Warner Bros. Seeks Solution to Stop Illegal Movie Trade

In a bid to curb the trade in illegal pirated copies of movies, Warner Bros. confirmed it will become the first major motion picture studio to distribute its films, including recent blockbuster Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and TV shows over the internet.

The service is expected to be available starting this summer, and pricing has yet to be determined. Warner Bros. said it plans to rent and sell its films over the internet on the same day movies become available on DVD. The studio also will sell permanent copies of films and TV shows online that can be burned to a backup DVD, although the copy will only play on the computer used to download the film and not on standard DVD players.

"If we can convert 5, 10, 15 percent of the peer-to-peer users that have been obtaining our product from illegitimate sources to becoming legitimate buyers of our product, that has the potential of a huge impact on our industry and our economics," said Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

Studios believe that offering reasonably priced legal alternatives to procure movies will be preferable to downloading files that could contain viruses or poor quality copies of films.

Source: Yahoo News