UltraViolet Licensing
Posted by Steve Fravel on Friday, July 15, 2011 · 
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Digital media asset collecting can now take a giant step forward. The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) launched UltaViolet licensing on Wednesday. The licensing of content, technology and service providers was seen as the final step in getting the digital entertainment asset platform moving. Read more
Tennessee Law Makes it Illegal to Share Your Streaming Media Account
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, June 6, 2011 · ·
Last week Tennessee became the first state to make it illegal to share the user name and password of any streaming media account. The bill, signed into law June 1 by state Governor Bill Haslam, makes it a crime for anyone other than account holders to access services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video or Rhapsody. The law also provides service providers with legal recourse against the violators.
Streaming media — and Internet video in particular — is gaining in popularity and overall share of Internet traffic. Consumers increasingly want to store their digital content in the cloud and access it from any device. Apple, Amazon and Google have each announced plans to launch cloud music services.
The recording industry championed this bill in an attempt to account for losses through illegal file sharing. Tennessee’s capital is home to many of the major record labels, including Sony Music Entertainment, BMI, Warner Music Group and EMI. This state law is clearly an attempt to catch up with technology and, IMHO, stop the train after it has already left the station.
However, the bill overlooks one very important point; most application providers already protect their content through their official terms and conditions.
Hulu Plans Subscription Service
Posted by Steve Fravel on Thursday, April 22, 2010 · ·
The popular and trendy on-line video site Hulu has released information concerning a test of subscription service that is likely to begin near the end of May.
According to the subscription proposal; the plan calls for Hulu to continue offering “free” access to the five most recent episodes of programs like Lost, Saturday Night Live, Grey’s Anatomy, Parenthood and Glee.
Those who may want to “dig deeper” in time and look at older episodes from previous seasons would be required to pay a $9.95 monthly access fee. This fee would allow the viewer to choose from a more complete catalog of program episodes. The pay service is reported to be named “Hulu Plus.”
Hulu which is jointly owned by NBC Universal, New Corp and the Walt Disney Company is currently second in monthly video stream consumption to the number one ranked YouTube service.
The subscription for Hulu is a major change in the way in which Hulu has been doing business over the past two years. The Hulu owners are concerned that too much free access to content will dilute the value of on-line television in a manner similar to the music industry whose revenues dropped due to free access to songs on-line.