Disney: Piracy is a Competitive Business Model
Disney finally understands that online video piracy is a business model that they have to compete with instead of litigating against.
According to this Ars Technica article, Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney-ABC television group, said on a recent analyst call "[Piracy] exists to serve a need in the marketplace specifically for consumers who want TV content on demand and it competes for consumers the same way we do, through high-quality, price and availability and we don't like the model. But we realize it's effective enough to make piracy a key competitor going forward. And we've created a strategy to address this threat with attractive, easy to use ways to for viewers to get the content they want from us legally; in other words, keeping honest people honest."
This isn't really news, since ABC has been trailblazing a competitive strategy for a year now, but it's good to see a major executive acknowledge the reality: Consumers will disintermediate you until you provide a compelling online viewing experience. ABC was the first network to hook up with iTunes, and the first to offer shows on-demand on the Web. What's more, the viewing experience on ABC's media player is substantially better than competiting products from NBC, CBS and Fox.
