Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom and CBS, on Tuesday called for Hollywood to take a more flexible approach to pricing as it seeks to combat piracy and protect its intellectual property.
In a speech on Tuesday night, Mr Redstone suggested that studios might charge consumers one price for a single viewing of a digitally downloaded film, another for multiple viewings and yet another for the right to burn the film to a DVD.
“I would argue that’s where we’ve fallen down as an industry,” Mr Redstone said, citing the recent history of the music business. It forced consumers to pay steep prices for compact discs rather than allowing them to purchase individual tracks and was subsequently ravaged by illegal file-sharing.
“Let’s let the consumer decide what they want to pay and what they are willing to pay,” Mr Redstone said
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