 19th January 2010

Dunstone walks the walk on illegal filesharing
Martin Waller comments on Charles Dunstone's efforts to abolish the section of the Digital Economy Bill that would see alleged illegal filesharers disconnected without a fair trial.

Sources: Times

Tuesday, 19th January 2010

Virgin Media to trial copyright theft detection software
Virgin Media is trying out new technology that can automatically detect if a customer’s broadband connection is being used to download copyrighted files illegally. Virgin, which has more than 4m UK broadband customers, offers the fastest connection speeds in Britain and is consequently a popular ISP for filesharers.

Sources: Times

Tuesday, 19th January 2010

The Freeview HD 'con'
The Mail reveals that many viewers buying new HD-ready TV sets are unaware that they will not automatically be able to watch new HD services. Industry analysts have criticised the Freeview organisation, which is funded by commercial channels and the public through the BBC, for failing to alert consumers. BBC spokesman Graham Plumb said the need for new equipment was 'a very important message to get across'.

Sources: DailyMail

Tuesday, 19th January 2010

Illegal download puts companies at risk, expert says
Employees treating work computers like home machines are putting UK businesses at risk when downloading illegally on the web, according to the Federation Against Software Theft and Investors in Software (FAST IiS). "Downloading what looks like free software from P2P sites is not recommended. At the very least it's against the law if the software should be purchased and there's a high likelihood of malware being a free and silent add-on," said FAST IiS chief executive John Lovelock.

Sources: Computeach

Monday, 18th January 2010

Don't let theft ruin our digital future
Copyright infringement is having a serious impact on employment opportunities for the British creative workforce and the promotion of emerging talent.

Sources: The Guardian

Monday, 18th January 2010

Illegal file-share trial ends in acquittal
The UK's first trial for illegal file-sharing ended in acquittal on Friday. Alan Ellis, 26, ran one of the world's largest music sharing websites, Oink, from his flat in Middlesbrough. Lawyers said the acquittal showed how difficult it was to prove criminal cases for file-sharing.

Sources: FT

Monday, 18th January 2010

Blinkbox Entertainment capitalises on video-on-demand
Martin Walker talks to Michael Cornish, of blinkbox Entertainment, the video-on-demand service, who believes 2010 will be the tipping point for people using VOD services on their TVs. What will transform VOD companies, and allow the successful ones to proceed, will be the move from viewing on the home computer to watching on the household TV.

Sources: Times

Monday, 18th January 2010

Employees increasingly found to be downloading illegal files
Research just published by ScanSafe, the software-as-a-service specialist, shows there has been a 55% increase in employees attempting to download illegal software, especially MP3 files, in the workplace over the last three months. The firm says all too often an employer will be held legally responsible for any wrongful acts committed by an employee "in the course of their employment" even if it is expressly prohibited by the employer.

Sources: infosecurity

Friday, 15th January 2010

Six-year-olds are illegally downloading TV shows
Research for New Media Age has found that children as young as six are illegally downloading TV shows before they are aired in Britain. The magazine's editor, Justin Pearse, said: "We were incredibly surprised by how young these children are - for six-year-olds to be downloading is astonishing. However, there are legal issues and parents have themselves to blame if they are not monitoring what their children are doing online."

Sources: London Evening Standard, Telegraph

Friday, 15th January 2010

Call for study of threat from "offline" filesharing
Policymakers urgently need better information on people's attitudes to copyright law, according to a report out today warning that friends swapping hard drives and memory sticks could pose as great a copyright theft threat to media companies as online filesharers.

Source: The Guardian

Friday, 15th January 2010

MPAA, Guilds on Net Neutrality: OK, but Don't Ignore Copyright Theft
The Motion Pictures Association of America and a collection of major Hollywood guilds both issued separate statements of tentative support for proposed rules to ensure net neutrality on Thursday. As the entertainment organizations encouraged a robust internet, they cautioned that it cannot come at the expense of the fight against content copyright theft.

Source: The Wrap

Friday, 15th January 2010

Helicopters at the ready
A proposed new tax on online advertising revenues, to pay for new subsidies for the music, film and publishing industries, typifies France’s attitude to the internet.

Source: The Economist

Friday, 15th January 2010

Hong Kong film development council to promote 3D movie making
The film development council of Hong Kong said it would expand promotional efforts this year to cover the making of 3D movies, local media reported Friday. This is because 3D movies have great potential in offering a new audio-visual experience and serving as a new means to combat copyright theft, local newspaper Ta Kung Pao reported, quoting the Hong Kong Film Development Council (HKFDC).

Source: Xinhuanet.com

Friday, 15th January 2010

Kasabian: “Let’s Blow Up iTunes!”
Kasabian’s Chris Edwards and Serge Pizzorno have launched a stinging attack on digital music and illegal downloading. In an interview with Irish publication Hot Press, the pair believe that music culture has been debased by modern technologies.

Source: XFM

Friday, 15th January 2010

Are we heading towards a screen future in which everything is 3D?
Rob Sharp discusses the future of 3D TV.

Source: The Independent

Thursday, 14th January 2010

Nintendo ready to stream films and TV through Wii consoles
Consoles are looking to challenge traditional forms of in-home entertainment with Nintendo becoming the third video game giant to strike a deal with online rental firm Netflix.

Source: The Independent

Thursday, 14th January 2010

Anti copyright theft agency scores logo own goal
France's new anti internet copyright theft agency, called Hadopi, is facing legal action over using a copyrighted design for its logo.

Source: The Guardian

Thursday, 14th January 2010

Experts fear decade of the gadget is over
According to a report, there is not a "must have gizmo" on the horizon for years. Katherine Hannaford of gadget site Gizmodo has said that 3D TV will not have the impact the industry hopes for.

Source: London Evening Standard

Wednesday, 13th January 2010

Employees are downloading in the office
Scansafe is reporting a 55 per cent increase in the number of workers attempting to download illegal material at work. The firm said that workers were increasingly choosing not to download copyrighted material at home but instead were doing it at work.

Source: The Inquirer

Wednesday, 13th January 2010

Spanish Web Users Clash with Government over Anti Copyright Theft Law
Associations of Web users and hundreds of Spanish bloggers said on Tuesday that they were ready to fight measures planned by the government to prevent illegal downloads of movies and music from the Internet, which would include the blocking and closure of offending Web sites.

Source: laht.com

Wednesday, 13th January 2010

Poll Reveals Porn More "Morally Acceptable" than Illegal Downloading of Copyright Content
A new poll has revealed that most New Zealanders believe that secretly viewing pornography online, even when one is married, is more "morally acceptable" than downloading copyrighted content like music and videos.

Source: TopNews

Wednesday, 13th January 2010

Is it game over for the console?
Tim Ingham reports on the trend of downloading and streaming games, which could see the end for buying expensive gaming equipment.

Source: The Independent

Tuesday, 12th January 2010

Entertainment industry calls for EU internet copyright theft crackdown
The European Audiovisual Social Dialogue Committee, whose members include the International Federation of Film Producers Associations and the Association of Commercial Television in Europe, want improvements to the EU’s legal framework which could see the introduction of specific legislation to protect copyright holders.

Source: Telegraph

Tuesday, 12th January 2010

Copyright theft of ‘Avatar’ also breaking records
Hit movie Avatar looks to break more records this weekend in cinemas in the US and around the world and seems poised to overtake director James Cameron's other box office hit, Titanic, for various top spots. Meanwhile, his newest blockbuster has reached another record: the film is the fastest illegally downloaded movie.

Source: The Independent

Monday, 11th January 2010

Broadcasters face challenge of armchair revolution
A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggests that consumers’ growing appetite for VOD could lead to broadcasters losing a further £280 million from annual advertising revenues if they continue to focus their efforts on cost-cutting and fail to cash in on the boom. The analysis highlights the urgency with which broadcasters must act in order to ensure that the rapid move by viewers away from regular channels towards video delivered via broadband to their computers or televisions does not reduce the industry’s income.

Source: Times

Monday, 11th January 2010

EU urged to crack down on internet piracy
European trade unions and industry groups from TV, film and radio have joined together to call for wider legal crackdowns on illegal downloading. Workers' representatives and trade groups from across Europe have formed a coalition to urge the European Union to formally adopt a strong stance against illegal filesharing and to put more pressure on internet service providers (ISPs) to help curb piracy.

Source: The Guardian

Monday, 11th January 2010

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas unveils the latest gizmos we will all be wanting
Report from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which opened in Las Vegas last week. Looks at the latest VOD invention, the Boxee. It’s the most capable and easy-to-use software for watching internet TV outside of the BBC’s iPlayer. It will come installed in its own hardware, a wi-fi media player that sends video to a television at up to 1080p resolution. Available from Spring 2010.

Source: Times

Thursday, 7th January 2010

Warner seals DVD deal with Netflix
Warner Brothers has taken steps to bolster sales of its DVDs at a time when the lucrative home entertainment format is under pressure by negotiating a new four-week release "window" with Netflix, the film subscription service.

Source: FT

Thursday, 7th January 2010

Sony set to loom large at dawning of 3D television age
Report from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where 3D took centre stage. "3D in the home is far and away one of the biggest stories at CES this year," says Shawn DuBravac, research director and chief economist for the Washington DC-based CEA. "We have been talking about 3D at CES for many years, but this year we are taking the next step ... we are seeing products that are ready for market, real products with real prices and release dates."

Source: FT

Thursday, 7th January 2010

Pupils struggle to take copyright theft subject seriously
“DON'T do drugs” is a simple message to direct at pupils, but “don't download unauthorised copies of films, games and music” is a message that is not as straightforward for them to understand. Tristan Stewart-Robertson discusses how teachers should address the issue of copyright theft.

Source: NEWS.scotsman.com

Thursday, 7th January 2010

Sony: 'Moon Oscar snub due to copyright theft fears'
A Sony representative has claimed that copyright theft is the reason for the company's lack of Oscar campaigning for Moon. Duncan Jones's science fiction drama, which stars Sam Rockwell as an astronaut stranded on a lunar base, was well-received by critics and film fans on its release last year. However, Sony has refused to support an Oscar push for the film by sending out screener discs or arranging screenings of the movie for Academy voters.

Source: Digital Spy

Thursday, 7th January 2010

HD? That's so 2009... 3D TV is on the way
2010 promises to be the year of 3D, reports the Mail, as Sky is set to start broadcasting the country's first 3D channel. A mixture of live sport, films, documentaries and arts programmes will be shown by the broadcaster. They will be piped through the firm's existing HD set-top boxes, which are already used in 1.6 million houses.

Source: Daily Mail

Wednesday, 6th January 2010

Avatar most pirated film of 2009
500,000 pirated copies had been downloaded within 48 hours of it’s release, defying the deterrent 3D poses to piracy. Avatar was most pirated film, with 980,000 downloads; followed closely by New Moon: 610,000 downloads; 2012: 570,000 downloads; Zombieland: 310,000 downloads; This is it: 290,000 downloads, according to Torrent Freak.

Source: Times Online

Wednesday, 6th January 2010

Home entertainment sales fall 5.6% in 2009
Strong individual title performances in December failed to halt a 5.6% fall in total UK video sales in 2009 to 243.5 million units (2008: 257.9 million), according to initial figures compiled for the British Video Association seen by Cue Entertainment.

Wednesday, 6th January 2010

Living room revolution to be televised in high definition 3D
Televisions enhanced with direct internet access and 3D displays will be among the most anticipated products unveiled when the world's biggest annual technology showcase, the Consumer Electronics Show, kicks off in Las Vegas tomorrow.

Source: Guardian

Wednesday, 6th January 2010

ESPN to kick off first 3D TV channel with football World Cup
The first 3D television channel is to be launched in the US by ESPN, the sports network owned by Walt Disney. Sean Bratches, executive vice-president of sales and marketing at ESPN, said the launch was a "meaningful step to drive adoption of 3D television sets". ESPN's move came as Sony, Imax and Discovery Communications unveiled plans for a 3D channel broadcasting films, science and children's shows. The Sony-Imax-Discovery channel will launch in the US in 2011. The companies will be equal partners in the venture.

Source: FT

Tuesday, 5th January 2010

Bono accuses ISPs of 'reverse Robin Hooding' over piracy
U2 frontman Bono has hit out at internet service providers for failing to clamp down on illegal file sharing over their networks. The rockstar attacked ISPs in a New York Times op ed piece yesterday. Bono warned the film industry to beware of the rise of illegal file sharers online, whom he claimed had already done lots of damage to upcoming music makers across the globe.

Source: The Register

Tuesday, 5th January 2010

Broadband industry ‘needs rules’ over illegal file sharing
Legislation and regulations should be introduced to stop broadband users from illegally downloading music and films, it has been claimed. Michel Thiolliere, a French senator, made the comment to the BBC after new laws designed to cut filesharing came into force in the country.

Source: cable.co.uk

Tuesday, 5th January 2010

Internet outlaws find 'bulletproof' havens for illegal file sharing
Internet pirates are moving away from safe havens such as Sweden to new territories that include China and Ukraine, as they try to avoid prosecution for illegal file sharing, according to experts.

Source: Guardian

Tuesday, 5th January 2010

Downloaders defy Avatar 3D barrier
Bootleg copies of Avatar appeared online days before its premiere in cinemas last month. Within 48 hours, 500,000 pirate copies had been downloaded, according to Torrentfreak.com, a website that measures illegal film downloads. The British Video Association reported that £531 million was lost to film theft in the UK last year.

Source: Times Online

Monday, 4th January 2010

New internet piracy law comes into effect in France
The first effects of France's new law against internet piracy will begin to be felt as the new year begins. The law was passed after a long struggle in parliament, and in the teeth of bitter opposition from groups opposed to internet restrictions.

Source: BBC News

Monday, 4th January 2010

Choice abounds
Project Canvas, the joint venture to bring internet services to television, will face a raft of established competition upon its planned launch next year. British consumers wanting to watch online video services through their television sets without paying for subscription services already have a range of choices.

Source: FT

Monday, 4th January 2010

Viewers 'taking TV to bed’ and watching iPlayer under the covers, says BBC
Figures show that audiences are taking advantage of mobile technology and catch-up services to watch programmes at a time when previous generations would have turned to a book. Last month, viewing on the iPlayer, the BBC’s on demand service, peaked at 183,000 at 10.30pm an hour and a half later than for televisions. The figures also pointed to a spike in online audiences during prime weekend lie-in time on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Source: Telegraph

Monday, 4th January 2010

Agony at the top for a Brit in Hollywood
James Ashton of the Sunday Times talks to chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Michael Lynton, who is currently engaged in a battle against internet piracy. "It is just like when the motorways were built - you need rules and regulations," he says.

Source: gulfnews.com