Anti-Piracy

Asked by Deadline about whether the studios or other companies will be able to pull off Premium Video on Demand (PVOD), NATO President and CEO John Fithian said, “Going back to 2010 (we) said, ‘Let’s stop fighting publicly about the future of our release dates, this is about growing the pie for everyone.’ So, our partners in distribution and our partners in exhibition said let’s talk about how to grow the business together … finding a way to grow the home market is important not only to distributors but also exhibitors. It’s tricky but it is doable,” he said.

“These things need to be discussed privately and negotiated comprehensively and then go publicly,” he said, adding that they “went nuts” when word of a new PVOD business to shorten the theatrical window broke in the press. “Our strong encouragement to our partners in distribution is to keep going, but we need to talk about this privately. What you have not seen from exhibitors is public comment about release dates and price points. We’re not going to talk about it publicly and neither our our members. There may be a whole lot more on the table than what they talked about.” He said his advice for everyone is to keep going and find solutions for everyone.