Deals and disputes multiply in China video sector
By Patrick Frater
Fri, 13 January 2012, 09:15 AM (HKT)
China's online video industry is striking a multitude of deals with local, Asian and western firms as companies scramble to secure content. However the leading players are also increasingly turning to the courts to defend their rights.
A trio of content deals were announced this week.
1) Youku Inc 優酷, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, reported that it had agreed to license 250 films from Twentieth Century Fox. The company said that the new and library titles will appear from this month on its Youku Premium on-demand service, which was launched a year ago and has logged over a million transactions.
Chinese consumers are slowly adjusting to a paid-for environment and Youku says that pay-per-view transactions are now growing fast, from a small base. They tripled between the second and third quarters, meaning that one in eight Youku Premium subscribers now make a paid transaction once per month.
"We have been working closely with Hollywood studios in providing quality content to millions of Chinese Internet users while effectively protecting intellectual properties," said Zhu Huilong, VP of movie operations and corporate development.
"We're eager to make our entertainment content accessible to the widest audience possible in China," said Jamie McCabe, Fox's executive VP of WW PPV, VOD and EST.
2) Video platform, YOU On Demand Holdings and premium movie channel China Home Cinema announced a deal under which You On Demand handles transactional video-on-demand (T-VoD) and subscription-VoD on behalf of the channel.
The companies say that the deal gives You on Demand access to over 100 major Chinese films each month and cites titles including Beginning of the Great Revival 建黨偉業, Let the Bullets Fly 讓子彈飛 (2010), Forever Enthralled 梅蘭芳 (2008) and 14 Blades 錦衣衛 (2010) as examples. The T-VoD activities will be housed within You On Demand's existing platform, while the S-VoD activities involves the launch of new service CHC Cinema On Demand.
3) Independent Australian-Canadian sex shop comedy Red Light Revolution 紅燈夢 (2010) (pictured) has also been picked up for release by Tudou Inc 土豆網. Producers say it is the first foreign-made feature acquired by Tudou for its 'original content catalogue'. The film will be released to web and mobile users with Chinese sub-titles from today (12 Jan 2012) and be geo-blocked to prevent interference with its theatrical releases elsewhere. It will be released in Toronto on 13 Jan, London on 23 Jan and Vancouver on 27 Jan ahead of a rapid DVD release.
It has also emerged that Youku and Tudou are now engaged in interlocking legal disputes over copyright.
In a 16 Dec 2011 lawsuit, Youku says that Tudou has breached its rights to TV serials including The Emperor's Harem, Hip-Hop Office Quartet and Miss Puff. Tudou has begun a lawsuit against Youku over Japanese and Taiwanese TV series including Kangxi Has Come.
Chinese consumers are turning to online video sites for a multitude of reasons – as an alternative to expensive cinema tickets, as an alternative to the shrinking availability of DVDs, and as an alternative to TV, which is increasingly being controlled by regulators – and they are increasingly able to do so at home thanks to improving cable and internet connections and the growing availability of table computers, smart phones and internet—enabled TV sets.
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14 Blades
| 錦衣衛
Good-looking but dramatically weak Donnie Yen vehicle that falls short as a costume martial arts drama.
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Beginning of the Great Revival
| 建黨偉業
Cameo-studded blockbuster is a notch down on Republic but still a savvy big-screen experience.
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Let the Bullets Fly
| 讓子彈飛
A richly entertaining Oriental Western anchored by a well-honed, ironic script and terrific performances.
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Red Light Revolution
| 紅燈夢
Light character comedy centred on a Beijing sex shop transcends its modest budget on all levels.