Mobile/PDA About Us Advertise here


		User name	Password

		Not registered yet? Register here. Lost your password? Click here.

Browse by topic

News

Cuban predicts YouTube's demise

23 July 2007 10:32 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 19 comments

In an interview published in Spectrum, a publication published by the IEEE, Mark Cuban says of YouTube, "They will be rolled right into Google Video, and Google Video will have ways to evaluate the video before it's posted, and that will be fine." He also adds "if I'm wrong, and the safe harbor laws apply, then I'll create a business leveraging that."

Cuban, probably best known for being the outspoken owner of NBA franchise The Dallas Mavericks, does know a thing or two about digital media and online distribution. The 48 year old billionaire first came to national attention when Broadcast.com, the company he helped run, went public and he became wealthy literally in one day. Later he made headlines again when the company was sold to Yahoo for nearly 6 billion dollars.

Besides YouTube, he also weighs in on the DMCA, file sharing, and the future of movie theaters. Regarding the DMCA he says "For example, say somebody came up with a different way of dealing with garage door openers, and they got sued over it under this Digital Millennium Copyright law. That's ridiculous."

He mentioned that he doesn't have the patience to download from a file sharing service, but apparently does check BitTorrent to see if movies from his company, 2929 Entertainment, are being pirated. When asked what he does when he finds them he responded "Nothing. Cause those kids weren't gonna spend the money anyways."

He was also an outspoken supporter of Grokster when they were being sued by MGM and eventually lost on the grounds that they were inducing users to copyright infringement. Regarding that case he says "We didn't lose completely, but we certainly didn't get the best of the ruling."

Cuban criticizes theater owners who complain that releasing movies on DVD simultaneously with their theatrical release will destroy their businesses, asking "you think you can't compete with someone watching a 27-inch TV, with the kids screaming, or the telephone ringing versus getting out of the house to go on a date?"

He should know what he's talking about, since 2929 Entertainment owns not only movies, but also a chain of theaters and an HDTV channel. He plans to release movies simultaneously to all three, allowing viewers to consume it whatever way they want.

Cuban's comments, especially in light of his own success in translating traditional media with new technology and business models, may be something that entertainment executives should be paying attention to, but if the litigious history of the industry against their own customers is any indication, he's not in danger of competition from them any time soon.

Source: IEEE Spectrum

Permalink to this article | Topic: Online video

Mark Cuban upset with P2P freeloaders (21 November 2007)

YouTube finally has their anti-piracy tools in place (15 October 2007)

Anime supplier sends threatening letters to BitTorrent users (16 August 2007)

Google doesn't deny its interest in mobile phones (3 August 2007)

Japanese groups join YouTube bashing (2 August 2007)

YouTube expects anti-piracy tech in September (27 July 2007)

« Previous news article
DVR popularity continues to grow

Next news article »
Online DVD rental war heats up with price drops

Post your comment

Discuss this article!
Iguana775 (Newbie) 23 July 2007 10:39
man. I wish I had .1% of his money. lol. [ + quote]
georgeluv (Member) 23 July 2007 10:41
HDnet is terrible, i was watching some concert on it one day and they blurred out the pelvic regions of two people who were "grinding", wtf?! [ + quote]
21Q (Senior Member) 23 July 2007 10:54
*Quote:* When asked what he does when he finds them he responded "Nothing. Cause those kids weren't gonna spend the money anyways." This is so true, at least someone gets it. By The Way georgeluv, it's good that some people still have some moral value, that obviously isn't you but the people at HDnet do. [ + quote]
georgeluv (Member) 23 July 2007 11:03
if you mean moral as in prude then yeh, i guess thats not me. [ + quote]
SProdigy (Member) 23 July 2007 11:30
Cuban's a brilliant man who thinks outside the box in every venture he pursues. Recently on his blog, he asked readers to post what they would like to see on HDNet. Who else seriously entertains the thoughts of the public, rather than a group of consultants in a board room? If anyone has the potential to disrupt a given business model, it's Mark Cuban. [ + quote]
gogochar (Senior Member) 23 July 2007 12:13
If only they didn't downgrade the quality of their vids, they'd probably be even more popular (if that's possible). Sorry, but YouTube isn't going anywhere for a while. And if they allowed copyrighted content to be uploaded (fat chance), they'd be king forever. But of course... yada yada ya. [ + quote]
wetsparks (Member) 23 July 2007 12:20
*Originally posted by SProdigy:* Cuban's a brilliant man who thinks outside the box in every venture he pursues. Recently on his blog, he asked readers to post what they would like to see on HDNet. Who else seriously entertains the thoughts of the public, rather than a group of consultants in a board room? If anyone has the potential to disrupt a given business model, it's Mark Cuban. He does that at Mavericks games also. He puts his email up on the big screen and anyone who wants to say something to him can email him about anything related to his team. He also claims that he reads them all and responds to most. But everything he gets into turns to gold, he sold Broadcast.com in the late '90s before the country went into a recession and split that six billion with the guy he ran it with while others went broke. [ + quote]
AXT (Member) 23 July 2007 14:26
Go Mark Cuban! Too bad the mavericks still choke on playoff games:( [ + quote]
jimmy42 (Member) 23 July 2007 14:38
the idea of simultaneously releasing movies on dvd, hdtv and theatres is a pretty cool idea... or at least i think so.. yay mark cuban! [ + quote]
Kazi (Newbie) 23 July 2007 18:01
ok, I read the headline and thought that just some random Cuban (meaning a citizen of Cuba) made the statement before actually reading the article. [ + quote]
vinny13 (Inactive) 23 July 2007 20:03
*Originally posted by Kazi:* ok, I read the headline and thought that just some random Cuban (meaning a citizen of Cuba) made the statement before actually reading the article. LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!! I thought the same thing! They really should change that title LMFAO! [ + quote]
akaangus (Member) 23 July 2007 22:07
*Quote:* "you think you can't compete with someone watching a 27-inch TV, with the kids screaming, or the telephone ringing versus getting out of the house to go on a date?" Yeah, instead pay $20 to go to the theatre and hear kids' cell phones ringing and grade 9s screaming... the theatre experience these days! I'll take the 720p BT file and watch it on my 96" projection, then spend the $20 on beers and pizza. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 23 July 2007 22:37
*Quote:* He mentioned that he doesn't have the patience to download from a file sharing service, but apparently does check BitTorrent to see if movies from his company, 2929 Entertainment, are being pirated. When asked what he does when he finds them he responded "Nothing. Cause those kids weren't gonna spend the money anyways." The question that should be asked is why they don't spend the money. I gather its because i have never heard of any movies his company makes and if he does they are probably no good hence why all the downloading for free. [ + quote]
mitter4 (Newbie) 24 July 2007 8:08
Cuban's full of shit. He has the nerve to rise YouTube which is a far more successful company than Broadcast.com ever was. The Youtube founders got CASH versus Cuban who sold his shit company to Yahoo for STOCK which got smoked in the bubble. [ + quote]
gallagher (Member) 24 July 2007 9:15
*Originally posted by mitter4:* Cuban's full of shit. He has the nerve to rise YouTube which is a far more successful company than Broadcast.com ever was. The Youtube founders got CASH versus Cuban who sold his shit company to Yahoo for STOCK which got smoked in the bubble. well, I looked it up and as of 2007, he has 2.3 billion. That's enough for me. I don't think he is the brightest and most ingenious, but he does have cash--even after getting "smoked in the bubble." [ + quote]
Bakdraft (Newbie) 25 July 2007 0:27
*Quote:* *Quote:* He mentioned that he doesn't have the patience to download from a file sharing service, but apparently does check BitTorrent to see if movies from his company, 2929 Entertainment, are being pirated. When asked what he does when he finds them he responded "Nothing. Cause those kids weren't gonna spend the money anyways." The question that should be asked is why they don't spend the money. I gather its because i have never heard of any movies his company makes and if he does they are probably no good hence why all the downloading for free. FYI: 2929 Entertainment past releases: Black Christmas Turistas Akeelah and the Bee Good Night. and Good Luck The Jacket Criminal Godsend Searching for Debra Winger HDNet past releases: One Last Thing... Herbie Hancock: Possibilities Bubble The War Within Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Looks like they are doing pretty good to me. [ + quote]
Movie69n (Newbie) 29 July 2007 5:39
*Quote:* *Originally posted by Kazi:* ok, I read the headline and thought that just some random Cuban (meaning a citizen of Cuba) made the statement before actually reading the article. LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!! I thought the same thing! They really should change that title LMFAO! WTF-I was gonna leave this comment too. Had me fooled they did. [ + quote]
SamNz (Newbie) 3 August 2007 15:23
*Quote:* *Quote:* *Originally posted by Kazi:* ok, I read the headline and thought that just some random Cuban (meaning a citizen of Cuba) made the statement before actually reading the article. LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!! I thought the same thing! They really should change that title LMFAO! WTF-I was gonna leave this comment too. Had me fooled they did. they also got me [ + quote]
bvb720 (Newbie) 9 August 2007 23:06
He is just a Smart Ass Billionaire and belongs in an Asylum. [ + quote]