Legalities of running a movie streaming website?

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by j0n, Feb 9, 2006.

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  1. #1
    I am interested in starting some kind of online movie rental / movie streaming website. I am talking about commercial movies that you can go into a shop and buy on DVD. I am yet to research the legalities of running a business like this and in all honesty wouldn’t know where to start. Would I need to pay an amount for the right to stream each movie? Is there a way to pay a monthly fee to some large broadcasting corporation? Is something like this even possible?

    I’ve got a large budget for this project so that isn’t really an issue.

    Could someone point me in the right direction?

    Thanks,
    Jon
     
    j0n, Feb 9, 2006 IP
  2. INV

    INV Peon

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    #2
    Why not use promotional trailers instead. Thats what they are made for.
     
    INV, Feb 9, 2006 IP
  3. j0n

    j0n Peon

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    #3
    That’s been done, streaming entire movies hasn’t.
     
    j0n, Feb 9, 2006 IP
  4. Dekker

    Dekker Peon

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    #4
    how large is your budget?

    articles for the associated press are about 300 dollars for a 1 month run per article. i'm guessing movies are 50-100x that cost per movie, you'd also have to pay each production company royalties.
     
    Dekker, Feb 9, 2006 IP
  5. keliix06

    keliix06 Active Member

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    #5
    You would likely need to reach a distribution agreement with each distributor. There's a lot of them.
     
    keliix06, Feb 10, 2006 IP
  6. INV

    INV Peon

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    #6
    If you are planning to stream full movies legally and dont know where to start then obviously this isnt the task for you. This would be a pretty big deal to happen and you should be arranging meetings with your lawyers with the pub companies and discuss this.

     
    INV, Feb 10, 2006 IP
  7. j0n

    j0n Peon

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    #7
    If everyone used this logic nothing new would ever get done. I am just at the research stage at the moment and was hoping that some one here could point me in the right direction to make my search easier.

    Thanks for the replies so far. :)
     
    j0n, Feb 10, 2006 IP
  8. INV

    INV Peon

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    #8
    You have to start talk to Warner, Universal Studios, and all the big names for that. Again, your budget must be huge to start up.
     
    INV, Feb 10, 2006 IP
  9. gprime

    gprime Guest

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    #9
    If a film is public domain, like Night of the Living Dead, then you pay nobody. But for the average film you could go rent, it would cost you money, which you'd have to pay to the owner of the film's US distribution rights.

    I for one will be streaming films on my new forum. The difference is mine are protected under the Berne act, because they've never been released in the US.
     
    gprime, Feb 10, 2006 IP