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Viacom: Companies
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Under King and Berman's leadership, Viacom's two domestic syndication companies -- King World Productions and Paramount Domestic Television -- collectively distribute six of the top 10 (and 10 of the top 20) shows in syndication. These domestic companies will continue to operate independently, Moonves stated.
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Verrilli’s main points (for Viacom): (1) Verrilli agreed that there’s a lot of unauthorized use of copyrighted works on the Web–the topic of the panel. (2) As a practical matter, he said, the transformative type of unauthorized uses were not problematic (referring to mashups). (3) Instead, what is problematic is the wholesale acquisition and unauthorized use of copyrighted works through businesses like YouTube. It’s problematic b/c the business models of such companies generate very significant profits from unauthorized use.
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Viacom is accusing YouTube of “massive intentional copyright infringement”, saying that 160,000 unauthorized Viacom clips have been uploaded onto YouTube, totaling more than 1.5 billion views. In truth, the “more than $1 billion” figure sounds a little low: typically these companies seek the maximum sum of $150,000 per infringement. This was the case with Bolt.com, which decided to settle for $10 million rather than endure a lengthy legal battle against Universal.
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After Viacom slapped Google with a lawsuit for $1 billion for the copyright infringing materials on YouTube, it has now added insult to injury and jumped into bed with Microsoft. The two companies have gotten quite cozy on a strategic alliance covering multiple aspects, but essentially focused on an advertising partnership. [read more >>]
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Viacom's large freelance contingent are justifiably angry about the company's decision to whack away at their benefits. The bravest among them are planning a "walkout" today at 3pm in front of the company's 1515 Broadway building in Times Square.
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While it seems like many sensible companies have realized that DRM doesn't curb piracy and just pisses off their customers, it appears that Viacom didn't get the memo. Today, CEO Philippe Dauman whined to the US Chamber of Commerce that it's too easy to copy media and that companies should be using stronger, more widespread DRM and watermarking. He ... wants ISPs and hosting companies to work with companies to snitch on pirates and turn them in to the Copyright Gestapo. Just give it up already, people. The tides are turning. Don't fight it. It's for your own good.
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