Heh. Cryptome.org, the ultimate source for documents people don’t want you to read, has released 1980’s era testamony by Jack Valenti, president of the MPAA. You’ll remember that this is the organization currently screaming that the ‘Analog Hole’ (IE, the fact that we can record things we hear or see) is going to destroy the motion picture and music industries.
It’s funny that back in '82, he testified before Congress that the VCR would cripple the american economy…
I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.
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Now, if there is a scarcity of film and television entertainment, it won’t be the well-groomed and the well-heeled that will suffer. It is going to be, as always it is, Mr. Chairman, the less-affluent, the disadvantaged people pressed against the wall, out of work, who can’t afford these expensive machines, and free television to the sick and the old and the poor will remain the primary source of home entertainment.
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When your profit potential shrinks, you pull back. You produce less and you stay as long as you can in markets where you think you can make some money without having a VCR lay waste to your profit.
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The loser will be your public because they don’t have these expensive machines. And that is what I am saying, sir. The public is the loser when creative property is taken and here is the reason why. The investment of hundreds of millions of dollars each year to produce quality programs to theaters and television will surely decline.
It’s so nice to know that the MPAA was worried about Sony hurting elderly shut-ins by allowing people to tape episodes of Magnum, PI…
When it comes right down to it, healthy companies adapt to new technologies. The MPAA, after fighting the VCR revolution tooth and nail, realized it was swimming against the tide. It turned around in the 80’s and now renatlas and home video sales account for more profits than film ticket sales.
This time around, they haven’t learned to adapt. They’re just digging in for a bigger fight.