I'm going to have to disagree. Selling streaming rights for the life of the digital file to a university is not comparable to a broadcast sale in perpetuity.
In the former case you are selling to a single entity. Using Facets as an example, the school could pay $20 for in classroom face to face use of a DVD. But if they want to stream the school pays $500. So the producer is the beneficiary of a higher royalty. And if Facet's license expires and a new distributor picks up the title they can sell a new digital format to that school. (Believe me, formats will change.) Plus they can sell to all the other schools that never purchased the title. If a distributor sold broadcast rights in perpetuity that would lock up the whole broadcast market in that territory forever. That would not be right. The difference is you are selling a right, not a thing. iTunes does not place a time limitation on my music downloads of major recording artists. I don't think video distributors are required to set an arbitrary termination date on the use of a particular digital file either. Of course if the producer's agreement prohibits lifetime sales then Film Ideas would not grant them. Respectfully, Bob Robert A. Norris Managing Director Film Ideas, Inc. Phone: (847) 419-0255 Email: [email protected] Web: www.filmideas.com On Mar 16, 2012, at 2:54 PM, [email protected] wrote: > 1. Re: Facets launches EDU site with streaming rights > (Jessica Rosner) > > From: Jessica Rosner <[email protected]> > Date: March 16, 2012 2:52:35 PM CDT > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Videolib] Facets launches EDU site with streaming rights > Reply-To: [email protected] > > > Elizabeth > I know we have disagreed on this and I have run this by many companies > that distribute foreign film in particular and all I have spoken do > not believe their contracts permit the sale of lifetime streaming if > they for instance have the right to sell downloads to individuals for > the fixed period on the contract. I believe the closer comparison is > to a TV sale. Most contracts don't permit a distributor to make a sale > for a cable, Internet or other broadcast form to that would permit the > companies broadcast or download the film forever. The rights are > limited by the term of the contract. More specifically I have directly > asked several European companies about lifetime streaming rights and > they refused and some of these are the same companies Kino/Lorber has > films from. I feel very strongly that if these rights were allowed > they should be explicitly included in a contract because you are not > selling a physical item like a print or a VHS but rights that can > literally never expire in a format that can be used forever. > > Since again I have been explicitly told by several major overseas > rights holders that their contract do not include this I think it > would be unfair to have institutions in the middle. Frankly there have > in fact been a number of cases in which > after a contract expired a rights holder told an institution that a > distributor had no rights to sell a particular item with lifetime PPR > and they insisted that showings be cancelled and the film never shown. > It is not common because most large overseas companies have little > knowledge or interest in such things but again this should be between > distributors and rights holders. Obviously if you believe your > contracts cover this you should make sure the rights holders are > informed and agree to this. > > On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 3:01 PM, Elizabeth Sheldon > <[email protected]> wrote: >> Dear All, >> >> As a film distribution company who offers DSL with streaming rights 'for the >> life of the digital file,' we consider a DSL analogous to a download in the >> consumer market. If one of our customers wants to purchase a DVD with or >> without PPR, great; if they would prefer the digital file with a streaming >> license, we will supply it. We think that a DSL is a premium license and >> this is reflected in our pricing, which is very close to Facets pricing. >> >> Just as when we sell a DVD with PPR to a school, when our original agreement >> expires with the filmmaker, we do not ask our librarian customers to return >> the DVDs because the PPR license has not expired. The rights we sell during >> the term continue beyond the term of our original license with a filmmaker. >> If in our agreements there is specific language that prohibits us from >> selling either PPR or DSL, it is not available from our site: >> www.kinolorberedu.com. >> >> However, what we do frown upon is encoding from a DVD without purchasing the >> DSL. Now that irritates me. >> >> Best, >> >> Elizabeth >> >> Elizabeth Sheldon >> Vice President >> Kino Lorber, Inc. >> 333 W. 39th St., Suite 503 >> New York, NY 10018 >> (212) 629-6880 >> >> www.kinolorberedu.com >>
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
