CES: Paid downloads a thing of the past

FROM VARIETY: Hollywood to focus on ad-supported streaming

By Ben Fritz of Variety -- Video Business, 1/8/2008

JAN. 8 | FROM VARIETY: LAS VEGAS -- After years in which paid downloads saw little traction, Hollywood is focused on ad-supported streaming in 2008.

Top showbiz execs at the Consumer Electronics Show here largely agreed on that point both in a panel sponsored by Variety and as reflected in the new initiatives they unveiled on Monday, the first official day of the Vegas tech confab.

Execs overseeing digital distribution for ABC Disney TV, Fox, Warner Bros. and Paramount joined Variety prexy-publisher Charlie Koones for the panel. Most of the talk about 2008 focused on high-quality on-demand streaming, from Paramount's Jackass 2.5 to Fox and NBC's Hulu.com to ABC's media player.

"People online want to watch for free, because they can get content for free via piracy," said Fox digital media prexy Dan Fawcett. "Downloading to own and keep on a PC seems to be losing out. People like to watch on an impulse."

Read the full story on Variety.com.

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