New Video Piracy Worries

Music and Movie piracy have been thorns in the sides of industry executives for years, even with the evolution of copy-proctection technology and continuing lawsuits against offenders.

However, the latest wrinkle in media piracy is the increasing popularity of television program downloads. TV is free, right? - So what's the problem?. It seems that the increased downloading and internet distribution of television programs threatens the long term existence of free television.

When television shows are downloaded, commercials are often stripped out. In addition, shows that are downloaded in the U.S. are being distributed to other world markets, via the internet, before their official showings in those regions, thus cutting further into the ad revenue of those sponsoring the shows in other countries.

The solution, in the minds of some analysts, may be to offer less free TV programming and shift to more secure Pay-per-View TV. For additional details and perspective on this issue, check out the report from Miami Herald.com.