CriterionCast

UK Tech Firm, Blinkbox, Will Attempt To Combat Piracy By Offering Free Service

How do you fight piracy?

Well, according to a UK based tech firm, and their partner studios in Hollywood, it’s by giving the audience films for free.

According to The Guardian, technology firm Blinkbox is set to run a week long streaming service, for free, in an effort to bring internet users into a world where pirated films hopefully won’t exist. The firm has teamed with Sony, Paramount, Universal, Fox, and Warner Brothers for the new Full Steam Ahead campaign.

The project launched this weekend, and users will be given a £20 credit to be used to rent films like Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and Up In The Air. Users will be able to stream these films on their computers, and if they have the right hardware, their televisions as well.

With film piracy a major problem today (I know people whose entire cinematic experience has either been on Netflix or through torrents), studios are looking for any way to get past this ever growing issue. Personally, this beats much of their previous efforts. While I hope that this isn’t the way that film is going, as like being a fan of physical media, I’m also a fan of the physical movie going experience, so hopefully this changes the game for piracy, but nothing more.

Source: The Guardian

Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.