Claiming to be the sole voice speaking at the show on behalf of the content industry, NBC Universal Vice Chairman and Executive Officer Bob Wright implored service providers and their technology suppliers to work harder together to stem the loss of video content to piracy.
In a keynote presentation Wednesday morning at NXTcomm, Wright applauded several service providers who have installed filtering technology to track pirates, forward warnings to them and check on those who receive multiple notifications in hope of “turning them into subscribers.”
“By yearend, six of the eight top ISPs will have put this programming in place,” said Wright, “but it’s puzzling that not all have done this.” The content exec said his firm had groundbreaking discussions with AT&T on this topic just last week. He did not identify the ISPs that have efforts under way.
“AT&T plans to work on this agenda to contribute to the positive use of the Internet,” which Wright said is key as “we prefer to push to prevent piracy before it occurs rather than react afterward.”
While content protection has long been a concern of video asset owners including NBC, a broadening variety of content distribution systems, including the Internet and wireless, have kept content security and protection on the front burner, with Wright calling it one of his top three challenges.
While Wright said tracking and warning can be done while protecting consumer privacy, efforts such as those he outlined are likely to be challenged by groups concerned that collected data might be misused or that the work raises privacy issues. “The Internet doesn’t have to be the wild, wild West,” he said.
“There is no panacea for this problem, but there are actions that could and should be taken today,” Wright said in reference to the installation of filtering software which he described as the core of the “graduated warning” system.
Ongoing and arguably rising piracy concerns have led the to the creation of the global group Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP), said Wright, noting that last week it delivered a series of proposals to legislators in the nation’s capital designed to address the issue head-on.
The proposals, he continued, also address intellectual property, the other IP challenge.
The NBC exec added that the group is headed by NBC Universal’s general counsel.
“I can’t overstate how critical this issue is,” Wright stressed.
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