Hollywood Studios Offering Free Movie Streams

Hollywood studios are teaming up with Blinkbox to offer a free streaming service in the latest attempt to counter the destructive influence of file sharing, illegal downloads and piracy. But will it work? The ‘Full Stream Ahead’ idea, with the support of such organisations as the British Film Institute and Film Council, makes its tomorrow.

Entertainment enterprises still rue the day they didn’t take the full and futuristic implications of the internet and social file-sharing capabilities seriously. It could be argued nobody, in the early days at least, understood how people would consume films, music and information via computer technology. The internet revolution was not televised.

Blinkbox (via fullstreamahead.co.uk) are offering a ‘free’ £20 credit to spend on top Hollywood flicks from studios including Paramount, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Universal. The films are not being streamed in high-def, but if you’ve got the cables, you can easily hook the old PC or laptop to the telly.

Blinkbox co-founder Michael Cornish told the Observer:

“We are in the early days of digital retail for movies, and our ambition is to make people aware of the benefits of streaming services before it i too late.”

It looks as if the movie business is learning from the mistakes of music industry and not instantly setting out to criminalise the general masses who they relay on to peddle their wares. This softly-softly approach will probably work in at least spreading awareness of availability and quality, which let’s face it, are two key issues of internet piracy.

Will streaming services such as this help combat movie and internet piracy? Why anybody wants inferior quality viewing experiences has always mystified me, could ventures such as this be the trick or will piracy continue unabated?

Tags: Blinkbox, News