MPAA Spearheads Launch of Centre for Content Protection

SINGAPORE, November 28:
Jim Williams, the senior VP and chief technology officer for the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA), tells World Screen Newsflash about the newly launched Centre for Content
Protection (CCP), intended to allow technology and media companies in the
Asia-Pacific region to share information about protecting digital-media
content.

The CCP, to be based in
Singapore, was unveiled at the Digital Future Symposium at the Asia TV Forum
today. The organization is positioning itself as a clearinghouse for
information related to digital distribution and content protection in the
region. “In order for there to be a long-term, viable, sustainable business for
getting movies and TV to people [on digital platforms], there are certain
things with respect to content protection that need to be factored in,”
Williams told World Screen Newsflash. “The Centre for Content Protection will comprise the content
producers and the people who make the devices and everything in between, to
exchange information so that when they are making their design decisions, they
have at their fingertips the best practices available.”

Williams continues, “This
is a market into which we sell Hollywood content, but it’s also a region that
makes most of the consumer electronics, and they sell those products everywhere
in the world. The manufacturing of products for viewing and enjoying TV [in
Asia] and those best practices they use to protect the content have application
elsewhere.”

The CCP’s main goals will
include enhancing consumers’ options with respect to legal digital downloads,
educating the public on the transition to digital TV, and sharing information
of technological solutions to the piracy problem; it is estimated that film and
TV piracy cost the industry $18 billion last year, much of it from bootleg
DVDs.

Membership—which
costs $2,500—will give companies online access to a host of information,
as well as provide them with white papers, networking opportunities, events and
conferences. “The idea is to give all the information necessary to build
legitimate [content services]. So if someone is going to make a choice to
steal, it should be not because they didn’t have [a legitimate alternative] to
access to content on their phone or on their portable device.”

Williams notes that
Singapore was a logical location for the CCP, partly because the MPAA’s
regional headquarters are based in the island nation. In addition, “the
Singapore government has a very good record on content protection and the MDA
[Media Development Authority] is helping to launch the CCP.”

—By Mansha Daswani