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Warner offers digital rentals in China to undercut piracy

8 November 2008 0:12 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 7 comments

Warner Bros. is attempting to curb piracy of its products in China by offering a legal alternative to the country's 1.3 billion population. In co-operation with a Beijing-based media company called Voole, Warner Bros. will offer new titles from its vaults as digital rentals for a significantly reduced price compared to the street pirates. Bootlegged disks typically go for (GBP)�1 or less on the street.

Warner's plan is to offer the digital alternative rental service at a price of around 30p - 70p per download (based on the movie in question, one could only assume). The level of pirate products sold in China is in the area of 90%, but Warner and other concerned content companies cannot ignore the fact that China has one of the world's fastest growing economies.

Of course, the downloads will be protected by DRM, and the users will be able to download them and watch them from their computer or stream them over the Internet. Warner recently announced a similar plan to curb growing piracy in Korea.

Permalink to this article

EU's 'largest' piracy gang gets busted (11 February 2009)

Warner pulls DVD operations in South Korea (12 November 2008)

Journey catalog track becomes first to 2 million downloads, legally (9 November 2008)

Warner tries to curb Korean piracy (5 October 2008)

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Discuss this article!
Blackjax (Member) 8 November 2008 1:07
Next will come the complaints that the downloads are being hacked and THEN being sold on the streets. Absolutely brilliant! [ + quote]
susieqbbb (Inactive) 8 November 2008 10:37
Exactly what i was going to say!!! You really don't understand china W.B in china why pay 20.00 u.s for a digital download when for 2.00 u.s you could purchase a pirated dvd. Boy doesn't this bring moron to a new meaning. [ + quote]
windsong (Junior Member) 8 November 2008 13:43
Hell if you haggle with the guy and put on a sad impoverished face he might let you have the movie for even less than 2 bucks! [ + quote]
sssharp (Junior Member) 8 November 2008 15:44
If it's 90 percent in China, why do they complain and cry about the less than 10 percent in America? I believe much less. [ + quote]
atomicxl (Junior Member) 9 November 2008 15:01
*Originally posted by susieqbbb:* Exactly what i was going to say!!! You really don't understand china W.B in china why pay 20.00 u.s for a digital download when for 2.00 u.s you could purchase a pirated dvd. Boy doesn't this bring moron to a new meaning. Where did you pull the $20 USD from? The article says they'll be sold for less than what street vendors sell them for... not 10x the price. Talk about bringing moron to a new meaning... (I kid, I kid) [ + quote]
avoidz (Junior Member) 17 November 2008 22:47
I still don't think this is going to impact the street market for movies in China. [ + quote]
Mez (Senior Member) 18 November 2008 7:52
I suspect if the prices are competitive they will sell. Most persons will do the "right thing" if the price is right. I believe this is a stroke of genius! Stop gouging the public so person will buy your product. I didn't think any media company had anyone other than morons in top management positions. I guess I was wrong. [ + quote]