Now That Amazon Has Bought MGM, Will It Turn Against The Internet?
from the hopefully-not dept
As you may have heard, Amazon recently reached a deal to buy MGM Studios for $8.5 billion, expanding its in-house content studio, which is already quite massive, given its efforts to build up its Prime Video streaming service. For a variety of reasons (notably, everything Amazon has done with Prime, as well as increasing video streaming competition from Disney, NBC Universal, Warner Media/Discovery, etc.), the deal isn't that surprising.
I do wonder, however, if this deal brings Amazon a step closer to turning its back on the open internet. I mean, we already had Netflix join the MPA and start overreacting to piracy after being a good internet steward for many years. At this point, it seems like it may only be a matter of time until Amazon goes down that path as well -- though I'd hope they think better of it.
That said, it is notable that MGM is not a member of the MPA. It somewhat famously left in 2005. So maybe that helps keep Amazon on a path of actually supporting the open internet, and remembering the rest of its business (and how much it relies on an open internet). Still, watching how much the internet and the entertainment business has converged over the past decade or so suggests that we might finally get a realignment on these issues. It would be nice if that came with Hollywood finally recognizing the open internet is not the enemy, rather than the new tech players turning their backs on the open internet... but I'm not at all confident that's how this will play out.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: content, copyright, internet
Companies: amazon, mgm, mpa, mpaa, netflix
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Amazon is a self-improving machine designed to convert the universe into money. If it decides that some aspect of the internet is slowing down its fundamental task, it will work to destroy that aspect of the internet as ruthlessly and efficiently as possible.
So to answer the original question: yes.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Looking at how Twitch handles bulk DMCA notices, they already have.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Amazon and Netflix rely on the Internet to reach customers easily on many devices and apps, if one company understands the Internet its amazon
Why would it attack the web?
It bought many company's
It, ll probably use the mgm catalog to enhance its videos services maybe we, ll see reboots or TV shows based on
old mgm ip and characters
Amazon is not the riaa or Nintendo
It's more like Google the more people that use the Web the more
money it makes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My friend told met that he read in the Complaint that Techdirt is a Named Party in the suit between Cloudera and StreamScale, is that true? Wow, Cloudera is worth like $5 billion dollars, right?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Your “friend” is almost as stupid as you Jon boi.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Well, yeah, my friend is not so bright, but he's my friend, and I listen to what he says. Mike has a lot of friends, they listen to what he says. But when I read the Complaint, and then I read what Mike wrote about StreamScale, well, they can't both be right. Strange how people can look at the same facts and see very different things.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
So, who read the complaint, you or your friend?
Why wouldn't you post a link to said complaint?
Why don't you present whatever argument you have in good faith like a rational adult human being?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
www.streamscale.com
Upper right corner.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
From your question about "said complaint", I assume you are probably a lawyer. How does the law apply in this case, in your opinion? Mike continues to post facts about StreamScale that are completely contrary to a filed Complaint.
Should he persist in his publication? Should he take down his article about StreamScale? Or is it OK to publish facts that you know to be wrong?
It must be so interesting to be a lawyer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Hey Jon boi remember when you used to pretend to be an inventor and self help publisher? You still running with those lies or did you cook up some new ones?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Hard to tell who's real around here and who's not. But court documents, well, they're real.
I share this view of reality: When confronted with new facts, face them quickly, or peril will surely haunt your dreams. If you made an honest mistake, just say so, apologize for the misunderstanding, and everyone will move on.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You didn’t answer the question Jon boi.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Your support of Prenda Law says otherwise.
Same for the Trump presidency.
Seriously, Jhon, you're a terrible liar.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:ot
No, not strange in the least - that's the very definition of our adversarial system of justice.
But here's the rub.... I read the complaint, and I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one laughing, almost to tears, at what the complaint alleges is covered by a patent. "That is only a 33% utilization of storage capacity". (A direct quote.) As if this guy had ever even spelled "data manager", let alone had been employed as one.
I mean, can you honestly look your boss in the face after a data corruption disaster and tell him/her that "No, I didn't save any further back than one iteration, that'd be a waste of disk space." Even PHB's know about Grandfather-Father-Son backup schemes. And that's because they know their collective asses are on the line, should an "event" occur that would affect the bottom line in a not-so-desirable way.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MPA is not MPAA
I think you may be confusing MPA (the Music Publishers Association) with MPAA (the Motion Picture Association of America).
They're both philosophically similar in that they're rights-holder associations for big copyright businesses, but one's for music and one's for movies.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: MPA is not MPAA
I think you may be confusing MPA (the Music Publishers Association) with MPAA (the Motion Picture Association of America).
Nope. The MPAA changed its name to the MPA a few years ago. https://deadline.com/2019/09/motion-picture-association-logo-1202737759/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Will It Turn Against The Internet?
No, but it will not allow MGM content to be paused, so that we'll have to pee in bottles while binge-watching, instead of taking bathroom breaks.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What I find even more funny is that Jeff Bezos might end up in control of The Apprentice outtakes. I'm not real sure about all the legalese in the contracts, but imagining Trump shitting his pants because Bezos might release outtakes of him shitting his pants is kind of fun.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tom And Jerry
This is my favourite MGM property (or are the cartoons all owned by Warner Bros. still?) and I would like to have the option to buy ALL of the MGM cartoons uncut, in high definition (1080p if not 4K), preferably on physical media.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]