Piracy or Promotion? The Impact of Broadband Internet Penetration on Dvd Sales

Abstract

The movie industry represents one area where digital networks have had a particularly strong impact on economic activity. These digital networks provide copyright holders with new sales and promotional channels for their content, while also providing consumers with new opportunities to obtain high quality free copies of this content. Broadband access is a necessary condition for movie piracy and the movie industry has argued that the dominant impact of increased broadband Internet penetration will be increased piracy, and reduced media sales.