Speaking at a seminar for the Cinema Expo this week, Paramount Pictures COO Fred Huntsberry said that average Joe unauthorized movie downloaders are no longer Hollywood’s biggest threat, with that spot being taken by “Cyberlockers,” illegal subscription services.
Huntsberry says cyberlockers are usually run by mobs in foreign nations, which download hot pirated films, then sell them to the public in unlimited streaming for as low as $5 a month for a subscription.
“Cyberlockers now represent the preferred method by which consumers are enjoying pirated content,” says the COO, via Reuters.
Cyberlocker businesses normally operate from Russia, Ukraine, Colombia and Germany, and most sties even have ads from such big-time names like Netflix, KFC and Samsung, which have unwittingly been placed there.
“Sometimes these sites look better than the legitimate sites,” adds Huntsberry. “That’s the irony.”
Huntsberry warned that users of cyberlockers risk having their credit card information stolen.
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In a decision that should come as no surprise to anyone, BitTorrent Inc. has shut down their struggling Torrent Entertainment Network paid download store.
Last month the company drastically reduced their staff by half and removed the CEO in favor of former CTO Eric Klinker.
BitTorrent vice president of marketing Simon Morris added that the company has been taking down the store since Nov. 17.
The store launched in February of last year and had content deals in place with 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures. Unfortunately for them, the customers just never came.
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Paramount Pictures has mapped out its Blu-ray roadmap, marking its re-entry to the Blu-ray business a year after it signed exclusively to the now defunct HD DVD format.
The first three movies to hit Blu-ray will be “Face/Off,” “Next” and “Bee Movie” which will hit retailers on May 20th. “Bee Movie” was a highly anticipated HD DVD title but was scrapped after Toshiba dropped production and support for the format in early March.
Two other box office hits, “Cloverfield” and “There Will Be Blood” will hit Blu-ray on June 3rd. Both were recently released on standard definition DVD. “Cloverfield” will also hit the international market in August, added the studio.
Another important date to note is June 24th when Paramount will “issue its first day-and-date Blu-ray Disc release,” “The Spiderwick Chronicles.”
Paramount was originally a format neutral studio, along with Warner Home Video, but then moved HD DVD exclusive last August after allegedly receiving up to $150 million USD in compensation.
