KTH and Cine 2li which hold more than 80 percent of Korea’s online movie download rights have jointly launched a legal online content download service via online hard disks, pointed out as the hotbed of illegal distribution of online film contents. The service, also slated to be launched by several other small and medium sized companies, including Cinero.com, by the end of the year, is expected to boost Korea’s stagnate film copyright market.

Webhard (Online Hard Disk)

The term ‘webhard’ refers to a service that provides online hard disk space to registered users for a set amount of fee so they can upload, download, save contents, and share them with other people. The reason why ‘webhard disks’ have been designated the hotbed for illegal distribution of online contents is because most of the contents distributed via webhard spaces have not been copyrighted. Movie files, in particular, are a good example of contents that have been illegally distributed in the past.

Movie Download Service

Movie downloading became possible thanks to broadband internet. The size of movie files can get very large as they are lengthy and contain both video and music files. If an average music file is around three minutes long, an average movie is around 80-90 minutes long. Faster internet speed meant people could download higher-quality movie files. What makes the high-speed movie download service different from the more traditional VOD service is that VOD uses what is called a ‘streaming service’ in which internet users have to watch the movie immediately when they purchase the file. But the download service allows users to save the files onto their personal computers to watch later at a more convenient time. More internet users prefer the download service over the VOD streaming service. A company that offers both services says that its VOD service sales only make up one sixth of its webhard download service. What makes the download service even greater is that it only costs 50 cents to around four dollars to download one movie.

Internet Movie Copyright Market

The success of the movie download service will boost the internet movie copyright market. According to the Copyright Protection Center, the estimated losses from illegal downloading are around 340 million dollars annually. Once the legal film downloading service is officially launched, it will create a market worth 50 million dollars, which will cover 15 percent of the losses from illegal downloading. However, profits from Korea’s internet copyright business make up only 20 percent of the total profits, much lower than other countries around the world. A successful internet movie download market will not only bring up the figure significantly but also attract other illegal market users to movie theaters and video and DVD markets. The internet movie copyright market is expected to contribute significantly to reviving Korea’s movie industry.

Online Content Market

The pressing task facing the online movie download market is to convince people that they must pay for the services they use. In other words, the download service may spread the perception that online contents cost money. The service will also breathe life into other content services. In order for the online download service to succeed, companies must obtain “filtering” technologies that can completely cut off illegal copied files that are distributed within the online hard disk. Companies say they can currently intercept 98 percent of illegal files but they must seek ways to cut off the remaining two percent.