"We understand now that piracy is a business model "at Mipcom, Disney co-chair Anne Sweeney has broken with studio convention and recognised piracy as a business model to compete with, as opposed to simply an illegal threat to be battled. Sweeney's pragmatic conversion came after seing - within 15 minutes of the ABC network premiere of Despearate Housewives - a high-quality, ad-free version that had appeared on P2P networks. “We understand now that piracy is a business model. Reported on paidcontent.org and netribution.co.uk
More on Sweeney's view from the recent interview on Jack Meyer's Media village:
"One challenge is we need to sort out business models as we go. It's up to each company to sit back and take a deep breath and decide to take a risk. You have a creative vision and there's a fine line between success and failure." Anne believes the cable industry has matured in distribution and "is now ready for its second act. The first act was building distribution and brands. The second act is about building relationships with consumers and embracing the new technologies."
"Anne was credited by Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger with shepherding and finalizing the recent iPod programming agreement in only three days. "We knew the world was changing," she says. "Bob asked me to meet with Steve Jobs, and I had the opportunity to hold the beta version of the video iPod and have the experience as a consumer. It wasn't about the deal; it was about watching Lost, seeing the quality was there, and understanding the consumer experience. It was captivating and felt like a logical next step. I also felt strongly about iTunes ability to market our content and understand our platforms. The experience they're providing consumers is at the highest level and they respect and are committing to protecting our content"