Netflix Exec Warns Traditional Release Windows to Encourage Piracy

By Karla Robinson
September 19, 2012

Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, recently denounced staggered international release windows as “an open invitation to widespread copyright infringement online,” Variety reports.
Sarandos notes the pay window for Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games” is scheduled at intervals across eight months.
“It begins in Latin America on August 18, when ‘Hunger’ is released day and date with VOD and DVD because of the region’s underdeveloped homevid market,” explains the article. “Three months later, ‘Hunger’ comes to Canada, followed a month after that in the U.K. and 90 days after that in the U.S.”
“The U.S. will actually have the slowest access to ‘The Hunger Games’ in a subscription model online, which I think is incredibly dangerous for distributors in terms of having this global platform, and global knowledge of when things are available, and regionalized availability dates,” Sarandos suggests. “I think it will only encourage piracy in a way that is going to only grow.”
Netflix has access to “The Hunger Games” through Epix, which also has a deal with Amazon Prime.
“I do think the gap of time between DVD, VOD and pay TV is getting increasingly frustrating for consumers,” Sarandos adds. “That’s why I will pay more to accelerate it like we did in Latin America. They were more receptive to the deal because their DVD market is almost nonexistent.”

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