This is an example of several relatively unrelated failures of (particularly, but not exclusively) U.S. law. This would not be an issue if copyright terms were not so ridiculously long. In fact,...
This is an example of several relatively unrelated failures of (particularly, but not exclusively) U.S. law. This would not be an issue if copyright terms were not so ridiculously long. In fact, our culture would be much richer if theaters could show old films without permission or royalties! Instead, Disney gets to decide exactly who gets to see which movies when, long after the films have faded from the zeitgeist.
Additionally, this is a clear failure of U.S. antitrust law. To allow such monopolization, such that a single production company, Disney, can control "40 percent of North American ticket sales (a number expected to jump to 50 percent once the Fox merger begins to deliver)" is ridiculous. This article alone documents several anticompetitive and anticonsumer practices (block booking, vaults, vertical and horizontal integrations, etc) that have somehow been allowed to fester for decades.
These problems are nuanced. There is clear benefit to companies like Disney to allow these practices, and the benefits to the public of banning them are diffuse and feel abstract. But they are real. They are powerful. We cannot continue to let major corporations rule our media consumption. We lived through the golden era of YouTube! I'm constantly shocked that people still don't understand the value of allowing more sharing among smaller more competitive creators. That era even seems to be ending on YouTube, and it's very disappointing.
I liked this article in particular, because it's looking at a deeper/broader loss of culture. Giving a single corporate entity the power to take bedrock American icons like Miracle on 34th, or...
I liked this article in particular, because it's looking at a deeper/broader loss of culture. Giving a single corporate entity the power to take bedrock American icons like Miracle on 34th, or Rocky Horror, and lock them away into yet another Walled Garden ... it feels like this is breaking something really fundamental in American life.
I guess the saddest part is that Fox always had the freedom to do this, as well ... but it's only now that Disney is actually exercising its "legal" rights, that people are starting to worry. That to me feels like a failing in our species.
This is an example of several relatively unrelated failures of (particularly, but not exclusively) U.S. law. This would not be an issue if copyright terms were not so ridiculously long. In fact, our culture would be much richer if theaters could show old films without permission or royalties! Instead, Disney gets to decide exactly who gets to see which movies when, long after the films have faded from the zeitgeist.
Additionally, this is a clear failure of U.S. antitrust law. To allow such monopolization, such that a single production company, Disney, can control "40 percent of North American ticket sales (a number expected to jump to 50 percent once the Fox merger begins to deliver)" is ridiculous. This article alone documents several anticompetitive and anticonsumer practices (block booking, vaults, vertical and horizontal integrations, etc) that have somehow been allowed to fester for decades.
These problems are nuanced. There is clear benefit to companies like Disney to allow these practices, and the benefits to the public of banning them are diffuse and feel abstract. But they are real. They are powerful. We cannot continue to let major corporations rule our media consumption. We lived through the golden era of YouTube! I'm constantly shocked that people still don't understand the value of allowing more sharing among smaller more competitive creators. That era even seems to be ending on YouTube, and it's very disappointing.
I liked this article in particular, because it's looking at a deeper/broader loss of culture. Giving a single corporate entity the power to take bedrock American icons like Miracle on 34th, or Rocky Horror, and lock them away into yet another Walled Garden ... it feels like this is breaking something really fundamental in American life.
I guess the saddest part is that Fox always had the freedom to do this, as well ... but it's only now that Disney is actually exercising its "legal" rights, that people are starting to worry. That to me feels like a failing in our species.