NBC Exec: Think Of The Poor Corn Farmers Hurt By Movie Piracy
from the wait,-are-these-guys-serious? dept
NBC/Universal's general counsel Rick Cotton must just be trying to push his anti-piracy comments to absurd levels to see just how much he can get away with. We'd already written about his completely unsupportable statements on how law enforcement needs to spend less on traditional crime and focus more on piracy and counterfeiting. We also covered the highly problematic suggestion he made to the FCC that it force ISPs to monitor their traffic for any unauthorized material (complete with more bogus stats). However, as more people dig through that FCC filing there are some amazing quotes that really suggest that Cotton and NBC/Universal have no connection to reality with these pleas. Public Knowledge picks up on NBC's showy concern for the American farmer:"In the absence of movie piracy, video retailers would sell and rent more titles. Movie theatres would sell more tickets and popcorn. Corn growers would earn greater profits and buy more farm equipment."There are all sorts of problems with this statement. As Public Knowledge points out, first off, movie theaters are doing great this year, suggesting the big "threat" of piracy had a lot less to do with its troubles than the fact that it just didn't have that many compelling movies the past few years. Also, corn farmers are doing quite well (and people still eat popcorn at home while watching pirated movies). Of course, that doesn't really matter. What's key here is that if Cotton and NBC actually believe this logic, then they don't deserve to be in business. By the very same reasoning, I could say "If all movies were pirated, then everyone would have that additional money they didn't spend on movies to spend on things like fancy dinners. Restaurants would be more crowded. Farmers would make more money by being able to sell more profitable food at higher prices." See how easy it is? It's also completely bogus, but it's just as accurate as Cotton's statement on the corn farmers. To suggest that the ripple effects don't ripple in other directions isn't just misleading, it's dangerously wrong. Of course, knowing how the entertainment industry works, next thing you know, they'll be demanding a cut of the profits corn farmers make, since, after all they're "profiting off the backs of the movie industry" without paying the industry for the benefit.
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I think the real threat is to those guys who make that waxy fake butter that clogs your arteries when you just look at it.
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First
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Re: First
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Re: First
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This is in line with what they do in EU already with all the bogus taxes on media, with the only difference being that the end user pays this tax, not the media manufacturer...
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This is in line with what they do in EU already with all the bogus taxes on media, with the only difference being that the end user pays this tax, not the media manufacturer...
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oh, great.... You've just given them their next target
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Corn farmers beign hurt by movies, umm no.
There is a trickle down effect that the reality of the movie industry will turn to that of the music business. There are alot less movies released versus records so its just taken a bit longer.
Movie firms have to embrace a new model of simultaneous releases around the world of movies and that of consistent, longer term for revenue goals. Blockbusters will be fewer and fewer, epesically since fewer and few people want to deal with $7 popcorns and $8 sodas.
Theatres need to use the European model of buying tickets for a specific seat and to have alcohol in theatres. Why congregate in a place to watch it ona theatre is I have a 40" tv that I can watch at home.
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Corn Farmers
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You aren't seriously considering this idiot's view
I'm sorry, there are some things that just don't go well with me, and saying a RAPE victim doesn't deserve justice because there's NO MONEY IN IT, crosses the line of decency!
This guy should seriously seek out some competent mental health facilities!
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Re: You aren't seriously considering this idiot's
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Retarded
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Re:
I'm sorry, how old are you? Because if taking a chick to the cinema is the best you can come up with you're a fucking loser.
Wow. Loser!
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Re: Re:
Best I can come up with for what?
I was just thinking of the reasons I went to the theater when i was younger. Don't get all pissy because I called pirated movie downloaders cheap and lazy.
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Re:
Not true at all. I'll give you just one example. I stopped by a friends house the day before Star Wars Episode 3 came out and they were having a viewing party with a leaked copy of film (I couldn't stay but I saw the first like ten minutes of it, and it was the completed film, it just had a timestamp running at the bottom). There were about a dozen people at this party and I know every single one of them still went to see the movie at least once, in some cases 2 or 3 times, at the theater. Most of them had expressed severe reservations (given the weakness of Episodes 1 and 2) about seeing this film before that. Yes, some people are too cheap to actually pay for anything. A lot of people, however, just was some assurance that they are getting a real value for the $10-20 they are plopping down.
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So does that mean...
Yes I know that is twisted logic but we all know that saying about fighting fire...
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well hes right
These are real people, with real jobs, doing great work, and when movies are pirated people think they are 'sticking it to the man' - as if the only people affected were moguls and A-list actors at the top of the food chain - which is just the opposite - they are barely affected at a personal level. Its just self-legitimization.
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Re: well hes right
Care to back that statement up? Or should I just say:
Here trolly, trolly, trolly, troll.
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Re: well hes right
The very premise of his statement is that same incorrect logic that the RIAA has been using for years- that each instance of piracy equates to a lost sale. Of course, this logic is absolutely false, and merely serves to pad the numbers in favor of the industry.
People are seeing fewer movies in the theaters in recent years because movies in recent years have sucked. Plain and simple.
If a truly awesome movie comes out, people will plop down their hard-earned dollars to see it. However, with the crap-fest that most studios have been producing lately, fewer people have been interested. I don't think it's a matter of "should I see this movie in the theatre, or watch a crap pirated version on my tv", so much as it's "should I watch this crap movie I found on the internet, or should I watch reruns of The Price is Right".
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Re: well hes right
When you legitimately purchase content to play it on your legitimately purchased device, such as when you buy an episode of Heroes to watch on your iPod, you're certainly not "pirating" anything. However, Zucker still wants a cut of the device sale—which would NOT be going to the individuals who physically created that content (at least until/unless contracts are re-negotiated—writers may go on strike in November for that very reason).
How, exactly, is this justified?
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Re: well hes right
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heh, the suggestion about the corn farmers is right up there with my idea that if the oil companies weren't gouging me for an extra buck a gallon than they were six months ago. That's like $15-20 every two weeks for me, which incidentally is about the cost of a CD or DVD. By the sort of logic exhibited by the exec above, the oil companies are costing them 26 sales from me alone this year. Therefore by their logic they should sue Exxon-Mobil for costing them valuable sales.
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lots of em around here have silos full that they legally can't sell because they go over their quota(govt controls supply for various reasons). at least it can be used as feed.
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Re:
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Re: Re:
It's not "illegal" in the traditional sense--noones going to go to jail--but there are tariffs involved which pretty much ensures it doesn't happen.
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Re: Re: Re:
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If it didn't...
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Send Cotton Popcorn
This is agriculturally confusing.
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Corn Farmers and Piracy
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How about this?
People pirate movies...computer and graphics card sales go up, dvd players and blank media sales increase, Retailers are happy.
But what about the teenagers who work at the movie-plex. They lose their job because theatres shut down due to piracy...they adopt a drug habit that they now cannot afford due to depression over their job loss. This of course will make psychiatrists and drug dealers see a boom in their business and let's say this will mean cop's will be more in demand with the unemployed hooligans running the streets, which will in turn mean that us, joe citizen will have to pay more taxes to cover their overtime pay.
With less money in our pockets, this of course will affect corn farmers. I for one know when money is tight, there is no room in the budget for "Creamed Corn" or Orville Redenbacher".
This will of course cause the corn farmer suicide rate to go up, as it does every 15-20 years. Which will cause a boom in business for grave diggers and morticians and such.
Now back to the unemployed theater ushers. With no other job opportunity that will live up to carrying a flashlight and all that responsibility of cleaning spilled soda off the floor, the unemployment rate will go up as will the welfare rate.
Sure a few of these unemployed punks will find sanctuary at the booming retailers, but c'mon retail work sucks!
If you think all this is worth it, then go ahead and keep on pirating movies, but please think of the lowly usher's face the next time you do...and what ripples you may be causing.
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Now I've heard it all....
Also you "First" people are a-holes. Just plain and simple totally ignorant, brain dead, 2 year olds. You've given a new meaning to the first post and it says "I'm First at being a loser".
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I pirate for cleaner, healthier planet!
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Re:
I pirate for cleaner, healthier planet!"
I pirate because I care
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popped corn(ball) economics
Subsequently, the theaters could then charge $50 for each tub of greased corn (5¢ worth) , and $15 per soda (5¢ worth) to maintain THEIR profit margin, ....and it's a win-win-win for everyone!
(well, of course, except for the farmer - who still only gets $4 per bushel)
Have these people ever considered that their "entertaining" product is diminishing in [TICKET volume:profit] because the "quality/content/originality" of their product sucks, and because it is NON-ESSENTIAL?
Or does the cornball moralist in you suggest that farmers are suffering because "the same criminal elements that pirate movies are just as likely to steal corn from the fields of the plowman?"
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Dear Rick
I have no problem paying good money for good media content. Most of what NBC and their ilk churn out is crap that I wouldn't download for free, even if I could! So there. Ever heard the joke about ten thousand lawyers at the bottom of the sea? Never mind.
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Corn farmers and movie piracy
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kneecaps
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Clueless
A big reason that some turn to internet piracy is that it's basically instant, on-demand entertainment. Hell, why do you think that anymore watches the crap on YouTube? If they would compete with that, then piracy would go down.
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Piracy Prevents Starvation
Corn prices from increased ethanol demand are already causing tortillas in Mexico to become unaffordable. If the movie industry cracks down on piracy and further increases corn demand, then prices will rise even higher, fueling starvation and hence increased illegal immigration from Latin America.
So, I think this NBC lawyer probably needs to be on trial for murdering the immigrants who die in the desert as they attempt to cross into the United States. I mean, a logical argument like that is something a lawyer should be able to understand.
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So if I pirate movies at home and dont go to the theater I'm hurting not only the movie industry but also the corn industry, or so I'm told. Then who am I hurting if I go to the theater and I sneak in my own candy? Does this mean Hershey, Resse, and all the candy companies will unite to form the Candy and Chocolate Coalition?
Or maybe the Coalition Opposed to Counterfeit candy for Kids.
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lmao.
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What about M&M's farmers
I am glad that these executives are looking out for the corn farmer instead of looking for ways to cut costs... like, say, only giving Tom Cruise $10 million per movie instead of $20 million.
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http://www.mactheripper.org/
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Hmmm...
The movie industry and theatre experience have many issues that have been listed here numerous times. When it costs (nearly) $10 for a movie ticket and you have to take out a 2nd mortgage for refreshments, and deal with idiots who talk and answer their cell phones, people begin to consider other entertainment options.
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What a maroon!
Hell people could stop eating corn and the farmers would still have a market. Not that family farmers make enough money for it to be worth it half the time.
now this yahoo thinks that the non existant slump in theatre attendance is going to make farmers go broke.
ya... that will happen.
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Theater is a waste of time
The knuckleheads think we all steal from them. I wish they would quit doing their cocaine and wake up to reality.
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Corn Farmers
I have 200+ movies in my private collection. All pirated!
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BT HELPS Farmers
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Hmmm...mmmfmfmfmf
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Just go and die. I won't EVER buy any content anymore. And I sure won't download your crap either. Rot in hell.
Poor artists :-( but I'll support my fav artists by going to their concerts anyway. So what. Nobody needs the industry anyway.
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Hypocricy makes a quantum leap.
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Down with Pirates!
How much you wanna bet we see anti-piracy advocates claim any or all of the above in the near future?
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Re: Down with Pirates!
You know I really don't want that crap on my legally bought movies.
I'm a keen cinema goer, with my girlfriend, however in the last 4 years, when we've wanted to go to the cinema, we've looked at what was running, and about 90% of the time, we decided that the crap that was running, wasn't even worth watching when it goes on to "free" tv, and we were definitely not going to pay to see it.
We used to go to the cinema about 1-2 times a months, that dropped to about 1-2 times per year, due to crap movies.
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Popcorn != Corn
Popcorn and Corn are not the same thing. They're two different plants and only a very very small majority of farmers actually grow popcorn. Most of which are subcontracted by the major popcorn companies. Once you know this, it makes this comment even MORE absurd.
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So piracy is hurting those who make equipment, which hurts the tractor (or whatever) industry, which hurts the steel industry, it hurts the industry that makes engines too, which somehow affects Airplanes, which hurts national defense, which promotes terrorism, which hurts Nasa and our space agencies, which hurts the government, which hurts the education, which hurts medicine, which promotes bio terrorism.
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