Movie theaters join fight against MPAA’s anti-DVR initiative

posted by Michael Zoldessy on June 20, 2008 at 7:44 am

With the MPAA trying to restrict DVR users from recording new releases at home, movie theater owners are attempting to band together against them because of the negative effects it might have on theaters.

A Hollywood proposal to block DVR recording capability on some cable-distributed movies has been met with alarm by NATO—that is, the National Association of Theater Owners. The trade association’s Vice President told the Federal Communications Commission yesterday that the idea, floated by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), could have “a devastating effect,” causing “the destruction of neighborhood movie theaters across the country.”

Read the full story at Ars Technica.

Comments (3)

JodarMovieFan
JodarMovieFan on June 22, 2008 at 11:29 am

This is like the argument the industry had over VCRs back in the 70s and 80s. And we all know how that ended out. As far as the “destruction of neighborhood movie theaters”…they’re mostly gone now.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille on June 23, 2008 at 3:05 pm

Face it—All attempts at blocking “piracy” in the past have just increased piracy.

Where the real effect would be—If one cannot record (let’s say) movies off HBO, I suspect that the number of people subscribing to HBO will drop dramatically.

MiltonSmith
MiltonSmith on June 23, 2008 at 8:47 pm

Yeah, the subscriptions to HBO would drop and more people would just resort to illegal means to get the movie anyways.

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