Pass on the popcorn

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: an HD movie in four minutes flat—yes, you read that right. Four minutes. And distribution companies use dedicated content-on-demand and digital rights management systems for online movie sales.

The Internet-led evolution of the entertainment market has been in evidence since the mid-1990s, when Internet TV came into being. Consumers using faster networks are no longer dependent on broadcasters’ fixed programming schedules. They can select channels from a wide array of options at whatever time is convenient to them. Services like World Wide Internet TeleVision provide a Web-based menu of over 2,000 online, on-demand TV channels from across the world.

Agreed, India is not an early adopter of such technologies, despite being the world’s most vibrant market for mass entertainment. But the Internet is the Internet. It has shattered boundaries before, and will do it again. Adoption is inevitable. But are our movie marketers, attuned to archaic distribution channels, ready for this shift? Well, the sooner they devise new sales systems to meet the emerging demand, the better. A cinema outing to the theatre costs a family some Rs 1,000. Home cinema will be one-tenth the cost. This is an opportunity to expand the market, but the revenue systems must be put in place before pirates get a go. There are millions of legal downloads to be sold. Don’t fall behind the curve. And keep watching.