Data point about expensive-to-produce movie content, HTML5 and DRM (lack thereof)

I was re-checking the content availability situation in various online
movie services, and I noticed that while some content licensors (e.g.
Disney apparently) still don't allow Voddler to stream their content
to Flash Player on Linux even though they allow streaming to Flash
Player on Mac and Windows, Voddler now has content from more liberal
licensors available for streaming on Linux. More interestingly,
though, some movies don't require Adobe Access (the DRM part of Flash
Player) and are available for HTML5 streaming.

I find it particularly notable that Skyfall* (the latest James Bond
movie) is available for HTML5 streaming in SD (640 x 268) at a price
and time-to-watch similar to DVD rental and works in self-built
GStreamer-enabled Firefox that has no EME or other kind of DRM
functionality. This shows that an expensive-to-produce movie from one
of the best-known movie franchises can be available with original
English sound track for online streaming using HTML5 without DRM less
than six months after opening in theaters.

Obviously, this doesn't generalize to all movies from all studios or
to all geographic regions at present, but I still thought that this
was a data point worth sharing regarding the context that's motivating
EME (especially since I have previously made claims about the
non-availability of Voddler on Linux).

P.S. Another change in the landscape that I noticed is that Warner now
seems to allow HD in iTunes/Mac. (It used to be SD for Mac and HD only
for iOS for Warner movies.)

* http://www.voddler.com/en/movie/info/2798385737197326461/skyfall/

-- 
Henri Sivonen
hsivonen@iki.fi
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/

Received on Wednesday, 6 March 2013 12:14:00 UTC